Chamber and committees

The most recent Instrumental Music Survey published by the Improvement Service in December 2023 holds this information. Page 9 provides figures on students receiving free instrumental music tuition and Page 18 provides the number of music tutors. For ease of reference, this has been set out in the following tables.

Number of instrumental music pupils

As with previous years, the Scottish Funding Council expects to publish this year’s indicative college funding allocations in early spring with final funding allocations expected in late Spring for the academic year 2024-25.

The Scottish Government can confirm that no secondary schools were unsuccessful in their applications for grants from the investment in computing science hardware. However, some schools opted not to take up the offer.

Scottish Government monitored the delivery and spend of the grants for computing science hardware for schools. An evaluation of this work as well as wider computing science policy is underway and further updates will be publicised in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students, including those with a disability, long-term medical condition, or additional support needs, are supported as they study in further and higher education. This is through support provided to each institution, and also through support provided directly to students. The Scottish Government does not undertake analysis of this support at the level indicated in the question.

Students and their families are encouraged to speak to their college to discuss their support needs and the funding that is available to them.

The Scottish Government also funds Down’s Syndrome Scotland as a key partner in the Learning/Intellectual Disability and Autism Towards Transformation Plan, and to raise awareness of the support available to people with Down’s syndrome and their families.

As set out in the Programme for Government, Scottish Government are working with sportscotland and local authorities to phase out charging for Active Schools. As the Active Schools programme is delivered locally by local authorities and leisure trusts, this information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. I have asked sportscotland to meet with the Member to provide more detailed information.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills wrote to Universities Scotland on 9 February to confirm that the Scottish Government will not be responding to any consultations on minimum service levels in education services, or providing assistance with the development of any regulations that may arise from such consultations.

The Scottish Government remains strongly opposed to the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and any associated secondary legislation which affects devolved services. This legislation seeks to undermine legitimate trade union activity and does not respect the Scottish Government’s Fair Work principles. Instead we will continue to encourage university employers to work with trade unions to reach fair and reasonable settlements, respecting the legitimate interest of workers, not seeking to curb their right to strike.

Under the Act it is a matter for individual employers in affected sectors to decide whether to issue work notices to trade unions specifying the workforce required to meet minimum service levels for a particular strike period. The Scottish Government has no intention of directing any employers within their control to issue work notices.

Education Scotland has been working with Daydream Believers on the AIdea Project and the online Artificial Intelligence handbook is due to be published by 31 March 2024.

The Scottish Government held a meeting with children and young people’s organisations on 19 February to discuss safe and meaningful ways to gather the views of children and young people on relationships and behaviour in schools. Plans are currently being developed for how to take appropriate work forward.

As indicated in the answer to S6W- 24966, we asked the local authorities that did not maintain teacher numbers in the 2023 teacher census to provide an explanation for these reductions and any mitigating circumstances they wished to put forward.