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The Strategic Board for Teacher Education has developed a workplan which contains a suite of interdependent workstreams, including workforce planning.

These workstreams contain a range of proposed actions which are in the process of being further developed and which will have individual timescales for reporting to the Board.

The Board last met on 1 February 2024 to discuss the workplan. Papers from this meeting and future meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course.

The Scottish Government received 11 recommendations formulated by the Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) Review Group. These are listed below and have been fully accepted by Ministers.

Work is now underway on taking forward the three recommendations that fall specifically to the Scottish Government. We will continue to engage with the sectors regarding delivery of those recommendations that are to be progressed jointly or elsewhere, reconvening the Review Group as part of that recommendation.

Recommendations

1. That the Scottish Government works with partners to develop a Model Terms and Conditions to apply across all PBSA, both institutionally and privately operated.

2. That the Scottish Government consults widely on the scope to legislate on PBSA regulation, specifically in respect of notice periods and cooling off period for PBSA tenants, including identifying what circumstances should apply in such cases and potential impact on investment and rent levels.

3. That Higher Education Institutions work with partners to develop and distribute information packs for student tenants in both institutional and private PBSA properties, outlining the existing routes for progressing complaints and redress, including through the SPSO and the First-Tier Tribunals system. These information packs should contain clear links to regularly updated relevant online content.

4. That the Scottish Government works with partners to scope the development of a Model Complaints Procedure to be adopted across all types of PBSA.

5. That the Scottish Government convenes a national round table discussion with HEIs, private PBSA providers, investors/developers, students, and local authorities, to explore improvements in relation to ensuring the housing needs of students are met.

6. That strategic partnerships be established at local level, involving all those involved in provision / use of student accommodation to consider / address supply issues at local level in the short, medium, and long-term.

7. That the Scottish Government works with partners to identify and address barriers to expanding the supply of affordable accommodation for students through e.g. the repurposing of existing buildings and the utilisation of alternative housing models e.g. housing co-operatives.

8. That the Scottish Government and Higher Education Institutions actively engage with property investors/developers in the private sector to encourage the development of a more diverse range of student accommodation properties, which could meet the needs of families and those on lower incomes.

9. That Higher Education Institutions and providers of private PBSA work more closely together to ensure students get the information they need, including consideration of data sharing agreements.

10. That Higher Education Institutions provide to all tenants residing in University or privately-run PBSA information on student support available through institutions, and how to access this. This should be available in formats other than online, and frontline staff working within all types of PBSA should have ready access to this information in order to provide advice when needed.

11. That the Scottish Government engages with Home Office on the provision of student dependents’ data for international students taking up places at Scottish universities.

The Purpose Built Student Accommodation Review Steering Group, which comprised representation from the Association of Student Residential Accommodation (ASRA), National Union of Students (NUS), Universities Scotland, College and University Business Managers (CUBO), Scottish Property Federation (SPF), private PBSA providers, individual universities, university student representative organisations and Unipol/National Codes, were fully involved in the formulation of the 11 recommendations which have been fully accepted by Ministers. The answer to question S6W-25244 on 22 February 2024 provides details of the recommendations.

The Review Steering Group will be reconvened to determine how best to take forward those recommendations that are to be progressed jointly with or by partners.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The refreshed Learning for Sustainability (LfS) Action Plan was published in June 2023 with wide stakeholder support, and sets out a new vision for every 3-18 place of education in Scotland to become a Sustainable Learning Setting by 2030. The plan contains 25 strategic actions to support achievement of ‘Target 2030’ and implementation is underway.

Early delivery priorities have focused on, for example: development of an LfS “portal” to provide practical online resources for educators (the portal will go “live” in 2024); creation of a Mentor Network to support teachers in embedding LfS in curriculum design; and the launch of a national Call to Action on 6 December to encourage an increasing number of schools and other partners to engage in LfS activities.

The Learning for Sustainability Leadership Group – which meets quarterly – is overseeing delivery. Amongst others, members of the group include Education Scotland, Nature Scot, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, and Learning for Sustainability Scotland. Key priorities in 2024 will include the development of LfS Indicators to measure success and progress.

The initiation of a systematic curriculum improvement cycle announced on 12 December 2023, stems from the OECD 2021 report “Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future” and its specific recommendation for Scotland to "develop a systematic approach to curriculum review” which was accepted by Scottish Government.

Prior to the announcement in December, the Curriculum and Assessment Board, which includes a range of stakeholders including Education Scotland, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland, leading academics, and the Scottish Qualifications Authority, had already considered and offered views on a range of papers in relation to taking forward a systematic curriculum review cycle in Scotland.

This work was referenced in a letter sent by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to Committee on 31 October 2023. The letter is available at:

https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/education-children-and-young-people-committee/correspondence/2023/cab-sec-response-ecyp-commitee-oecd-implementation.pdf

Having reviewed the information presented by local authorities, the Scottish Government has confirmed that we will not withhold funding in 2023-24 from those who did not maintain teacher numbers.

While the Scottish Government remains disappointed by the small reduction in teacher numbers, we do not consider that withholding funding at this stage in the financial year would be in the best interest of learners.

As set out in my statement to Parliament on 12 December 2023, Maths will be the first curricular area to be revised as part of the new systematic curriculum improvement cycle.

The update to the Maths curriculum will begin in 2024 and will begin to be tested with Scotland’s teachers later in the year. Literacy and English will be next, with work on that also beginning this year.

Decisions on which curricular areas should be prioritised following Maths/Numeracy and Literacy/English and timescales for those further packages of work, will be informed by evidence and will be subject to discussions with key stakeholders and delivery partners.

The requirement for local authorities to maintain teacher numbers at 2022 census levels was assessed against teacher numbers in the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2023, and subject to mitigating circumstances presented by individual councils.

The number of withdrawals and deferrals from 2019-20 – 2022-23 are in the following table: 2023-24 data is not yet available.

The Registrar of Independent Schools has advised that 83 schools have completed surveys of their estates, with 8 awaiting results of a survey or in the process of procuring a survey. Of the schools where surveys have been completed, 76 schools have confirmed that there is no RAAC present on their estate, and 7 schools have confirmed the presence of RAAC.