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The Scottish Government has committed to rejoining the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) with the next cycles, PIRLS 2026 and TIMSS 2027, reporting in 2027 and 2028 respectively.

Data on reading, mathematics and science performance will continue to be available in the interim period from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 results which are being published in December 2023 and PISA 2025 results, which will be published in 2026. In addition, literacy and numeracy attainment results from the Achievement of CfE Levels data collection are published each year in December for P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils.

As a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), SQA operates at arm’s length to ministers and is responsible for its own operational decisions, including decisions relating to course assessments.

SQA’s decision to return to full course assessments for the National Qualifications in 2023-24 was made following engagement with the National Qualifications Group and wider education community, informed by extensive feedback gathered as part of their evaluation of the 2022 arrangements.

I discussed these matters directly with the Chief Examiner, including feedback from the SSTA and other teachers, and received assurance that the impact of the removal of modifications will be carefully considered in the grading process in 2024.

The most recent data on sports participation is from the 2021 Scottish Health Survey, which shows that the average percentage of children aged between 11 and 15 that had taken part in a sport activity in the past week was 65%.

The Scottish Government does not track the participation of children aged between 10 and 15 in cultural activities.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has recently begun collecting students’ reasons for withdrawal (RfW) from colleges. SFC will be working with Colleges Scotland and College Development Network (CDN) to improve the capture of student withdrawal data in future years to enable publication.

The consultation is due to close on 19 October 2023. The responses will then be analysed to inform our next steps, which will be set out in due course.

From 2007 to 2016, full-time equivalent was defined as between 35 and 37 hours per week depending on the local authority in which the staff were employed. From 2017 full-time equivalent has been calculated using a standard 35 hours per week across all local authorities.

The Scottish Government will publish a statistical report on the results of the PISA 2022 assessments on 5 December 2023, which will include internationally comparable results on maths, science and reading. The publication is timed to coincide with the release of the international results by the OECD, which will include the results of all 81 participating countries and economies.

Local authorities are responsible for school enrolments in their area, and this includes providing information to parents and carers regarding their rights on deferring starting primary school.

In 2022 and 2023, we wrote to local authorities to encourage them to review any local processes and communications to reflect the change in legislation.

The Scottish Government has updated the Parent Club website to reflect the legislation change from August 2023.

The Scottish Government does not collect this type of data.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes data on wealth from the Office for National Statistics Wealth and Assets Survey. The most recent report can be found at Wealth in Scotland 2006-2020 (data.gov.scot) . More detailed analyses are available on the Office for National Statistics website at Household total wealth in Great Britain - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) . The Wealth and Assets Survey includes gifts transferred within a period, but does not measure lifetime intergenerational wealth, or attribution of current assets to intergenerational help.

Analyses looking at intergenerational sources of wealth across the UK have been carried out by various other organisations and the academic sector, for instance Who gives wealth transfers to whom and when? Patterns in the giving and receiving of lifetime gifts and loans | Institute for Fiscal Studies (ifs.org.uk) and Intergenerational Income Mobility in the UK: New evidence using the BHPS and Understanding Society .

I refer the member to the question S6W-20602 on
‎ 29 August 2023. 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