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The Scottish Government recognises the importance of personal and social education in providing the foundations for successful learning. The recommendations of the Review of Personal and Social Education, published in January 2019, set out our plan to strengthen and enhance existing provision and support consistency in delivery.

Since January, we have made excellent progress across a number of the recommendations – we, in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders, are reviewing the current guidance on the Conduct of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education in Schools; we are also collaborating with colleagues in local authorities through a PSE Lead Officers Network and are collaborating with colleagues on the Learner Journey Review to support and empower young people in the delivery of relevant and engaging personal and social education in the senior phase.

All of the recommendations will be delivered by March 2021.

The Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs met with the Turkish Ambassador to the UK on 27 June 2019. I also met with the Turkish Consul General on 14 May 2019. I can confirm that human rights issues were raised during both of these meetings.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring Scotland is a modern, inclusive nation that protects, respects and realises internationally recognised human rights. We embed equality, dignity and respect in everything we do, and take action to secure the progressive implementation of all human rights.

The Scottish Government Human Rights Framework sets out recommendations for how the Scottish Government can consider human rights issues as part of our international engagement, including in meetings with representatives of foreign governments.

In addition to the meetings above, I attended the Turkish National Day event in Edinburgh on 29 October 2018 to demonstrate the Scottish Government's support for the Turkish community in Scotland.

I also met with representatives of the Kurdish-Turkish community in Scotland on Wednesday 18 September 2019 and discussed a number of matters including human rights issues.

The Scottish Government are very concerned by the US decision on 6 October 2019 to withdraw support from their Kurdish allies in Northern Syria and that this could lead to human rights abuses. We have raised concerns with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

As this is an operational matter relating to grant information, I have asked the Chief Executives of both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to respond to you directly.

The Scottish Government expects to reach a joint agreement with COSLA by the end of the year.

We have committed to review the use of Co-ordinated Support Plans to ensure that children and young people with the most significant additional support needs are receiving the support that they need to reach their full learning potential. We are continuing to take forward work with partners to scope out this work and will provide an update in due course.

The Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended) places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils.

It is for individual authorities to determine the training and qualifications required by those staff providing support to children and young people to help pupils reach their full potential.

£15 million will be made available in this academic year and Ministers expect that local authorities will move to recruit additional pupil support assistants.

Decisions about the recruitment and training of these assistants will be made by individual local authorities.

The Scottish Government will invest an additional £15 million to improve implementation of additional support for learning across Scotland.

We will engage with CoSLA to agree monitoring and reporting arrangements.

The Scottish Government is currently working with CoSLA to reach a joint agreement about how the £15 million funding will be allocated.

Standing Orders require that questions to the Scottish Government must relate to a matter for which the First Minister, the Scottish Ministers or the Scottish Law Officers have general responsibility.

Where questions raise matters falling within the day to day responsibility of other bodies, and relevant information is not held centrally by the Government, answers will advise the Member of the body responsible for the matter concerned. Where questions relate to operational matters for which a Scottish Government Agency is responsible, the relevant Chief Executive would normally provide the substance of the response.

The Scottish Ministerial Code is clear on Ministers’ accountability to Parliament and Ministers respect these principles in terms of all answers given to parliamentary questions. All such answers are published by the Parliament and it is open to any Member to lodge further questions, or use other established mechanisms to hold Ministers to account, should they consider that to be appropriate.