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I wrote to Jessie Norman, who was at the time the responsible Minister at the UK Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, in February 2017, and to Greg Clark, UK Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, in July 2017. The Scottish Government's position was set out in these letters. They set out concerns about the UK Government's intention to leave Euratom, and the lack of consultation with the Scottish Government; the Scottish Government’s preference for membership of Euratom to continue, and if this is not possible, as a result of the UK Government’s negotiations on taking the UK out of the EU, for a form of associate membership of Euratom that maintains close joint arrangements on the widest range of issues, including external assurance and inspection; and that it is crucial that the Scottish Government and other devolved administrations are fully involved in discussions about the options for our future relationship with Euratom, and any replacement arrangements that are needed. A series of meetings is being arranged by UK Government officials to discuss the impacts of the proposal to leave Euratom with the devolved administrations.

The UK Government has still to provide detailed information on its proposed future arrangements, linked to its plans to leave Euratom. We shall continue to work, including in cooperation with the other three administrations in the UK, to assess the impacts of exiting Euratom as these proposals are made clear, and mitigate any negative effects for Scotland.

The UK Government has still to provide detailed information on its proposed future arrangements, linked to its plans to leave Euratom. We shall continue to work, including in cooperation with the other three administrations in the UK, to assess the impacts of exiting Euratom as these proposals are made clear, and mitigate any negative effects for Scotland.

The Scottish Government publication, Education Governance: Next Steps, said we will take steps to ensure initial teacher education (ITE) prepares students to enter the profession with consistently well-developed skills to teach key areas such as literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.

For the first stage in this process, I recently met with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and the General Teaching Council for Scotland, and this work will be progressed in the coming months.

All programmes of ITE are accredited and approved by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). The GTCS will only grant accreditation if they are satisfied that the content of courses is appropriate for a student teacher to be able to meet the requirements of the Standard for Provisional Registration (SPR). The SPR includes a requirement to know and understand the methods and underlying theories for effective teaching of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing; and select the most appropriate methods to meet all learners' needs.

The Scottish Government publication, Education Governance: Next Steps, said we will take steps to ensure initial teacher education (ITE) prepares students to enter the profession with consistently well-developed skills to teach key areas such as literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.

For the first stage in this process, I recently met with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and the General Teaching Council for Scotland, and this work will be progressed in the coming months.

All programmes of ITE are accredited and approved by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). The GTCS will only grant accreditation if they are satisfied that the content of courses is appropriate for a student teacher to be able to meet the requirements of the Standard for Provisional Registration (SPR). The SPR includes a requirement to demonstrate an awareness of barriers to learning, recognising when to seek further advice in relation to all learners' needs.

Education authorities and other agencies have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. The Supporting Children's Learning Code of Practice explains these duties and provides detailed, practical guidance on supporting a child or young person with an additional support need.

In addition, the Scottish Government has supported the development of targeted resources to support teachers in helping children and young people reach their full learning potential.

The Scottish Government has committed £750m during the course of this Parliament through the Attainment Scotland Fund to provide targeted support for children, schools and communities to close the poverty related attainment gap.

The £45m announced on 24 July 2017 is drawn from the £50m allocated in the 2017-18 budget and is the allocation provided directly to schools and local authorities. The remaining £5m has been allocated to a range of supporting programmes.

Local authorities will continue to have statutory responsibility for the provision of education. As a result of the reforms to be introduced following our review of Education Governance, education will be improved through collaborative partnerships between teachers, schools, local authorities, Education Scotland and other partners. We are working with local authorities and others to develop the regional improvement collaboratives which will support this. We will consult on proposed legislative changes to implement these reforms in autumn 2017.

Empowering teachers, parents and communities to achieve Excellence and Equity – A Governance Review sets out a clear vision for education, one which is led by teachers and schools, where collaboration is key to driving improvement, and where all children and young people are able to reach their potential. As part of our approach, we are committed to establishing a Scottish Education Council by October 2017, to ensure that a system-wide focus on improvement can be delivered. Plans for the Council’s role, remit and membership are in development and an update will be provided during the next parliamentary session.

Scottish Government officials have engaged with a range of key stakeholders who are delivering cultural opportunities to primary school-aged children to identify and fully understand the range of ways schools engage with culture with a view to identifying how best to enhance existing provision.

Engagement has taken place with the National Performing Companies, National Collections, Creative Scotland, Education Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. There are many innovative programmes engaging with children including the Heritage Education Travel Subsidy which has enabled enhanced educational access to heritage sites for over 200,000 students. The National Collections and National Performing Companies undertake significant education programmes which support cultural engagement in schools, this includes free entry for school groups to National Museums sites and free guided tours for school groups at the National Galleries of Scotland.

During the next year preparatory work will continue with partners with a view to establishing a Youth Experience Fund, so that all primary schools have the opportunity to visit Scotland’s theatres, museums, galleries and historic estates.

The devolution of power to the school level means that the traditional roles of national and local government will change as headteachers and teachers are empowered to take decisions about the learning of children and young people. Local government will retain an important role and will remain democratically accountable for the provision of early learning and childcare and of schools.