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The recruitment of teachers is a matter for local authorities. Details on the number of teachers employed in Scotland’s schools will be available in the annual teacher census which is due to be published in December.

The university intake targets for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for the academic year 2024-25 are set by the Scottish Funding Council. The ITE target for Computing Science for 2024-25 is 52.

As part of routine government business, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills met with officials between 1 April and 22 May 2024. The Scottish Government response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment was discussed and refinements were made to the draft response.

Between 1 April and 22 May 2024 I held four meetings to discuss the relationships and behaviour action plan:

? Two meetings with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) on 16 April 2024 and 15 May 2024, the minutes of which are available at: Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

? A meeting with Opposition Party Spokespeople on education on 16 April to discuss their priorities for the development of the action plan, with actions to provide further information and further explore some of the issues discussed.

? A meeting with the Head Teacher Taskforce on 22 May, the minutes of which can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/head-teacher-taskforce-minutes-may-2024/

The Scottish Government has not held any discussions with the General Teaching Council for Scotland regarding the establishment of a national standardised system for disciplinary or investigative procedures regarding teachers.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), as the Independent Professional and Regulatory Body for teachers in Scotland, has a published Fitness to Teach process at https://www.gtcs.org.uk/fitness-to-teach which sets out how the GTCS will investigate serious concerns about teachers.

The timetabling of Computing Science in the senior phase is the responsibility of individual schools who have discretion to deliver a curriculum that best meets the needs of their pupils and the wider community.

Since September 2022, Education Scotland has overseen a national timetabling group bringing school leaders and local authority representatives together to focus on innovative approaches to timetabling across all curricular areas.

The Scottish Government also continues to fund and engage with the organisation, Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science (STACS), to support Computing Science as a subject area. One of the key aims of STACS is to promote Computing Science as a desirable career option to young people and their parents/carers.

Between 1 April and 22 May 2024 I held three meetings to discuss the revised guidance on use of mobiles phones in schools:

? Two meetings with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) on 16 April 2024 and 15 May 2024. Minutes of these meetings are available at: Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

? A meeting with the Head Teacher Taskforce on 22 May, the minutes of which can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/head-teacher-taskforce-minutes-may-2024/

We understand that reunion and contact with family members are vitally important to refugees living in Scotland. Although asylum and immigration are reserved matters, we want the process of family reunion to be simpler and safer for refugees in Scotland.

The legal duty for housing and homelessness, including responsibility for managing and allocating temporary accommodation, sits with local authorities and neither Ministers nor Scottish Government officials are able to intervene in those decisions. Support with finding suitable housing for refugees and their children are the responsibility of the local authority who should be contacted if housing circumstances change.

In some cases, where there is a change of circumstances, the local authority will require the individual/family to register as homeless. Refugees and their dependents, are entitled to access homelessness support from their local authority. Most funding for homelessness is provided through the local government settlement. In addition to this, the Scottish Government has provided local authorities with £60.5m since 2018 to support the implementation of rapid rehousing transition plans and provide £30.5m annually for their work to prevent homelessness.

The revised guidance on use of mobile phones in schools was fully drafted and had been agreed by the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) prior to publication. The document was in the process of completing final due diligence consideration when the need to consider whether or not it could be published during the pre-election period arose. The guidance would otherwise have been published prior to the end of the school year.

To better inform our understanding of residential rehabilitation, we commissioned Public Health Scotland to carry out an evaluation of the Residential Rehabilitation programme, covering the first two years of the National Mission, which will support the development of consistent, evidence-based policy.

By collecting and reviewing robust data, we will be able to increase the evidence base that will help us to best direct financial resource. This improved understanding means that more people will be able to access the treatment type that is right for them at the right time.

The Scottish Government survey of residential rehab providers, published in November 2021, found that the duration of treatment programmes varied substantially across providers, with an average core treatment duration of 23 weeks. Some providers suggested that this was flexible based on individual need. Typically, private providers reported shorter (5–12 weeks) programmes, while third-sector providers reported longer (14–156 weeks) programmes. Further breakdown of treatment duration by facility is available in the published report.

This report was referenced in Public Health Scotland’s interim evaluation of the Residential Rehabilitation Programme, published 13 February 2024.