1. I remind members that I am the parliamentary liaison officer to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills.

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to close the attainment gap. (S5O-00720)

The Scottish Government has committed £750 million during this parliamentary session through the attainment Scotland fund to provide targeted support for children, schools and communities to close the poverty-related attainment gap. In 2017-18, £120 million will be allocated directly to headteachers on the basis of the numbers of pupils in primary 1 to secondary 3 who are known to be eligible and registered for free school meals, at a rate of £1,200 per pupil. That funding, as well as a number of national programmes, is on top of the existing £50 million attainment Scotland funding that will continue to provide targeted support to specific Scottish attainment challenge authorities and schools in the communities with high levels of deprivation.

Across the water in the glorious kingdom of Fife, the Labour Party proposes to cut 100 front-line teaching staff from our schools. In Leven, it plans to cut speech and language provision in Mountfleurie primary school. In 2015, it closed Tanshall primary school in Glenrothes. Does the Minister agree that it is high time that the Labour Party got its act together when it comes to closing the attainment gap and put kids before its cuts?

I certainly revel in the glory of Fife with Jenny Gilruth.

Those are decisions for Fife Council, but we seek to make further progress on closing the attainment gap, are working with local authorities towards that end through the developing the young workforce strategy and have provided around £11 million to Fife through the innovation fund, the schools programme and the pupil equity fund. That shows that we are up for the challenge of reducing the attainment gap in Fife, as we are throughout the country. However, achieving that requires all our partners to work with us towards that end.

At yesterday’s Education and Skills Committee meeting, a number of additional support for learning professionals raised serious concerns that made it clear that there are weaknesses in the teacher training for additional support. What is the Scottish Government doing to address those concerns?

We are investing in a range of activities to support the upskilling and training of professional teachers throughout the country. There has been a significant increase in the intake this year. We will continue to invest in that and, if any concerns are brought to our attention about specific matters, it is incumbent on us to consider them. We will, of course, consider any evidence that the Education and Skills Committee gathers.