– in the Scottish Parliament at on 13 June 2018.
Christina McKelvie
Scottish National Party
8. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in eliminating prejudice-based bullying in schools. (S5O-02214)
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
On 28 May, the Scottish Government published supplementary guidance for schools and local authorities on the recording and monitoring of bullying incidents in schools. The purpose of that guidance is to develop a consistent and uniform approach to recording and monitoring. To complement the guidance, we are working with SEEMIS—the schools’ information management system—to update the current bullying and equalities module to enable improved recording and monitoring of prejudice-based bullying in schools.
Christina McKelvie
Scottish National Party
I welcome all the advances that have been made through the work that the Government has undertaken. Last week, the Cabinet secretary visited St John Ogilvie high school, in my Constituency, to see the pupil-led work that has led to the establishment and implementation of its new school anti-bullying policy. Does the cabinet secretary agree that pupil-led peer education is to be encouraged and that headteacher leadership can make the difference in ensuring a whole-school approach to ending prejudice-based bullying in schools? Will he also commend the work of St John Ogilvie high school’s headteacher, Eddie Morrison, and wish him well for his well-earned retirement?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
I had the pleasure of passing on my good wishes to Mr Morrison when I visited St John Ogilvie high school last Wednesday. I took a great deal of heart from witnessing young people leading the process of formulating the school’s anti-bullying policy. A very engaged and sometimes very forthright conversation involving a lot of pupils was going on, and it was well shepherded and steered by senior pupils in the school. That is a very good example of pupil engagement and the expression of the pupil voice, which lies at the heart of curriculum for excellence. I saw similar work the week before, at Holy Cross high school in Hamilton. That demonstrated a similar approach to engaging young people in the formulation of effective anti-bullying policies.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
