– in the Scottish Parliament at on 27 August 2020.
Finlay Carson
Conservative
8. To ask the Scottish Government how many additional support teachers have been recruited in light of the impact of the lockdown on pupils’ studies. (S5O-04524)
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills:
We are ring fencing £80 million for the recruitment of an estimated 1,400 additional teachers and 200 support staff this year to bring much needed resilience to the education system, and to support children and young people who have suffered loss of learning during lockdown.
Local authority recruitment of additional teachers is under way, informed by on-going assessment by schools and local authorities of the needs of children and young people during the first few weeks of their return to school. Once that process has concluded, we will be in a position to provide the number of additional teachers that have been recruited.
Finlay Carson
Conservative
As we know, young people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition has referred to a “lost generation”. Given the Scottish Government’s record of having 1,000 fewer additional support needs teachers in Scotland than there were in 2010, does the Cabinet secretary believe that one ASN teacher to more than 70 special educational needs pupils is an acceptable level of support? What target would he like to meet for ASN teachers in post in Scotland?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
In addressing the statistics given by Mr Carson, it is important to recognise that the definition of pupils who have additional support needs has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. It is important that all staff are able and equipped to meet the needs of young people who will have a range of different support needs. In Scotland, the number of teachers in the profession is at a 10-year high. We have made provision for an additional 1,400 teachers to be brought into the education system in the light of Covid, as well as for other opportunities for us to supplement the scale and size of the teaching profession. A range of measures is being taken to ensure that the needs of all young people can be properly and fully met as part of the work that is undertaken in their schools.
14:54 Meeting suspended.
15:00 On resuming—
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.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
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.
