To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly withdrawn all funding for the National Parent Forum of Scotland. (S6T-01995)

The Scottish Government recognises and celebrates the need for strong parental engagement in children’s education. As such, we have concluded that there is a need to establish a broader, more representative model to support engagement from parents and carers. I am particularly conscious of the need to hear from a wider range of perspectives and experiences, including traditionally underrepresented groups such as parents and carers from minority ethnic backgrounds and those who have children with additional support needs.

Given its reach across Scotland, we have asked Connect to work with us to establish a national parent panel. Members will play a critical role in informing policy and providing advice and challenge to Government as we drive improvement in our education system.

I take the opportunity to thank the NPFS and all the volunteers who have helped to support its vital work over the years. I look forward to meeting them later this week to discuss ways in which they might be able to support the new approach moving forward.

The Cabinet secretary will, of course, be aware that the chair of the forum, Cheryl Burnett, has said that she was

“shocked that a government headed by John Swinney, who was among the MSPs that worked to found the National Parent Forum of Scotland in the wake of the 2006 Parental Involvement act, would defund our vital work without any direct consultation.”

Can the cabinet secretary explain how parents were engaged in the decision-making process to defund the forum? Can she confirm how much money that decision will save?

I thank Pam Duncan-Glancy for her interest in the issue.

I very much recognise the need for stronger parental engagement. The approach that I have set out through the new national parent panel will give us a better opportunity to hear from a wider range of voices across the system.

On the point about consultation, my officials have been directly engaged with the NPFS throughout the process. I have had sight of the letter that Cheryl Burnett shared with the First Minister, and I will meet her this week. I again put on the record my thanks to her for all the work that she has contributed to a range of different priorities for the Government over the years. Most recently, her contributions on behaviour have been really worth while. I very much hope that all the volunteers who were involved in the NPFS, including Cheryl Burnett, will contribute to the national parent panel.

It is worth my while saying that there was a level of duplication in the way in which we engaged with parents and carers nationally. This approach will give us a better opportunity to hear from a wider range of options in relation to views in the system.

Pam Duncan-Glancy asked a specific question about funding. I will put on the record the current funding agreement with the NPFS. It was £53,317 in the 2023-24 financial year. That covered running costs, and it included expenses for volunteer representatives. It did not include any staffing costs. As of 21 May, the NPFS had an underspend of £13,247.

I hope that that gives Pam Duncan-Glancy an understanding of the financials that are involved in the decision. My very clear steer is that the funding will now be used to support a new approach to a national parent panel, which I very much hope members of the NPFS will be engaged in.

There is much interest in this matter, so members should keep their questions and responses concise.

The Cabinet secretary talked about engagement from her officials, but National Parent Forum of Scotland representatives have said that the decision was news to them.

The cabinet secretary will be aware that the NPFS is, in statute, a notifiable body. Can she confirm, therefore, how the Government intends to take that power from the forum and give it to a new body? Specifically, can she say whether Parliament will have a say in that change?

I am not necessarily clear, from the advice that I have had from officials, that Parliament requires to have a say on the changes in relation to funding, but I am happy to write to the member on that specific point.

However, I think that there is an opportunity, post pandemic, for us to look at parental engagement in the system. We know, anecdotally, that parental engagement post pandemic has been challenging for a number of our schools. For example, earlier this year I was in Aberdeen, where I talked to elected members about the challenges that schools have had in engaging with parents post pandemic. It is important that we have a renewed focus on that.

As we know, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in the programme for international student assessment results that it published towards the end of last year, talked about strong educational systems reflecting strong parental engagement, and about that being key in disadvantaged communities.

I see this change as an opportunity to strengthen, not weaken, parental engagement, and I very much look forward to working with Cheryl Burnett, and with the NPFS volunteers to which the member alluded, to that end.

What due diligence was done on the new provider before making the decision? Can we see it, along with the total anticipated costs arising?

My officials have been in discussion for some time with Connect, which is the organisation that is proposed to host the new national parent panel, about the potential for it to be offered funding to establish that panel. As Connect is a registered charity with professional staff and a board, it is well placed, in my officials’ assessment, and from the advice that I have been given, to host a panel to establish a more robust mechanism of gathering the views of a more diverse and representative range of parents.

I go back to some of the points that I made to Ms Duncan-Glancy on that. We need to hear a wider range of views with regard to the advice that ministers receive from Scotland’s parents. The detailed proposals and grant funding arrangements are currently under discussion. Connect has indicated that it will cost in the region of £50,000 a year to establish the panel, and it is working to have the new mechanism established in time for the new academic year, which I think is important.

If the member heard the figures that I shared with Ms Duncan Glancy with regard to the funding for NPFS, he will recognise the parity that is being provided in that regard

The Cabinet secretary has comprehensively made it clear that the Government has taken the decision in order to strengthen engagement with parents and carers. Can she add anything further, in particular in and around the role that the views of parents and carers can play?

It is worth recounting that, to date, parents and carers have had a number of different opportunities to contribute to engagement in relation to education reform, including through the national discussion on education, which published its final report last year; the independent review of qualifications and assessment; and the consultation on the provisions in the proposed education bill.

As I have intimated today, the Government is committed to strengthening our approach to parental engagement to ensure that we have a range of different opportunities for parents and carers to shape and influence policy development and to provide challenge to Government, too.

However, we need to ensure, at this critical juncture in education reform, that we have meaningful engagement that draws on a wide range of perspectives and experiences from all parts of Scotland. Those partnerships with parents and carers are crucial to reforming our education system and ensuring that, together, we tackle some of the challenges that we currently face, such as attendance, behaviour and mobile phone use in schools. We are confident that our new approach, in establishing a national parent panel, will achieve that.

It is good to hear the Cabinet secretary talk about broadening engagement with parents, but the obvious question is this: why could the National Parent Forum of Scotland not be the vehicle for broadening that engagement? Why did that require such an abrupt and radical change?

I do not accept that it is particularly radical, nor that it is particularly abrupt, given some of the changes to funding that I described in my response to a previous question today. I am happy to share details of the change with Mr Kerr. Connect, which is a parental charity organisation with a professional staff team and reach across Scotland, has been asked to establish the national parent panel to ensure that a strengthened approach is delivered. As I mentioned, it is aimed at ensuring that a broader range of views is captured.

Detailed work is well under way between Connect and my officials to set up that mechanism. As I said in my response to the member’s colleague, Liam Kerr, it will be operational in time for the new academic year, which is crucial.