To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reported comments from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland that “children are being let down” by an education system that needs “radical reform”. (S6F-03628)

On Tuesday, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills made a statement to the Parliament setting out the Government’s long-term strategy for Scottish education. In addition to that, data was set out to the Parliament, as I have rehearsed, on the narrowing of the attainment gap and improvements in attainment in our education system.

The First Minister can list and input all the selective data that he likes, but the reality is plain to see. The commissioner spoke for many when she said that education needs “radical reform”, but the reality is that that is not on offer from the Government. Its supposed reform bill is little more than a rebrand and, as the commissioner said, it

“will barely move us forward”

while education is in decline.

The GMB has said that support staff have been left with post-traumatic stress disorder. NASUWT has said that the Government

“cannot continue to ignore their duty to every child”.

Parents have said that the situation has reached crisis point, and a senior headteacher has said that, put simply, Scotland is “being let down” and is letting down young people.

Passing the buck to local authorities is not acceptable. The sector is screaming the reality, and I am afraid that the Government is not listening. Why is the First Minister right and the children’s commissioner, teachers, unions and parents wrong?

The Government takes forward its education priorities in consultation with all stakeholders in the education system. That is why the Government will take forward an education assurance board with local authorities, which have the statutory and legal obligation to deliver education in our communities the length and breadth of the country.

The Government will support that endeavour. We have put more resources into additional support needs, which were proposed in the budget and argued for by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. We have allocated more resources to boost local government funding, so that local authorities have more choice for investment. We have taken forward a behaviour in schools action plan, and we have taken forward steps to ensure that the attainment gap is narrowed.

Pam Duncan-Glancy will have to start making some choices. She has to decide whether she will support the Government’s budget in February. I am getting a bit more encouraged that the Labour Party might actually see sense and might see that an investment has to be made in public services. That will happen only if the Government’s budget passes in the Parliament. It is time for the Labour Party to get off the fence and support the Government’s budget.

Time is tight, colleagues, so I would be grateful for concise questions and responses.

Children in Scotland are undoubtedly being let down. How many children in Scotland have been dragged into or kept in poverty by disgraceful policies such as Labour’s two-child limit? Will the First Minister tell the chamber how the policies of his Scottish National Party Government and the budget are delivering for Scotland’s education system and for our bairns and young folk?

There is a way to address the two-child limit issue that Jackie Dunbar has put to me, and that is by passing the Scottish Government’s budget, which will take measures to lift the two-child limit and, as a consequence, will lift more children out of poverty. That is the first thing that the Parliament can do. That could be added to the measures that we are taking in the budget to provide the Scottish child payment, which is helping to keep 100,000 children out of poverty. We can strengthen the outcomes for young people by supporting the Government’s budget, which invests more in education to support additional support needs and deliver more teachers. That is some of the action that the Parliament can take when it supports the Government’s budget.

When the First Minister became First Minister, he said that enterprise was one of the key aspects of education that he wanted to grow and to be invested in. Why, therefore, has the Scottish Government decided this week that Youth Enterprise Scotland will not be funded? It is laying off 17 members of its staff. The organisation has delivered enterprise education to young people across Scotland for 30 years. Why has the Scottish Government decided to shut it down?

That is not happening. The Government has provided financial support to Youth Enterprise Scotland. We value the work that it is doing and will continue to support it.

We move to Constituency and general supplementary questions. Again, concise questions and responses will be appreciated.