First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 12:07 pm on 8 May 2025.
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Labour
12:07,
8 May 2025
In February, the First Minister told the chamber that the overall attainment gap had reduced by 60 per cent, but, today, the UK Statistics Authority has confirmed that the figure that has been used is not even part of the First Minister’s Government’s framework for measuring the attainment gap.
In its letter to me, the UK Statistics Authority says:
“To maintain trust and confidence in their statements, Ministers should take care that when they claim progress of their policies it is by their own defined measures”.
That Intervention demolishes the Government’s claim on the attainment gap and exposes the truth—that a generation of children have been let down by a Government that is more interested in spinning numbers than in solving problems. Will the First Minister now admit that he and his Government have failed to close the attainment gap?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
I acknowledge the contents of the letter from the UK Statistics Authority.
I have used one particular measure of the attainment gap—I could use others. The poverty-related attainment gap between young people from the most and least-deprived areas meeting standards in literacy is at a record low in primary schools, and the attainment gap has reached record lows between secondary pupils achieving third level in literacy and numeracy. Those are some of the points.
I accept that there remains an attainment gap in Scottish education. This morning, I visited Brunstane primary school in east Edinburgh and saw at first hand the effect of the Scottish attainment challenge programme, which has supported the development of leadership in the school, enhanced the curriculum and led to greater engagement with families and a rise in the attendance of young people at our school. That is a consequence of the investment that we, as a Government, are able to make available.
Nothing will detract me from focusing on improving the life chances of children, whether or not they are living in poverty, and ensuring that we tackle the issues around household income and engagement with schools. That will lie at the heart of the steps that we are taking in relation to our attainment agenda.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
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.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
