To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that pupils with additional support needs receive consistent and adequate support. (S6O-04757)

Delivery of ASN continues to be a joint endeavour with local authorities, which retain the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education and the responsibility to identify, provide for and review the needs of their pupils. We have provided record investment in additional support for learning, with local authorities spending more than £1 billion in 2023-24. We have continued to invest £15 million each year since 2020 to help schools to respond to the individual needs of children and young people, and the 2025-26 budget sets out a further £29 million of additional investment for ASN. I have also committed to a cross-party round-table meeting on, and a review of, ASL.

The funding that has been set out does not match the need. Today is another day with teachers reportedly being in tears and at breaking point. A new survey by the NASUWT shows that 70 per cent of teachers say that support for ASN pupils has declined over the past five years, with more than a third saying that they rarely receive the financial support that they need to teach ASN pupils properly. That does not come as a surprise to me. Something is going wrong. What is the cabinet secretary going to do to change that?

When I met the NASUWT yesterday, we discussed at length additional support needs, among a number of other matters. Mr Mundell stated that the funding does not match the need, but more than £1 billion of investment was provided in the previous financial year and additional funding was provided in this year’s budget. I must observe that Mr Mundell and his party colleagues did not vote for that budget and the extra funding. I am happy to engage with him on alternatives and what he thinks should be done, but it is not the case that less money is going to our schools—the budget provides extra funding.

I welcome the £29 million that the Scottish National Party Government has invested in additional support for learning, and I gently remind colleagues that Scottish Labour and the Tories refused to back the budget, which delivered that funding for education in Scotland. How will that funding support the role of local authorities in recruiting for our workforce?

As I have set out, in 2025-26, local government will receive £29 million of funding to improve outcomes for all children and young people with additional support needs. It is worth recounting that outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs are improving and that the attainment gap in relation to ASN is narrowing.

We are working with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on that investment, and we are building on existing spend in relation to inclusion. Further funding is being provided through the budget to support local and national programmes that will directly support the recruitment and retention of our ASN workforce. That is pivotal to supporting ASN pupils in our schools.

The cabinet secretary has again listed the Government’s inputs, but that does not take away from the fact that thousands of teachers are working the equivalent of an extra day per week and only 1 per cent of them have sufficient time to support pupils with additional support needs, according to an Educational Institute of Scotland survey of more than 11,000 teachers that was published this week.

Does the cabinet secretary accept that the Government’s failure to address the crisis in teaching or address teachers’ workloads is driving the growing ASN crisis in schools?

Pam Duncan-Glancy claims that I did not address output, but in my previous response I talked about output in relation to the narrowing attainment gap for pupils with additional support needs. That news is to be welcomed.

As I spoke about, the budget provided extra funding for ASN and teacher numbers. The budget agreement was contingent on our local authorities agreeing to reduce class contact time. The Labour Party abstained on that budget, so Ms Duncan-Glancy’s rhetoric this afternoon does not meet the reality.

Your party voted against the money at Westminster.

Please continue, cabinet secretary.

I am done.