Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:30 pm on 4 December 2025.
Maggie Chapman
Green
2:30,
4 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on adult English (ESOL) classes that are held on school premises of the reported far-right protests that have taken place outside the schools in Opposition to these. (S6O-05258)
Jenny Gilruth
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government recognises the important role that ESOL plays in supporting the integration of people whose first language is not English. Language is fundamental in understanding information from public services, gaining employment and participating in community activities. It is the statutory responsibility of all local authorities to manage their school estate. However, there is no place for racism, prejudice and intolerance to be projected in and around Scotland’s schools. Our children, our school staff, parents and everyone who visits our schools, for any reason, deserve and have the right to feel safe. Making anyone in a school community feel unsafe is completely unacceptable.
Maggie Chapman
Green
ESOL classes such as those taking place in Seaton in Aberdeen are for adults. Some of those adults may be parents or carers of school pupils, some may be Ukrainian or Polish, and some may be asylum seekers. They all just want to improve their English to help them to live in our communities, yet they are being targeted by far-right racists. I hope that the Scottish Government agrees that it is totally unacceptable for education to be targeted and disrupted in that way.
What support will the Scottish Government provide to schools and councils to counter the misinformation and far-right agitation that is fuelling the protests, to protect family learning hubs and to deter racist fearmongering? What strategies can be put in place to defend inclusive adult education in our communities?
Jenny Gilruth
Scottish National Party
I very much recognise Maggie Chapman’s strength of feeling on the issue, which I share. Earlier this year, I visited Glasgow City Council’s ESOL curricular network in a school in Glasgow, and I heard from staff and pupils learning English as an additional language about the fantastic work that is under way across the city of Glasgow, which demonstrates the approach to inclusion and integration that is pivotal in our communities.
The Government has announced £200,000 of funding for work with the Scottish Trades Union Congress on the united workplaces project, which is supporting our trade unions to promote equality and diversity in the workplace. Wider work is also under way, including through Time for Inclusive Education and the digital discourse initiative, which is working with schools to empower teachers to respond to some of those challenging issues more broadly. The issues have also been raised with me by the teaching trade unions, and we will continue to work with Education Scotland to best support our teaching workforce in responding to some of those challenging topics in schools.
Liam McArthur
Liberal Democrat
We have a bit of time in hand over the course of the afternoon, but I want to protect as much time for the debate as I can. I will take a couple of supplementary questions, but they will need to be brief, as will the responses.
Bill Kidd
Scottish National Party
The role of disinformation is increasingly alarming in today’s age. We have seen hateful online rhetoric spread rapidly to incite Division. What resources are available to schools to increase children and young people’s awareness and resilience to online disinformation?
Jenny Gilruth
Scottish National Party
It is fair to say that disinformation is being used across Scotland and the United Kingdom to stoke Division—we are all aware of that. As I mentioned, there is no place for that discrimination or intolerance in Scotland’s schools.
In response to Ms Chapman’s question, I mentioned the work that is happening through the Time for Inclusive Education campaign and the digital discourse initiative. Yesterday, I was in Boroughmuir high school, meeting pupils and staff to learn more about the mentors in violence prevention project, a peer-to-peer piece of work that the Scottish Government also supports. The project helps young people in secondary 6, for example, to work with their secondary 1 counterparts and to tackle some of those issues on a peer-led basis. Those are examples of what the Scottish Government is supporting at the current time, but we remain open to working with Education Scotland on these challenging topics.
Liam McArthur
Liberal Democrat
I will allow a very brief question from Mercedes Villalba.
Mercedes Villalba
Labour
Seaton primary school in my region has been the target of anti-migrant disruption twice in the past week alone. Successive Governments have allowed the poor to get poorer while the rich get richer. However, once again, it is migrants who are being blamed. Does the Minister agree that those far-right protests disrupt not just education but our whole communities by sowing Division? Is it not the case that the real solution to poverty, homelessness and unemployment is ending the gross inequality between us and the billionaires—
Liam McArthur
Liberal Democrat
Cabinet secretary.
Mercedes Villalba
Labour
—and not attacking our hard-working friends and neighbours?
Liam McArthur
Liberal Democrat
Cabinet secretary.
Jenny Gilruth
Scottish National Party
I very much agree with the sentiment of Mercedes Villalba’s question, although I know that she was slightly cut short in asking it. Such protests disrupt education and our communities, and intimidate our educators and children and young people. There can be no place for that in Scotland’s schools.
Liam McArthur
Liberal Democrat
I suggest that Mercedes Villalba was not cut short.
That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business to allow the front-bench teams to change.
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