Official Report for This Meeting
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) Wednesday 2 June 2021 Session 6 © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Information on the Scottish Parliament’s copyright policy can be found on the website - www.parliament.scot or by contacting Public Information on 0131 348 5000 Wednesday 2 June 2021 CONTENTS Col. NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS 2021 ....................................................................................................................... 1 Statement—[Shirley—Anne Somerville]. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Shirley-Anne Somerville) ................................................. 1 ECONOMIC RECOVERY ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Motion moved—[Kate Forbes]. Amendment moved—[Liz Smith]. Amendment moved—[Daniel Johnson]. Amendment moved—[Lorna Slater]. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy (Kate Forbes) ........................................................ 14 Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) .................................................................................................... 20 Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab) .............................................................................................. 24 Lorna Slater (Lothian) (Green) ................................................................................................................... 28 Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD) ........................................................................................................... 30 Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (SNP) ............................................................................................... 33 Douglas Lumsden (North East Scotland) (Con) ......................................................................................... 35 Paul Sweeney (Glasgow) (Lab) .................................................................................................................. 37 Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP) ........................................................................................... 40 Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con) .............................................................................. 42 Paul McLennan (East Lothian) (SNP) ........................................................................................................ 45 Pauline McNeill (Glasgow) (Lab) ................................................................................................................ 47 Michelle Thomson (Falkirk East) (SNP) ..................................................................................................... 49 Tess White (North East Scotland) (Con) .................................................................................................... 51 Jenni Minto (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)........................................................................................................... 53 Maggie Chapman (North East Scotland) (Green) ...................................................................................... 56 Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab) ........................................................................................................... 58 Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) .............................................................................................. 61 The Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise (Ivan McKee) ................................................. 64 BUSINESS MOTION ........................................................................................................................................... 69 Motion moved—[George Adam]—and agreed to. PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU MOTIONS ................................................................................................................. 71 Motions moved—[George Adam]. The Minister for Parliamentary Business (George Adam) .......................................................................... 71 DECISION TIME ................................................................................................................................................ 73 1 2 JUNE 2021 2 The disruption that has been generated by the Scottish Parliament Covid-19 pandemic has caused this year’s national 5, higher and advanced higher exams to Wednesday 2 June 2021 be cancelled. The national qualifications 2021 group was established in October 2020, with [The Convener opened the meeting at 14:00] representatives of teachers, learners and parents working alongside local authorities, the Scottish National Qualifications 2021 Qualifications Authority and the Government to ensure that the hard work of learners can be fairly The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone): acknowledged. The group agreed and co- Good afternoon. I remind members that social produced the model for this year, using its distancing measures are in place in the chamber members’ insight and expertise. Education and across the Holyrood campus. Please observe partners continue to support the approach. those measures, including when you enter and Let me be clear about the assessment process exit the chamber, and please only use the aisles itself. At the heart of the model are teachers’ and and walkways to access your seats and when you lecturers’ professional judgments, which are based move around the chamber. on what learners have demonstrated that they The first item of business is a statement by have attained. Those judgments alone, based on Shirley-Anne Somerville on national qualifications learners’ work, will this year determine the grades 2021. The cabinet secretary will take questions at that young people receive. Those grades will be the end of her statement. There should therefore based not on historical data or on use of an be no interventions or interruptions. algorithm, but on what each individual learner has demonstrated that they know, understand and can do, through the work on which they have been 14:00 assessed in school or college. That is the key The Cabinet Secretary for Education and difference this year, compared with what Skills (Shirley-Anne Somerville): I welcome this happened last year. My key message to reassure opportunity to provide an update on the awarding learners is this: your grades will be judged by your of qualifications this year. teachers, based on your work. It is a privilege, as well as a huge responsibility, I am enormously grateful for the efforts of our to have returned to the portfolio at such a critical teachers, lecturers and others in schools and time for Scottish education. The exceptional level colleges who are implementing the model in order of collaboration in supporting our learners, to ensure fairness for all learners. To provide particularly during the pandemic, has been evidence of how the model is being implemented striking. I am determined that such constructive locally, Her Majesty’s inspectors of education engagement be maintained. today published a review of local authority quality- assurance processes. The key findings from the Ensuring that our young people are kept safe review provide independent evidence that the and are able to achieve fair and credible grades in model is working well in practice, with local spite of the most challenging of school years has authority officers, headteachers, teachers and been, and remains, this Government’s absolute SQA co-ordinators having collaborated to ensure priority. I take very seriously the anxiety and that young people’s efforts are appropriately concern that some young people, parents and recognised, and with local authorities having teachers have voiced about the approach that is supported schools to implement the model to being taken—an approach that I and key reflect their local contexts while working within a stakeholders across our system firmly believe to national framework. be the fairest possible for our young people, in the challenging circumstances that result from the Despite the best efforts, a very small number of pandemic. learners who completed courses have over recent weeks, in particular, experienced significant In responding to the concerns that I have heard, disruption that has meant that they have been my statement will restate key principles about the unable to complete their assessments. model, provide detail on the support that is Contingency arrangements, on which the national available to learners, set out how this year’s qualifications 2021 group is publishing details appeals process will work to support learners, today, are in place for later certification for that acknowledge work to safeguard opportunities for group. this year’s learners to progress to further and higher education, and provide an update I fully appreciate that there are people who concerning the Organisation for Economic Co- disagree with the model that has been put in operation and Development review of the place. However, to them I say that teachers, curriculum. learners, and parents and carers have been 3 2 JUNE 2021 4 listened to, and that the model is the result of that. procedural error within the SQA or the examining Awarding qualifications would always be centre, and appeals that are related to the Equality challenging under the current circumstances, but Act 2010, including on assessment arrangements. we believe that the model that we have is the Education stakeholders have been clear that fairest solution in the interests of young people. demonstrated