Scottish Government

The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget 2004-05 Summary

Chapter 3 Education and Young People

To give every child and young person in Scotland the best possible start in life, through delivering the National Priorities for Education and Closing the Gap for those who are not sharing the general level of attainment and well-being.

OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

Objective 1: Closing the opportunity gap by: putting children and young people and their families first; ensuring they are safe and do not threaten the safety of others; promoting equality, inclusion and diversity; and developing values and citizenship.

• Target 1: By 2006, ensure that at least 15,000 vulnerable children under 5, every looked after child, every pupil with special educational needs and every child on the child protection register have an integrated package of health, care and education support which meets their needs.
• Target 2: By 2006, the number of persistent young offenders will be 10% less than in 2000-01.
• Target 3: Increase the number of children in Gaelic-medium education by at least 5% each year on the 2003-04 figure.
• Target 4: By 2006, reduce the gap between the average attendance levels in schools serving areas of high and low deprivation by 10%, and by another 10% by 2008.
• Target 5: By 2006, increase the nutritional value and presentation of school meals and increase take-up, especially among pupils eligible for a free school meal.

Objective 2: Building capacity by: establishing an effective framework for learning; investing in infrastructure; and ensuring the workforce has the capacity to deliver high quality services.

• Target 6: Full implementation of the national agreement on teachers' pay and conditions
• ("A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century") by 2006.
• Target 7: Ensure teachers' numbers have increased to 53,000 by 2007 and target those additional teachers on reducing class sizes to a maximum of 20 in S1/S2 Maths/English and 25 in P1 and increasing the number of specialists working across the boundary between secondary and primary.
• Target 8: Provision of a modern, high quality learning environment through the completion of 200 either new or substantially refurbished schools by 2006, rising to 300 by 2009.
• Target 9: Rollout of the new community school and health promoting school approach across every local authority by 2006 and to every school by 2007.

Objective 3: Ensuring excellence by: maximising achievement and attainment; and providing a basis for Learning for Life.

• Target 10: Increase by at least 5% the proportion of pupils achieving expected 5-14 levels relevant to their stage in primary and secondary school, and at least five passes at SCQF level 5 (or better) by the end of S6, by 2006.
• Target 11: Reduce by at least 15% the proportion of pupils failing to reach level C in P7, level D in S2, and five passes at SCQF level 4 (or better) by the end of S6, by 2006.

Spending Plans 2003-06

Table 3.01 Spending plans (level 2)

What the budget does

The Education and Young People budget supports central government policies aimed at schools, children and young people and also provides specific grants in this area. The budget also provides funding for social work training. The majority of the rest of the funding for schools, education, children and young people is allocated to local authorities through the local government budget and is accounted for in Chapter 11.

Portfolio priorities

In 2004-05 we will focus our resources on:

• investing significant funding to reconfigure the secure accommodation estate to ensure effective programmes are in place and provide the highest possible level of care;
• extending study support in schools;
• setting in place plans for reducing class sizes in P1 and S1/S2 Maths and English, in line with commitments in "A Partnership for a Better Scotland";
• improving throughcare and aftercare for Looked After Children;
• increasing training opportunities for social workers; and
• integrating children's services to ensure that each vulnerable child has an integrated package of health, care and education support which meets their needs.

New resources

The Education and Young People portfolio budget has been amended since the publication of "Building a Better Scotland" and the 2003-04 Draft Budget. As a result of the Partnership Agreement for a Better Scotland the portfolio has been allocated an extra 0/29/49 million to cover the cost of additional teachers and the Spark project. The Spark project is a national ICT project which, once implemented, will provide a secure online environment for all Scottish schools and deliver a range of educational services at national and local levels.

Transfers have also been made from local government finance to the National Priorities Action Fund specific grant in respect of the inclusion programme. There have also been transfers out to local government for residual commitments to teachers' pay and conditions detailed in the "Teaching Profession for the 21st Century" agreement.

Closing the opportunity gap

We work closely with colleagues in almost every part of the Executive, including health, sport, arts & culture, lifelong learning, social justice and equality. We are continuing to work closely with colleagues to identify common priorities to tackle child poverty and inequality. For example, early years intervention is a very strong priority for Education and Young People, as well as for Health. Child protection is of concern to a range of Departments - Education and Young People, Health, Justice and Social Justice. Health education and promotion aims to enable children and young people to make informed and healthy choices about their lifestyles. This is a priority for the Education and Young People and Health and Social Justice portfolios. Youth justice and especially tackling persistent young offenders is important in building safer communities and is important to Justice as well as Education and Young People.

We are working to promote better coherence and integration in Executive policies and funding for children's services. The roll-out of the integrated community school approach across Scotland is bringing together services for children and their families to meet the needs of the child in a holistic way. In addition, the Changing Children's Services Fund targets the most disadvantaged children, pooling funding from Education and Young People, Health and Social Justice.

Sustainable development

A healthy skilled workforce is crucial to economic development. In addition, development in early years and during the school years is crucial to provide the skills needed by the Scottish economy in future years. Intervention must begin early if we are to end routes into poverty and deprivation and provide routes out through education and support. We are working to give every child the best start in life, especially those from disadvantaged or vulnerable backgrounds through programmes such as Sure Start Scotland, Integrated Community Schools and the Childcare Strategy.

In addition, schools have the potential to make a significant contribution to indicators such as waste production, waste recycling, energy, and transport. A national school estate strategy was published in February 2003. This will be complemented by local authority school estate management plans, and these should take account of sustainable development issues.