Chamber and committees

Closing the poverty-related attainment gap remains a defining mission for this Government. Recognising the impact the pandemic is having on all of our children and young people, but especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, I announced last week that we would be providing a further £100 million over the next two years to help support the return to school and help children recover any lost ground. More details on this will be provided in due course.

That is on top of the Pupil Equity Fund allocations we have confirmed already, with over £250 million committed to 97% of schools across Scotland in 2020-21 and 2021-22. This helps provide more certainty for head teachers and aid learning during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. Schools know their learners best and, in providing Pupil Equity Funding for two years, we are giving head teachers clarity to assist them in their planning and decision making, in the short and longer term, to raise attainment.

The Scottish Government is also providing Local Authorities and Headteachers with the flexibility they need to redirect Attainment Scotland Funding, including Pupil Equity Funding,to help mitigate the impacts of school closures on our most disadvantaged families.

Even with a return to full-time education, it is imperative that we increase levels of digital inclusion, which is why we have also committed investment of £30 million to provide laptops for disadvantaged children and young people. That includes up to £25 million of funding for a roll-out of digital devices and connectivity to school pupils to enable them to study online. We have also asked Education Scotland to expand their partnership offer with the ESgoil digital learning platform to develop a strong national e-learning provision.