The next item is consideration of continued petitions. I highlight to those who are joining us this morning or watching online that we have a very considerable number of open petitions but not long remaining in which to consider them. We have only eight meetings of the committee remaining before the dissolution of the Parliament. Our focus for the rest of the parliamentary session, in the limited time that remains to us, is therefore on identifying areas in which we believe that we can make real progress in relation to petitions.
The first petition that we will consider again this morning is PE1953, lodged by Roisin Taylor-Young, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review education support staff roles in order to consider urgently raising wages for ESS across the primary and secondary sectors to £26,000 per annum; increasing the working hours for ESS from 27.5 to 35 hours a week; allowing ESS to work on personal learning plans with teachers and take part in multi-agency meetings; requiring ESS to register with the Scottish Social Services Council; and paying ESS monthly.
When we previously considered the petition in March, we agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. Her response highlights the guidance on supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools, which states:
“NHS boards and education authorities should work collaboratively to ensure that all staff receive ... appropriate ... training”.
The cabinet secretary states that the Scottish Government has no formal role in setting the pay or terms and conditions of non-teaching school staff. The submission highlights the Scottish Government funding to support pupils with complex additional support needs, which includes an allocation for local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce.
In view of the response that we have received from the cabinet secretary, do colleagues have any suggestions as to how we might proceed?
10:45
