My MSP's office emailed me this morning with the following. Apologies this is long and I've not had a chance to read it properly yet.
▪ <a class="break-all" href="http://www.parliament.scot/msps/currentmsps/jamie-greene-msp.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con):</a>:_
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement and add my thanks to the teachers, parents and young people who find themselves in the most difficult time of their academic lives. It is only right that schools do not open until it is safe for them to so for both pupils and teachers, but every day out of school is another day that is lost from the full learning experience and another opportunity for the attainment gap to grow.
How set in stone is the 11 Augustt_ date? If the scientific advice, or the Government’s interpretation of it, changes, is that date also likely to change? Schools have remained closed for months, so if, when they reopen, they offer only part-time attendance, the fundamental question on the minds of many parents will be how they can possibly return to work with their children still at home. If our economy reopens and people are able, or find it necessary, to return to work, childcare becomes the central barrier to that.
Does the cabinet secretary have any expectations around how long that blended learning model might last—are we talking weeks, months, or all of the next academic year? Will detailed guidance be issued around changes to the restrictions that govern childminding and indoor nurseries, the majority of which are currently off-limits to most parents? Will the hubs for key workers’ children remain open throughout the summer to allow those workers to continue with their vital duties? Finally, can he confirm that there are absolutely no plans to cancel next year’s exam diet, as unavoidably happened this academic year?
▪ John Swinney::_
Mr Greene has posed a range of questions and I will give some answers across them all.
My view is that the 11 Augustt date for the start of term is set in stone; I cannot see it being any earlier than that, and it is important to provide clarity to parents on that point. Of course, there is the risk that scientific advice indicates that even 11 Augustt is not safe for us to reopen schools, but I believe that the current direction of the scientific advice that is available to us contains a significant amount of confidence that we will be able to reopen then.
On the duration of the blended learning model, it will continue for as long as we require it to operate but not for a moment longer, because I recognise the importance of restoring full-time schooling for pupils as early as possible. My statement made reference to the fact that, as the scientific advice improves, we will be enabled to move out of the blended learning model at the earliest possible opportunity.
I recognise the challenges that all of this poses for parents. Mr Greene will note from the Government’s route map that the other steps that the Government is taking, particularly in relation to employment and the return to work, are predicated on the importance of ensuring that people work from home where they are able to do so. I regularly discuss with the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture—and she regularly discusses with employers’ representatives—the importance of taking a pragmatic approach to the working location of individual employees in order to enable us to tackle coronavirus, which obviously has a knock-on effect on the education system, into the bargain.
▪ <a class="break-all" href="http://www.parliament.scot/msps/currentmsps/colin-smyth-msp.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab):</a>:_
There was a strong emphasis in the cabinet secretary’s statement on blended learning, which means home schooling. In families in which the parents work—often all day and full time in order to make ends meet—their children will be in school for part of the day and in childcare for the rest. Will there be any changes in how childcare is delivered to provide the home schooling element of that? Otherwise, it is difficult to see how that schooling will be delivered in many households. Will those parents have to pay for childcare if it is being delivered during what would have been the normal school day?
▪ John Swinney::_
Colin Smyth raises a number of complex questions, and it is impossible to give a general answer to all of them. The approach to blended learning will require a degree of pragmatism among employers that is commensurate with the route map that the First Minister set out last Thursday, which, fundamentally, envisages that home working will continue for many people as a consequence of the pandemic.
The discussions that I have with the economy secretary and that the economy secretary has with the business community are critical to creating a shared understanding of how the blended learning model can work and how individuals can return to active employment effectively in different settings around the country.
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Text from COVID-19 Committee:*
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“As people return to work, childcare might be an issue. For a number of families in rural areas in particular, options might be limited and childcare will often be provided by grandparents, who could be in the vulnerable group. Can we offer any specific advice to parents who might contemplate going back to work while having grandparents cover some of their childcare responsibilities?
John Swinney:
Mr Stevenson has made a really important point in relation to the distinction between “shielding” and “vulnerable.” We have wrestled with the terminology for people who are not shielding but who are considered to be potentially vulnerable. The shorthand that is often used, and which I have used during the meeting, refers to people who are eligible for the flu jab. That group goes beyond the shielding population. What I said earlier was to acknowledge that, within that group, there will be people over 70 who have no underlying conditions but who are eligible for the flu jab. They will not really consider themselves to be vulnerable; they will feel as if they can get on and do things in life.
We will need to be very careful in our message to those individuals; we will have to tell them that they will really have to look after themselves, take care and follow all the rules. Without that, they could become vulnerable and could become very ill as a consequence. We need to give a very focused message to those people in order to ensure that we properly advise them about the choices that they are making.
That will influence some of the other matters that Mr Stevenson raised, including whether such people are able to provide childcare support to their families. In reference to the changes that will be considered today, I point out that we are not considering enabling people to be indoors in other people’s households. That is not part of phase 1. The idea of grandparents providing childcare support will not be advanced by phase 1, and we have not advertised it as such, because significant complexities and dangers come from people going into other people’s houses.
Mr Stevenson has raised a range of challenging questions about how we must put in place a regime and set of arrangements that can be easily understood and practically deployed by people as they deal with the emerging situation.”