FOI202400444588 · FOI · unclear
Additional Support Needs (ASN) plan: FOI release
Information requested
A copy of the £29m ASN plan referenced in the Scottish Government’s Scottish budget 2025-26 statement to Parliament on 4 December 2024.
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reason why we don't have some of the information is explained below.
Scottish budget 2025-26
In the Scottish budget statement to Parliament on 4 December 2024, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government announced an additional £29 million of investment for Additional Support Needs (ASN), which will include an allocation for local and national programmes to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce.
Improving the experiences of children and young people with an additional support need will continue to be a joint endeavour with local authorities, who retain the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education in Scotland. This additional investment will enable us to build on our joint work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), which is set out in our updated Additional Support for Learning Action Plan and Progress Report, published in November 2024.
On 11 December, the Scottish Government and COSLA reached an agreement on education funding and provision. As outlined in the accompanying joint statement, in addition to £186.5m for the education workforce, local government will also receive additional funding of £28 million from 2025-2026 to develop the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) education workforce along with an enhanced offer in support, spanning all stages of the curriculum from the early years to the end of secondary. Further funding of £1 million is also being made available to support national initiatives which will help to recruit and train more ASL teachers. To drive improvements in education across Scotland and at a local level, a joint Education Assurance Board is being established to achieve our shared objectives.
The Scottish budget 2025-26 is subject to parliamentary approval in February 2025. Subject to its agreement, further details of the plan for the investment of the £29 million will be communicated to parliament.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Attachments
No attachments found.