The Education Secretary advised the Committee that SIMD data “is a good measure for identifying substantive groupings and areas of poverty, it is not good at identifying individual instances of poverty”, and that “in smaller schools, families might be reluctant to come forward and say that their children are eligible for free school meals because such eligibility is slightly more obvious in a school of 20 pupils than it is in a school of 200 or 300 pupils”. There is a range of different measures which might be used to identify where additional financial support would be beneficial. In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government provided an additional £2m to help outdoor centres stay in business at a time when demand for their services was completely reduced. This helped to maintain some centres that were facing closure but there is no doubt that there remain significant challenges about the sustainability of the sector because of the understandable reluctance of local authorities and schools to book places. These funding constraints are serious and could potentially mean that even fewer young people would be able to experience any form of outdoor education, including of a residential nature. It would also mean that the extensive experience and expertise of some staff would be lost, further diminishing the opportunities available. So, together with the proven educational and wellbeing advantages set out above, there is a pressing need to fund residential outdoor education properly. I would welcome views on how the provision of residential outdoor recreation should be funded.
Sustainability In making an initial assessment of the sustainable development elements of the draft proposal, a number of relevant principles have been considered, including: • • • • •
living within environmental limits ensuring a strong, healthy and just society achieving a sustainable economy promoting effective, participative systems of governance ensuring policy is developed on the basis of strong scientific evidence.
As discussed throughout this document, it has been demonstrated that the proposed bill would support sustainable development in a number of ways, including: •
A greater appreciation and understanding of the outdoors and the environment in general among young people, including from urban and less affluent backgrounds. 23
