The Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee has called on the government to encourage “as many suitable vulnerable children as possible” to attend hub schools

In the letter sent today to education secretary and deputy first minister John Swinney, it also asks the government to publish the scientific advice it is receiving on reopening schools and for inspection body Education Scotland to collect data on the number of pupils who are “digitally excluded” in Scotland.

The committee wants the government to spell out how it will support families over the summer holidays - particularly when it comes to ensuring that children have enough food - and suggests there could be a case for “one-to-one tuition or tuition in small groups” for children with additional support needs.

Background: Education secretary wants to see more pupils in hubs

Related: Uptake of school places for vulnerable ‘very low’

Coronavirus: Children’s commissioner concerned by hub school figures

Last month Tes Scotland broke the news that the children’s commissioner, Bruce Adamson, was worried about the “very, very low” number of vulnerable children attending hub schools, which were set up in the wake of the school closures on 20 March to provide childcare for key workers’ children and vulnerable children.

Tes Scotland also published the hub attendance figures during the first week back after the Easter break, when an average of 6,060 children attended, 17 per cent of whom were classed as vulnerable - figures that Mr Adamson described as “concerning”.

Coronavirus: Support for vulnerable pupils

New figures obtained by Tes Scotland show that last week average daily attendance at hubs rose to 7,750 pupils with 24.5 per cent of the places taken by vulnerable children. However, the MSPs who sit on the Education and Skills Committee want more to be done to “promote” attendance by “as many suitable vulnerable children as possible”, saying they are “hugely concerned” about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on this group of children.

Mr Swinney said earlier this month that he would like to see more pupils attending hub schools.

The letter states: “The committee considers that, given the low attendance levels of vulnerable children in hubs, there is a need to ensure as many suitable vulnerable children as possible are encouraged to attend. This includes proactively promoting this message to parents and carers.

“The committee wants to know what is being done at present to promote this message to parents and careers, and what further work could be undertaken.”

It adds: “It is just over a month until the summer holidays are due to start. The committee seeks your perspective on what form of food provision will continue through the summer holidays. The committee also wants to know whether there is sufficient funding allocated to the Food Fund and other national funding streams at present to support this work...The committee was concerned to establish that there is no specific data on the numbers of vulnerable children experiencing digital exclusion. The committee considers that such work could be undertaken centrally by Education Scotland to support local authorities in their endeavours to reduce digital exclusion. The committee seeks the Scottish government’s perspective on this proposal.”

The letter can be read in full here.