Today I asked the Education Secretary, Shirley-Ann Somerville, about what support is in place for schools teaching pupils from lower income backgrounds.

I was pleased to hear commitments from the Scottish Government of £145.5 million for education staff- inlcuding more classroom assistants- to strengthen the school and learning experience of pupils as we continue to move out of the pandemic.This funding will be provided every year to local authorities across Scotland, to have more staff on pernament contracts. This is building on the £240 million of extra funding to schools given since the start of the pandemic- which resulted in the recruitment of 2000 additional teachers.

Watch the question and answer in full below: