Maintaining School Access to Essential Microsoft Software

That the Parliament expresses serious concern about reports that teachers and pupils across Scotland may lose offline access to Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint from 1 August 2024, just days before the beginning of the new school year; understands that the Scottish Government has reportedly been aware since August 2023 of licensing changes that will lead to new restrictions on the use of these programmes; condemns what it sees as the lack of information that has been given to school staff, pupils, parents and to the Parliament regarding the changes to licensing, how they will affect access to services and the practical impacts that they could have, and calls on the Scottish Government, working in conjunction with local authorities and education authorities, to urgently take the necessary steps to rectify this nationwide, before the new school year commences in August 2024, and to ensure that school staff and pupils can always access the digital tools that they need without any disruption or obstacles to teaching and learning.