Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is increasing funding to the culture sector by £15.8m this financial year to £196.6m. This is the first step on the route to investing at least £100m more annually in culture and the arts by the financial year 2028-29. In 2025-2026 we aim to provide an additional £25m to the culture sector.

I appreciate the need for clarity within the culture sector regarding the £100m and I hope to set out the trajectory of spend for the remainder of this Parliament in due course.

In line with normal budgetary procedure the Scottish Government will publish a draft budget for 2025-26 later this year.

This information is not currently held centrally. Students applying to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) for the first time are referred for an assessment of their needs before a decision can be made. SAAS does not set the timing of this process, as it is undertaken by an external party. A new DSA Online system is currently in development.

This is a matter for local authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

We are aware of the following five local authorities overseeing and being actively involved in deer management:

• East Dunbartonshire
• West Lothian
• Aberdeen City
• Highland Council
• Perth & Kinross

This is a matter for local authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Chief Nursing Officer post is a valuable and integral part of the leadership team within the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates and across the health and care system. In the coming years against a backdrop of continuing financial pressures, the post holder will focus on the reform agenda for health and care services, leading the work required to meet the Nursing Vision 2030, whilst also contributing to wider Scottish Government objectives in relation to reducing child poverty, improving the economy and addressing climate change.

With that in mind, my officials have been considering how to ensure we attract the right calibre of candidate to this post whilst also providing them with the time necessary to achieve those goals. The Civil Service Commission has recently confirmed that it has granted an exception for this post which allows it to be advertised as a five year secondment opportunity instead of the usual two years.

Officials are now finalising the recruitment process arrangements with the Commission to ensure fair and open competition, and expect to be in a position to advertise the post by the end of August.

Five local authorities have supplied NatureScot with cull return information in the past five years.

To explain the statement large areas of the façade reference is made to the current standards. The limitation to work which does not need to meet current standards and can be ‘no worse than existing’ sits under Type 25A to schedule 3 of the building regulations being Replacement of part of an external wall cladding system when the replacement is to make a minor repair. Minor repair is described as isolated repair or replacement of elements of cladding which are physically damaged or have degraded to the point that the element is no longer fit for its intended purpose. So, in that context, Where large areas of the façade are being remediated means any replacement of part of an external wall cladding system other than when the replacement is to make a minor repair. The term large areas of facade is not used within the SBA, with assessors directed to the building regulations in section 2.4 of the document.

An estimate as to the level of combustible cladding that will remain on buildings will not be able to be calculated until all buildings with such cladding have undergone a Single Building Assessment (SBA) to understand their condition and remediation required. These include buildings that are developer led where we do not hold all information. The aim of the remediation works following an SBA will be to ensure a building reaches a tolerable level of risk.

The responsibility for staff training in schools is a matter for local authorities.

The Scottish Government has published guidance on supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools. Annex B of this guidance focuses upon UK-wide Regulations which allow schools to buy and hold spare adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) devices to treat pupils suffering from allergic reactions in emergency situations where their own prescribed device is unavailable. This guidance is available through the following web link: Supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Our guidance states that schools must arrange specialist anaphylaxis training for staff where a pupil in their school has been diagnosed at risk of anaphylaxis. The specialist training should include practical instruction in how to use the different AAI devices available.