Chamber and committees

The 2024 Higher History review is an operational matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in its independent role as an examination body. The Scottish Government accepts the findings of the review.

Richard Harry, Executive Director of Qualifications and Assessment at the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC), Wales’ largest awarding body, independently peer reviewed the report and agreed that its conclusions and recommendations are supported by evidence.

Scottish Government has estimated that for the directly employed public sector workforce in NHS boards, additional costs to NHS boards from the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions may be £191 million in the financial year 2025-26. The information requested for the costs for each NHS board is not held centrally. However the combined estimate for all NHS boards is published and available online at this web address: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-insurance-contributions-public-sector-costs/

The majority of taxation powers – including over National Insurance Contributions – remain reserved to the UK Government.

Scottish Government has estimated that for the directly employed public sector workforce in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, additional costs to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service from the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions may be £5 million in the financial year 2025-2026. This estimate is published and available online at this web address: https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-insurance-contributions-public-sector-costs/

We have made significant progress on delivering a Fiscal Framework with Local Government. The foundations of the framework are being applied in practice through the simplification and consolidation of the Local Government Settlement, development of clear routes to deliver local revenue streams such as the Visitor Levy and Cruise Ship Levy, and establishing more frequent and meaningful budget engagement. We continue to work with Local Government to progress the Fiscal Framework and intend to publish an update on the framework around the 2025-26 Scottish Budget and Local Government Settlement.

To date 17 homes have been approved through the demand-led Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund which will operate over the period 2023-2028. This includes 7 homes in Highland, 7 homes in Orkney, 2 homes in Moray and 1 home in North Ayrshire. More Homes Division officials are in discussion with local authority partners on a number of other potential projects where there is identified local requirements.

In general, the Scottish Government provides funding to all Health and Social Care Partnerships to commission and fund Residential Rehabilitation (RR) placements on the advice of their Alcohol and Drug Partnership. To support local commissioning, the Scottish Government also fund Scotland Excel for the National Commissioning Framework which aims to standardise commissioning for RR placements.

The Scottish Government also directly fund the following residential rehabilitation providers through the Residential Rehabilitation Rapid Capacity Programme (RRRCP) – 4 of these are new projects and 4 are expansions to existing services, which will provide 140 more bed by 2025-26.

The Scottish Government’s approach to the planning and delivery of affordable housing is focussed on providing the right homes in the right places.

We remain committed to delivering 110,000 permanent affordable homes by 2032 with at least 70% for social rent and at least 10% in rural and island areas.

We continue to work closely with partners to deliver the right homes in the right places and it is for local authorities through their Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans to identify the type, location, size and tenure of homes required in their areas.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

1.In the period 2016-17 – 2023-24 there was 1 death in custody which has been classified as a Homicide.

2.In the period 2016-17 - 2023-24 there were 2 deaths in custody which have been classified as Culpable Homicide.

3.There have been no attempted homicides in the period 2015-16 - 2023-24. It should be noted however, that SPS are unlikely to record an instance of attempted homicide until the individual has been found guilty in a court of law, until such time it will be recorded as an assault.

4.The following table provides a breakdown of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults for the period 2016-17 – 2023-24:

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

HMP Barlinnie has a total of 966 cells and a design capacity of 996. As of 19 November, the establishment held 1366 prisoners.

SPS are unable to quantify the number of cells that typically accommodate more than one person in our care, due to the many variables that accompany our complex population, however as of the aforementioned date, the establishment had a single cell occupancy rate of 33%.