Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government received a draft of the full Higher History Review report from the SQA on 30 October 2024, and the Executive Summary report on 1 November 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31439 on 22 November 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31439 on 22 November 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government holds or has access to multiple datasets relating to land use. However, these datasets are not exhaustive and are not held in a compatible format that would enable us to provide the information requested.

The purpose of the National Specification is to provide clarity on the range of substance use support services which should be available in local areas as the first phase in developing National Standards and regulations. The specification will take into account the outcomes of the current Public Health Scotland review into the reduction of referrals to Tier 3 and Trier 4 services to ensure that all services, including Tier 1 and Tier 2, are included in suggested improvements. This will help local services to set out future strategic plans to deliver on their commitment to reduce alcohol and drug deaths and associated harms and to improve the lives of those impacted by alcohol and drugs. This will support people in being aware of the services that are available to them whether structured on more informal, such awareness is important in empowering people to make informed choices about their needs. Throughout the national specification there is emphasis on the need to provide person centred care for each individual to supporting meeting individual needs.

The national specification is the first stage of developing national standards and regulations for substance use services. The specification will outline the types of services which should be made available within all local areas. The second phase will be the development of standards which services will be expected to meet and the third phase will be the development of regulations on the basis of which services will be inspected. It is hoped that the regulations will be published by 2028. The completion of all three phases will support clarity and accountability on service providers as recommended within the Audit Scotland report.

Data on economic inactivity and its causes is collected for Scotland by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS).

The Scottish Government publishes its own analysis on economic inactivity in Scotland based on the ONS LFS and APS data. The most recent publication including this data is the Labour Market Trends: November 2024 publication. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/labour-market-trends-november-2024/

The Scottish Government also recently published an evidence review on Economic Inactivity in Scotland: Supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active. The report can be found here: Economic inactivity in Scotland: supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government are working with Welsh and Northern Irish Governments and our colleagues in ONS to better understand and to guide improvements in the collection of this data.

The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 requires Scottish Ministers to publish a five-year Rural Support Plan. The plan will build upon for the Vision for Scottish Agriculture and the Agricultural Reform Route Map and outline the phased transition from legacy EU CAP schemes to the new four-tier framework. The 2024 Act sets out the requirements for the plan including for engagement. Meeting these requirements is integral to the operation of the Agricultural Reform Programme, including through the co-development of future support with our rural partners and in the developing secondary legislation that will introduce changes. The Rural Support Plan will collate this information into a single strategic and coherent package, provide programme level input and ensure that the totality of measures is considered. Once the 2024 Act is commenced, the initial plan is intended to be drafted through 2025 and laid in Winter 2025, to reflect the published Route Map. The 2024 Act requires that the plan is laid before the Scottish Parliament, and published.

At times of peak demand callers may have to wait longer for their call to be answered. Because of this, the Scottish Ambulance Service utilises the Intelligent Routing Platform (IRP) where, after waiting for 180 seconds, a caller is transferred to the next available call handler at another UK ambulance service.

The IRP is utilised by all other UK ambulance services.

The call is then sent back through a digital gateway to the appropriate regional Scottish Ambulance Service Ambulance Control Centre, who have local knowledge, and will dispatch the most appropriate resource.

Below is the number of calls between November 2023 and October 2024 that were transferred to another UK ambulance service from Scotland. It is important to note that over the last 12 months the Scottish Ambulance Service has answered 1,066,121 calls so the number of patients whose calls are answered by an ambulance service outwith Scotland is incredibly low.

November 2023 – 137

December - 28

January 2024 - 10

February - 6

March - 10

April - 4

May - 16

June - 13

July - 27

August - 12

September - 84

October - 183

No One Left Behind, our shared approach with Local Government to delivering devolved employability services, has a key role to play in meeting our commitment to halving the Disability Employment Gap by 2038. Whilst we have seen positive progress to date in the number of people with learning disabilities accessing support, we are committed to going further. That is why our Programme for Government sets out that we will have Specialist Employability Support in place across all 32 local authority areas by Summer of 2025.

Additionally, as outlined in the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan, we are working with partners to develop a central resource hub for employers. Feedback from surveys of a range of employers and engagement with key stakeholders is being used to inform the design of the resource in an accessible way to help ensure that organisations of all sizes and sectors across Scotland can access advice and support to better implement Fair Work.