Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government fully appreciates the work being undertaken and the progress made through the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project to protect and expand populations. It is particularly encouraging to see the partnership approach that has been undertaken by a number of individuals, communities and landowners who have volunteered their time to make a significant contribution to help protect Scotland’s red squirrels. This project has demonstrated that a mix of voluntary and funded action can provide a sustainable long term future for this much-loved species.

NatureScot remains committed to ensuring the important work undertaken by Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels continues, and has provided funding for a two-year transition since the Developing Community Action Phase of the project ended in April 2022.

The Scottish Squirrel Group will be reconvened this autumn to begin revising the Scottish Strategy for Red Squirrel Conservation, which was last updated in 2015.

COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to the Procurator Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis, and the information within it is structured accordingly.

The COPFS systems do not count “crimes” per se. The information we can provide is based on the total number of accused reported in criminal cases to prosecutors. Any questions relating to the overall level of reported crime should be directed to Police Scotland.

Thereafter, prosecutors do not “bring charges” per se. Where there is sufficient admissible and credible information, as set out in the Prosecution Code, prosecutors will decide what action, if any, is appropriate in the public interest. Prosecutorial action is not limited to court proceedings but includes a range of direct measures, e.g., Warning Letter, Fiscal Fine, referral to the Children’s Reporter etc.

The information provided is therefore based on the first substantive marking decision in relation to the individual accused in reported cases.

The following table sets out information relating to prosecutorial action taken as a percentage of the total number of accused receiving a first substantive marking. The numbers are broken down to show the proportion of accused marked for court proceedings and the proportion of accused receiving a direct measure. No action markings are included for comparison.

The South West Scotland Transport Study Initial Appraisal – Case for Change (SWSTS) was a precursor to the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) and included 23 option packages to be appraised further in STPR2.

STPR2 was published in December 2022 and sets out 45 national recommendations for future investment in Scotland’s strategic transport network over the next 20 years.

A number of recommendations identified in the SWSTS for further appraisal within STPR2 have ultimately been recommended. Recommendation 40 ‘Access to Stranraer and ports at Cairnryan’ is specific to the south west and would lead to improving the transport assets and supporting regeneration in the area to benefit the economy and local communities. Recommendation 40 also provides for safety, resilience and reliability improvements on the A75 and A77 strategic road corridors leading to more resilient connections to the NPF4 National Development at Stranraer Gateway and the ports at Cairnryan. Recommendations 18, 23, 44 and 45; ‘Supporting integrated journeys at ferry terminals’, ‘Smart, integrated public transport ticketing’, ‘Rail freight terminals’, and ‘High speed and cross border rail enhancements’, identified in the SWSTS and ultimately recommended in STPR2 will all have particular benefit for the south west.

Rail interventions recommended by the SWSTS including new stations at Beattock, Eastriggs and Thornhill, and new rail lines between Dumfries and Stranraer, between Stranraer and Cairnryan and between the Glasgow South Western Line and the West Coast Main Line were considered as part of the long list of multi-modal options in STPR2. However, none of these three stations (or any rail stations or new lines across the county) have emerged as STPR2 recommendations. Other SWSTS recommendations which were not ultimately recommended by STPR2, including ‘Development of Enhanced Diversionary Routes and Route Planning on the local road network’ and ‘Development of the Timber Transport Network’ were deemed to be more appropriate for progression at the regional or local level.

Funds are available now. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20374 on 16 August 2023. 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

Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) is supported, with local authorities receiving £9.1m through the General Revenue Grant in 2023-24, and Dumfries & Galloway receiving £702k. This funding is not ring fenced, allowing local authorities flexibility in allocating resources as they see fit, including use of digital platforms. In addition, DRT is eligible for the same support as standard bus services through the Network Support Grant and the National Concessionary Travel Scheme.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving connectivity in the south west of Scotland and the second Strategic Transport Projects Review recommends that pilot schemes, involving demand responsive transport and Mobility as a Service, draw on innovative solutions, international best practice, and smart technologies. Digital DRT has been incorporated within the HITRANS, Tactran and SEStran MaaS Investment Fund pilots and, as such, we envisage that MaaS would be able to play a pivotal role in the future operation of digital DRT across Scotland.

A crime of drug possession may be disposed in criminal court or through direct measures such as a Fiscal Fine or Recorded Police Warning. The following tables provide the most recent five years of data for persons convicted in court, where main charge (Table 1) or given a non-court disposal (Table 2).

Data for 2020-21 are affected by the pandemic and subsequent court closures and should not be viewed as indicative of long term trends.

Table 1

The Scottish Government recognises the serious educational disruption that Scotland’s children and young people encountered during the pandemic. We have worked with partners to provide the following support:

• The provision of a National e-Learning Offer, was introduced in 2020, developed throughout the pandemic, and continues to support learners across Scotland, providing live, recorded and interactive online resources across the entire curriculum and age ranges including early years, primary and secondary. We continue to fund this innovative and empowering service, created and led by Scottish educators, with £1.5m support for 2023-24
• In 2020-21, we provided £25m for the procurement of over 70,000 digital devices and 14,000 connectivity packages to allow children to access learning when school buildings closed.
• Significant investment of £500 million over 2020-21 and 2021-22 to support in education recovery efforts including support for education authorities to recruit additional staff to provide additional support for learning and teaching. In addition a further £145.5m has been added permanently to the local government settlement from April 2022. This will allow local authorities to offer sustained employment of additional teachers and support staff.

In addition, our investment of £1 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge during this parliamentary term includes more than £520 million of Pupil Equity Funding that is issued directly to schools. Headteachers are empowered to use this funding to put in place evidence-based approaches to meet the needs of the children and young people in their schools who are impacted by poverty, including where appropriate provision of mentoring and tutoring.

We published “Education Recovery: Key Actions and Next Steps” on 5 October 2021, outlining the range of actions we are taking to support Scotland’s education system and young people to recover from the pandemic.

Every part of the education system, including Scottish Government, has sought to support children and young people through the unprecedented challenges they have faced during the pandemic. Teachers have done, and continue to do, a remarkable job and the quality of teaching during the pandemic remained strong. We know there is more still to do and will continue to prioritise and support education recovery.

The package of support this year, including the "sensitive approach" to grading was agreed following discussion with stakeholders, including through the National Qualifications Group on which Scottish Government is represented.

SQA’s approach to grading the exams in 2023 was based on its established awarding processes where grade boundaries are set to determine the marks needed for each grade.

The key difference when taking a "sensitive approach" to grading is that decisions on where the grade boundaries are set at each subject and level, consider all factors that could have impacted on performance, such as the impact of course modifications, to ensure fairness to young people while maintaining national standards. Full information on SQA’s approach to awarding, including grading, is available in their National Qualifications 2023 Awarding Methodology Report .

Adjustments to grade boundaries are smaller this year than in 2022, reflecting the continuing recovery in skills, knowledge and understanding on the part of students.

The monitoring of the quality of drinking water from private water supplies is the responsibility of their owners and users. For larger supplies and those used for commercial or public activities, the drinking water must be sampled once every year. This mandatory sampling is carried out by local authorities, who are also responsible under statute for any enforcement action.

In most cases it is a legal requirement to provide a Home Report to prospective buyers when selling a home. The home report comprises of a single survey, property questionnaire and energy report and is completed by a qualified surveyor. The energy report gives information on the home's energy efficiency in the form of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). An EPC states the energy efficiency of a building based on standardised assumptions about the way in which a building is used.

The Scottish Government published a consultation on EPC reform on 25 July 2023 seeking stakeholder views on proposals to reform the current metrics to provide more holistic information about the efficiency of a home that is relevant to current and potential owners and occupiers. Our reform proposals include responding to recommendations on improvements to the EPC scheme made by the Climate Change Committee, our statutory advisers on climate matters.