Chamber and committees

As previously announced, we intend to open a Scottish Government Office in Warsaw within the lifetime of this Parliament. The office will contribute to a fairer, greener Scotland by promoting Scottish culture and expertise, attracting inward investment and fostering people-to people contacts between Scotland and Poland.

The UK Government’s 11th hour decision to undermine DRS in Scotland will have affected businesses across Scotland that were preparing for the launch of the Scottish scheme. We wrote to the UK Government on 16 May, 19 May and 23 May 2023 to inform them of the potential impact a delayed decision on the IMA exclusion, or not providing an exclusion, would have on businesses. In our letter dated 2 June 2023, we specifically highlighted our concerns about the impact this would have on Circularity Scotland Limited (CSL).

Administrators (Interpath) were appointed on 21 June 2023, and are currently working through the details of the administration process for CSL. The administration process will assess if any businesses has been directly financially affected by CSL going into administration.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the delivery of a successful DRS in October 2025 and are pushing the UK Government to set out how this can be delivered across the UK. The onus is now on DEFRA to work with the devolved nations, industry and wider stakeholder to ensure this scheme is launched successfully and on time.

As of 28 July 2023, a total of 65,602 properties in Scotland remain eligible for a voucher worth up to £5,000 through the R100 SBVS. That total is broken down by R100 contract area as follows:

North – 31,104

Central – 29,550

South – 4,948

The R100 SBVS remains the most generous broadband voucher currently available and we continue to publicise its availability via the press, social media, and through continued stakeholder engagement activity across Scotland. Suppliers registered to deliver connections through the R100 SBVS provide a range of superfast capable technologies including fibre, fixed wireless, 4G and satellite. The R100 SBVS can also be combined with the UK Government’s Gigabit Voucher, where applicable, to provide up to £9,500 to secure a gigabit capable broadband connection.

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation sets out the need to strengthen Scotland’s position in new markets and industries, generating new, well-paid jobs through a just transition to net zero and a highly skilled workforce is critical to the delivery of that ambition.

Our No One Left Behind approach will support a growing number of green jobs and innovation activity by offering all-age employability support to all who require it with a focus on helping those furthest from the labour market with the most complex barriers to gaining and sustaining fair work, such as carers, single parents, and those on low incomes.

The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) awards a range of loans, bursaries and living-cost grants to eligible students to assist with their expenses while studying. This can include providing support with living costs for those who have had to reduce their working hours in order to undergo training and upskilling. Detailed information for specific groups can be found on the SAAS website including grants for lone parents and undergraduate students with the lowest household incomes - Student Awards Agency Scotland - SAAS - Funding Your Future .

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested, as responsibility for managing Police Scotland’s call handling system, including for non-emergency 101 calls, rests with the Chief Constable.

Police Scotland publish performance data, including for the non-emergency 101 service, on their website at Call Handling Reports 2023 - Police Scotland . The average wait time for non-emergency 101 calls in the last 6 months is below.

Police Scotland has advised that when there is a surge in 999 calls they will re-prioritise Advisors from non-emergency (101) calls and emails as they aim to answer 999 calls under 10 seconds. Therefore there is a direct link between increase in 999 volumes and the average speed of answer for 101 non-emergency calls performance. As shown below, the months where there has been a notable increase in Police Scotland’s average answer times for 101 is as a direct consequence of aiming to achieve an average speed of answer of under 10 seconds for 999 calls. The average speed of answer for 999 calls for the same period is also below.

There has been a significant change in the contact volume profile (999, 101, Other Emergency Service calls and Contactus E-Mails) being experienced by the Police Scotland Service Centre following the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes sustained annual growth in 999 call volumes which have risen by 34% since 2018. This year there has been an increase of 18% in January to June when compared to 2022; with May and June increases of 25% and 37% respectively in 999 calls compared with the same month the previous year.

101 average speed of answer – Jan to July 2023

The Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) sets out a framework for green skills planning and a clear direction for the changes needed in the skills system, signalling the role that industry, communities and individuals across Scotland will play in achieving this.

The Plan commits to maximising the uptake of all skills pathways relevant to supporting the transition to net zero across training, education and work-based learning through a range of short, medium, and long-term actions and can be found here: climate-emergency-skills-action-plan-2020-2025.pdf (skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk) .

All newly qualified teachers in Scotland must complete a period of probationary service to show that they meet the Standard for Full Registration.

In the September 2022 Teacher census there were 2,889 full-time equivalent probationary teachers employed in publicly funded schools on the Teacher Induction Scheme(TIS) or other single year induction schemes. A small number of teachers may also enter into teaching via a flexible or alternative route.

As noted in S6W-19781, we committed to publish the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan Update by the end of the year alongside the Climate Change Plan.

The Crofting Commission publishes its application processing times in its Annual Report & Accounts. The median turnaround times for applications completed during Q1 of 2023-24 is as follows:

Croft House decrofting: 11 weeks

Apportionment: 117 weeks

The croft registration process belongs to Registers of Scotland, therefore these figures are not readily available.

Whilst the Commission’s capacity for processing casework declined in 2021-22, an increase to its budget in the last two years has enabled it to expand its staff resource and improvements are being made. The apportionment cases now being cleared include some of those affected by delays in 2021-22, or earlier.