Chamber and committees

The information on number of households supported by our delivery partners through the Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) for 2023-24, has been built into our grant offer letters and will be monitored and captured through regular engagement and dialogue with partners across the year, with subsequent end year evaluation reports next year.

FIF partner 2022-23 evaluation reports are due to be received by end of June.

Modern Apprenticeship statistics are published on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website at Modern Apprenticeships | Skills Development Scotland . Year-end statistics for 2022/23 are expected to be published in May 2023.

The proportion of individuals who completed their apprenticeship, known in the published reports below as ‘achievement rate’, are published by SDS at the following links:

Foundation Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/50223/foundation-apprenticeship-report-2022-published-version.pdf

Modern Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49237/modern-apprenticeship-statistics-quarter-4-2021-22.pdf

Graduate Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49924/graduate-apprenticeship-annual-report-2022-final.pdf

Earlier years data can be found in older publications.

The following table provides how many deposits have been held with SafeDeposits Scotland in each year for which data is available.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport periodically receives expressions of interest regarding purchase of the Airport. The management team at Glasgow Prestwick Airport follow due process in reviewing proposals to ensure that offers are credible and provide value for money.

It is important that we safeguard the integrity of confidential and commercial discussions to avoid any detrimental impact on any negotiations, therefore further disclosure would not be possible.

We have committed to updating Parliament at the appropriate time on the sale of Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Ear syringing is no longer the recommended procedure for clinicians due to concerns about uncontrolled water pressure. Instead NICE recommends that patients should be asked to self-administer with ear drops first and follow up care should be irrigation or suction.

Formerly most ear wax management procedures were carried out in GP practices. The new GP contract, introduced in 2018, committed Health Boards to set up Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) services to shift workload away from GP practices to NHS Board employed staff so that GP practices could focus on what only they can do. CTAC has been defined in GP contract regulations as including phlebotomy, chronic disease monitoring, the collection of biometric information, attending to minor injuries, changing dressings, suture removal and ear syringing. The Scottish Government has confirmed to Health Boards that CTAC services should cover ear wax management generally.

The process of transfer was underway when many practices stopped administering syringing, irrigation or suction as treatments in March 2020 amid concerns that they might be Aerosol Generating Procedures that could spread COVID-19. Despite this, and other constraints, implementation of the new GP contract continued throughout the pandemic. There are now 3,220 whole time equivalent healthcare professionals in multi-disciplinary teams supporting practices with CTAC and pharmacotherapy services as well as delivering the childhood and seasonal vaccination programmes but we are aware that gaps in delivery remain.

Scottish Government officials are now working with Health Boards to collect and review the data on the workforce and financial resources required to fully deliver these services to inform consideration of the potential for additional investment in 2023-24. We will then look to ensure that all Health Boards have appropriate communications regarding local pathways for ear wax management and other transferred services.

The Ministerial-led working group last convened on 26 th October 2022 and the minutes of this meeting will be published within the coming weeks. The working group was formed to consider short, medium and long term actions to address anti-abortion activities which take place outside of healthcare facilities providing abortion services.

A significant proportion of the group’s work was to consider the use of Local Authority bye-laws to potentially deliver the zones. The Scottish Government was committed to supporting councils to use bye-laws to implement safe access zones, but Local Authorities concluded that national legislation would be a more appropriate route, and the work to consider bye-laws has now concluded.

We are now clear that delivering national legislation is the best and most secure route to ensure buffer zones are delivered and sustained. We are therefore fully focused on supporting the drafting and development of Gillian Mackay MSP’s national Abortion Service Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill. We will continue to take forward discussions with stakeholders to ensure that robust and effective legislation is introduced as soon as possible.

Although there are no plans for a final report of the working group’s findings to be published, the group agreed that the Scottish Government should commission research into the impact of protests and vigils in Scotland. This research is ongoing, and a final report on this will be published following its completion.

Information regarding superfast broadband coverage in Scotland can be accessed on Ofcom’s website. Ofcom’s most recent figures, published in December 2022 , show that as of September 2022 the percentage of residential and commercial premises able to access superfast broadband (30 Megabits per second or above) in the island local authority areas was as follows:

The detailed information requested is currently being collated by Skills Development Scotland and I will write to the member as soon as this data is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib number 64175).

Modern Apprenticeship statistics are published on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website at Modern Apprenticeships | Skills Development Scotland . Year-end statistics for 2022-23 are expected to be published in May 2023.

The proportion of individuals who don't complete their apprenticeship or leave early are published by SDS at the following links:

Foundation Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/50223/foundation-apprenticeship-report-2022-published-version.pdf

Modern Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49237/modern-apprenticeship-statistics-quarter-4-2021-22.pdf

Graduate Apprenticeships – https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49924/graduate-apprenticeship-annual-report-2022-final.pdf

Earlier years data can be found in older publications.

(a) There were 149 admissions of under 18s to secure accommodation during 2021-22. Details of those placements can be found in the Children’s Social Work Statistics Scotland: 2021 to 2022 .

(b) The Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2021-22 show the establishments where under 18s were held. This is detailed in the following table: