Chamber and committees

For staffing and resourcing, the Scottish Government set a maximum staffing support rate of 15% of their total allocation or £57,143 for individual Local Action Group (LAG) areas. However, LAGs could use their revenue allocation to source additional freelance support from out with their Local Authority where needed.

Area spend is ongoing and until all claims have been processed at the end of the financial year, an accurate figure cannot be given for staffing and resourcing costs.

The LAG allocation breakdown is provided in the following table;

There were no applications to the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund that indirectly included local authorities as beneficiaries.

The outcome of the technical checks is detailed in the following table:

In response to your query, my officials have provided the data below as requested.

The following table shows the number of accidents where a defective or poor road surface was a contributory factor.

The Scottish Prison Service publish information regarding all deaths in SPS custody on a quarterly basis, which includes the ‘medical certificate of cause of death’ (MCCD). However, data is not held by either the Scottish Government or the Scottish Prison Service on the number of instances of deaths in prison custody determined to be suicides involved non-prescription or illegal drugs found or suspected to be present in the deceased.

Steps are being taken through the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody to improve availability of data relating to deaths in prison custody.

All children and young people should receive the support they need to reach their full potential.

Education authorities are legally responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of their pupils, including any additional support needs of pupils receiving Gaelic-medium education. The Scottish Government has supported education authorities in the delivery of these duties through the preparation and publication of statutory guidance.

We are also working closely with local government partners, through the Additional Support for Learning Project Board , to ensure we continue to see progress with the delivery of the recommendations from the 2020 additional support for learning review. In November 2022, we published an updated action plan and progress report to further support improvement in the implementation of additional support for learning, including within Gaelic-medium education.

The Community Land Scotland Gaelic Development Officer was a partnership arrangement between Bòrd na Gidhlig and Community Land Scotland and any funding is a matter for their decision-making processes.

Community Land Scotland Gaelic Development Officer post was a pilot project that was run in partnership between Bòrd na Gidhlig and Community Land Scotland . This project is now being evaluated and the report is expected in February 2023. This evaluation report will help inform future funding initiatives in our Gaidhlig communities.

The Scottish Government has provided additional funding of £200k in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to Bòrd na Gidhlig to support the network of Gaelic Development Officers across Scotland. These officers are supporting the Gaelic communities by providing a range of c ommunity-based activities through a variety of different schemes.

The focus of Bòrd na Gidhlig’s evaluation review of the Community Land Scotland Gaelic Development Officer post is to develop, and put in place, a more comprehensive and sustainable framework for delivering community based developments in Ga elic . At the core of this framework is the move towards a multi year funding arrangement to better support the work of development officers and to strengthen the network of officers to maximise the benefit to their communities. There are currently a total of 58 officer posts that have been supported by the Bòrd in communities this financial year with an investment of over £1.1M.

Thank you for your question. The criteria for emergency workers differ from that of the public. For emergency workers, the criteria are:

The individual (or team) acted beyond the normal expectation of them and made a deliberate decision to do so in the knowledge of the dangers / risks involved e.g., where the incident escalated unexpectedly beyond the initial assessment and the individual had to adapt their training or improvise to achieve the desired outcome.

The individual (or team) displayed outstanding bravery in the knowledge of significant risk or danger to their own life whilst protecting or attempting to protect another person. Consideration of the UK Gallantry Award System may also come into play in these situations.

The individual (or team) showed personal courage in the face of violent or unpredictable circumstances.

Where the individual (or team) made a significant contribution to reducing risk to the public and preventing future deaths or injuries.

Where an individual or team has gone beyond the expected contribution to their service and has through determination, innovation and persistent effort overcome obstacles resulting in a quantifiable contribution to public safety.