Chamber and committees

The fact that Forestry and Land Scotland have purchased Glenprosen, along with the price paid, are already in the public domain.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12059 on 30 November 2022. 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

Since 2014 we have undertaken one of the most significant reforms to public services in a generation by almost doubling the entitlement to high quality, funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 to 1140 hours per year, for all eligible children.

The early level of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) purposely spans early learning and childcare (ELC) and primary schooling. It is designed to support the implementation of a responsive, continuous, play-based curriculum for children from age three until the end of P1 (for most children). Key messages on the use of child-centred play pedagogy across the early level and beyond have most recently been confirmed and strengthened in 'Realising the Ambition: Being Me' (2020), the evidence-based and internationally recognised national practice guidance for the early years in Scotland.

Education Scotland is taking forward a range of activity to support the consistent and effective implementation of the ‘Realising the Ambition’ guidance, including through hosting webinars and supporting practice at regional and local levels tailored to local needs. We are aware that many Scottish Local Authorities have, or have immediate plans to implement, programmes of professional learning on play pedagogy for practitioners working in the early years of primary school.

From August 2023, all children who defer will automatically be entitled to an additional year of funded ELC.

Raising the school starting age and introducing a ‘kindergarten stage’ would represent a fundamental change in the scope of early years’ education in Scotland and a significant structural change to the provision of education, and was not part of the Scottish National Party’s manifesto for this current Parliamentary term.

The priority for this parliamentary term must be to fulfil the commitments on which this Scottish Government was elected, including building a system of school age childcare and a new early learning and childcare offer for one- and two-year olds, starting with those who need it most. These priorities are outlined in ‘Best Start: Strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland, 2022-26’, published on 6 October 2022.

While the Scottish Government does not have plans to change the age at which children start school in Scotland in this Parliament, we welcome an active debate on these issues as part of our ongoing National Discussion on Education.

The Scottish Government has decided that these functions are best located in the new qualifications body.

In reaching this conclusion we considered a range of options, including the establishment of a new small non-departmental public body solely responsible for these functions and Professor Muir’s recommendation to locate the functions within the new national agency for Scottish education.

We have sought the views of a range of organisations including nine standard setting organisations, twenty-five Awarding Bodies and a number of other public bodies including the Scottish Funding Council and the SCQF Partnership. Officials also met with other UK regulation and accreditation bodies including Ofqual and Qualifications Wales and discussed options with colleagues across the Learning, Education Reform and Advanced Learning and Science Directorates. We have also drawn on the expertise of the staff who provide those services through discussions with the SQA’s Chief Executive, staff in the Accreditation Team and members of the SQA Accreditation Committee.

On balance, it is clear that there are significant benefits to locating the functions in the new Qualifications Body, as an NDPB, providing a greater degree of independence than within the new national agency. The creation of the new Qualifications Body itself presents an opportunity to make significant changes to the relationship between the awarding and accreditation functions which will further strengthen their independence from one another. We will develop these as part of the Education Reform Bill to be introduced to Parliament next year and as part of the Target Operating Model for the new body.

This decision will ensure the continued provision of a service which is of vital importance across a wide range of sectors of the Scottish economy.

The Iterative Plan Review Process (IPR) is ongoing and officials have completed an initial review of the assessments conducted for the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (SMP-OWE) adopted in 2020. This initial review identified which aspects of the assessments are likely to be affected by the ScotWind and clearing process results. The full review is estimated to take around 12 months and a final programme for the review process will be fixed in the coming weeks, taking into account the findings of the initial review. Officials at Marine Scotland Directorate will hold a series of stakeholder engagement events and statutory consultation as part of the re-assessment process.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken specific analysis, regarding the impact of disruption to ferry services, and how this impacts upon island economies. We recognise the important contribution that the Scotch Whisky industry makes to the Scottish economy, and meet with the whisky sector regularly, to discuss current issues and understand their impact.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has not undertaken any specific analysis of the impact of disruption to ferry services on investment in the Scotch whisky industry in the islands.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken specific analysis, regarding the impact of disruption to ferry services on investment and employment in the islands, however, recognise the importance of the provision of safe and reliable lifeline ferry services for investment, employment and for our island economies.

Scotland’s ferry network has a wide ranging impact on National Outcomes: from connecting individuals to employment opportunities; supporting business and freight movements; facilitating access to essential public services and transporting tourists to/from the islands. These priorities are developed through evidence-based policy making, through which consideration is applied to relevant statistics and data, research evidence and publications.

A key objective of the National Islands Plan is to “Review the availability, usefulness of, and the wider barriers to, island level data both at an individual island level, groups of islands and consider the creation of a “Scottish Islands” data level in order to better understand the challenges faced by island communities.” Our National Islands Plan Survey has supported this process.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) submitted evidence to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee’s inquiry into a modern and sustainable ferry service for Scotland, evidence of which is published on the Scottish Parliament website . In their response, HIE referenced the impact on businesses of disruption to ferry services. The agency has sought feedback through its Panel Surveys on issues relating to transport. In response to a 2021 survey, a majority (71%) of islands businesses said that they relied on ferries and, for those reliant on ferries, the resilience and reliability of services was seen as particularly important.

We are determined to support, protect and enhance lifeline services for residents, communities and industries that rely on them. Ferry services are key to supporting the economic, social and cultural development of island communities and operators ensure where possible and when safe to do so, that services are provided to maintain service provision.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12387 on 29 November 2022. 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

In 2020, 6.4% of non-electrical heat demand was met by renewable technologies. This represents an increase of 4.5 percentage points (up from 1.9%) since 2010 and an increase of 0.2 percentage points from 2019.

The most recent statistics on renewable heat in Scotland are published in the 'Renewable Heat in Scotland – 2020 report’ ( Renewable-heat-in-Scotland-2020-report-version-2 ; produced for the Scottish Government by Energy Saving Trust).

As set out in the ‘Heat in Buildings Strategy: 2022 update’ ( Heat in Buildings Strategy: 2022 update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , we will publish an update to our heat statistics in May 2023 as part of the Climate Change Plan monitoring report. This will not only align with our climate change reporting, but will also provide more time to gather and review the necessary statistics.

The funding round which took place between August and September 2021 received a total of 65 applications from across the food processing sector. The breakdown of applications by local authority was as follows: