Chamber and committees

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.

Scottish Government officials have met with European Commission officials regarding sharing knowledge and expertise on the operational elements of the Erasmus+ programme’s mobility and exchange, pertaining to the development of a Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Our response to the pandemic has always been aligned with public health advice whether locally or nationally. We gradually and cautiously lifted regime restrictions that were necessary and proportionate to protect the health and wellbeing of those who live and work in our prisons. We continue to work through a Transition Plan and focus on restoration of regimes as we move out of the pandemic phase.

There were no prosecutions under regulation 44(1) of the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (where main crime) since 1 January 2011.

Please note: The latest available data is for 2020-21. Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in 2023.

We are delivering person-centred, tailored services to those further from the labour market through a combination of locally designed services (No One Left Behind) and our national employment service Fair Start Scotland. We provide support that is flexible, person-centred, and aligned with other key services including health, justice, housing and advice services. Support is tailored to the individual’s specific circumstances, people with convictions are eligible for support through both No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland.

We are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service, Disclosure Scotland and DWP to further enhance our employability offer for people with convictions and have undertaken specific work to help promote the service offer to individuals with convictions pre and post-liberation, ensuring support is available immediately on release.

Scottish Government officials make provisional overseas travel plans as part of official government business diary management and planning for Ministers. Until the date of the visit, these are provisional and contingent on Parliamentary Business and other commitments and issues arising. They are also subject to last minute changes.

All Ministerial engagements and travel information (including costs) are proactively released 3 months in arrears and available here Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information regarding the distance of the journeys (miles travelled by air) can be released in response to a PQ or FOI after the event on request, or calculated based on the information released when the visit has been completed.

The valuation of all non-domestic property, including the sites of ATMs, is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who are independent of local and Scottish Government.

We are aware that Assessors were considering the valuation of ATM sites and they concluded that in most retail premises it is likely that such sites will be deleted from the Valuation Roll. Assessors are in the process of carrying out this exercise.

Where a property is removed from the Valuation Roll, the ratepayer will be entitled to a refund of any overpaid rates back to the effective date of deletion.

From data provided by Police Scotland, the Scottish Government can confirm that as a proportion of the workforce in 2021-22 the rate of voluntary resignation among officers in Scotland was less than half that in England and Wales.

The following tables show that, as a proportion of the workforce, rates of voluntary resignations among police officers have been consistently lower in Scotland over the last five years compared to England and Wales

I met with the Chair and Vice Chairs of SPT on 23 November 2022, during a visit to see progress on the Subway Modernisation programme. We discussed that programme, in addition to our mutual interest and shared desire to support the continued recovery of public transport patronage in the West of Scotland. We have agreed to meet again to continue the dialogue and collaboratively working.

Neither SEPA nor the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service hold any central statistics that would indicate the number of fires caused in waste or recycling facilities by lithium contained within disposable vaping products being crushed.

Scottish Government is aware of this issue, and through our regular sector forum with stakeholders across the Scottish resources and waste sector, discussions are ongoing to look at what more can be done to build understanding and tackle this issue in partnership with the sector.