Chamber and committees

There is currently a shortage of drivers for bus and lorries due to the COVID pandemic, creating a backlog in processing applications and testing which is being compounded by the consequences of BREXIT, as it prevents people from the EU coming here to work freely. We have repeatedly sought a formal role in determining what occupations are in shortage in the devolved nations, but the UK Government has denied this. As such, bus drivers are not included in the Shortage Occupations List (SOL). I understand that the UK Government will be reviewing this later this year and we have asked for full involvement in that process.

The problem is clearly causing issues for local and national bus services across Scotland. To address the workplace issues, my officials are working with bus operators and our partners across the public sector to promote the bus sector as a place to work while recognising that many of the levers are reserved to the UK Government. We have provided up to £210 million in funding to support bus services during the pandemic and an additional £40 million to support recovery this year. My predecessor also wrote to the UK Government about the consequences of the delays affecting the recruitment and training of potential drivers, which continues to be a concern for the bus industry.

I know that the majority of bus services in Scotland are operated on a commercial basis by private bus companies. But I would strongly encourage operators and local authorities to work together to ensure that connectivity is protected and maintained.

The Scottish Government will engage with all bidders for Green Freeport status, to examine relevant opportunities and build on the strategies they have set out.

As Co-Chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), I am leading on work to implement the five key recommendations in the Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) published in 2021, starting with the creation of a Scottish Offshore Wind Port Cluster.

On 11 May, we published the Offshore Wind Collaborative Framework Charter. 24 developers signed up to the Charter, which includes all active developers in Scotland and encompasses all 17 ScotWind projects.

The Charter builds on the 2021 SIA recommendations adopted by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), and is a clear way to support and enable developers’ collective supply chain commitments. The Charter will help forge effective partnerships to deliver on the potential that offshore wind presents in the coming years particularly those that present via our ports and harbours.

The Partnership Council has met once to date, on 9 June 2021. Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth MSP attended the meeting as an observer to the UK delegation.

Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) will continue to be delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the Scottish Government, which Parliament were informed of in February 2019. Consultation and survey responses indicated that replacing Severe Disablement Allowance, which has been closed to new applicants since 2001, would cause unnecessary disruption to the approximately 1300 clients in Scotland who continue to receive it.

The Scottish Government has no part to play in the recruitment of officers for British Transport Police.

Safety and security on our railways is reserved to UK Government and as such it would be inappropriate for me to comment on resourcing or operational plans for British Transport Police. However I have asked my officials to request BTP (D-Division Scotland) contact you directly to advise of its current and future plans to tackle anti-social behaviour on our rail network.

Now that the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the steering group have been developed, it is anticipated that the group will convene shortly. The agenda for the first meeting will include endorsement of those ToR by the stakeholders.

There is nothing in Scottish Government guidance, which prevents the use of schools by community groups. Since March of this year the published guidance for schools has explicitly stated under the section on local implementation that “If undertaking a particular activity is not explicitly precluded through this guidance – i.e. if it is not listed as a routine measure – then schools and local authorities should treat it as permissible provided they take account of relevant risks.”

This was in line with advice from the Advisory Subgroup on Education and Children’s Issues, to ensure that only those measures that were necessary and proportionate were retained. This was also to ensure that there was alignment with equivalent measures across wider society where possible. The most recent version of the guidance for schools was updated on 31 May and can be accessed here: Supporting documents - Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on reducing the risks in schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information on the qualifications of teachers is not collected centrally by the Scottish Government. A report commissioned by the Scottish Government and carried out by the Scottish Sensory Centre in 2016 showed that there were 65 teachers working with visually impaired pupils reported as being qualified, with an additional 15 teachers working towards qualification.

The Scottish Government is committed to increase the capacity and expertise of school staff to support pupils with visual impairments. We fund the Scottish Sensory Centre to provide specialist training to school staff to support pupils with a sensory impairment.

Under the Requirements for Teachers (Scotland) Regulations 2005, education authorities are responsible for ensuring that teachers employed to teach pupils who are visually impaired hold an appropriate qualification. We are also working with partners to update the existing qualifications guidance for teachers of deaf and visually impaired children and young persons to ensure staff have the latest advice on routes to professional qualification.

All valid paper returns from Scotland’s Census 2022 will be scanned in full and digital files created. In addition, digital data from responses for all scanned census returns, including online or paper, will be produced and retained.

High quality scanned image files for all paper census returns will be retained by National Records of Scotland (NRS) and stored in a permanent archive for historical research purposes in future. Original paper questionnaires will be securely destroyed only after all data files for both digital data and high quality scanned image files have been produced and safely transmitted for storage.

Census information is kept secure and confidential for 100 years.