Chamber and committees

On 31 May, Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Scottish Government and Keep Scotland Beautiful launched the second phase of the anti-littering campaign, Scotland is Stunning, which targeted families and young people enjoying the outdoors.

Zero Waste Scotland has also developed a number of behaviour change initiatives and education resources aimed at school children, including the #GetLitterLiterate campaign which aims to teach students about the harmful effects of littering and mobilise them to influence their local and online communities.

Work has begun to refresh the National Litter Strategy, which has come to the end of its five year lifespan, as a National Litter and Flytipping Strategy. This refreshed strategy will be published in early 2022. Recognising the important role of education in litter prevention, communications and behaviour change has been identified as one of the four key themes which will be the focus of this refreshed strategy.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the 2021 grade results broken down by state and independent school.

The SQA plan to publish information on results be centre type - Attainment Statistics for every National Qualification in 2021, tabulated by Centre Type (Education Authority Schools, Independent Schools, Colleges) - on their website ( Statistics 2021 - SQA ) on 21 September 2021.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the 2021 grade results broken down by state and independent school.

The SQA plan to publish information on 2021 results broken down by centre type on their website ( Statistics 2021 - SQA ) on 21 September 2021. This will provide information on the percentage of entries which resulted in a grade A, B, C etc.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring there is resilience and capacity in the health and social care system to aid us in our mobilisation, support staff to recover from previous COVID-19 waves, and to manage the need to remain vigilant against any future wave.

The most recently published data indicates a total of 258,269 patients were seen at new outpatient appointments during the first quarter of 2021. This is down 20.4% from the same period in 2020, prior to implementation of social distancing restrictions. At 31 March 2021, 48.1% of those waiting for a new outpatient appointment had been waiting 12 weeks or FEWER. This IS down from 74.4% in the same period in 2020. At 31 March 2021,184,224 new outpatients had experienced ongoing waits greater than 12 weeks, up 177.8% from the same period in 2020 (66,325).

It is difficult to quantify the impact that the two-metre social distancing restrictions have had on capacity and throughput in outpatient settings, not least because of the differences in Wave one where elective services halted and Wave two where services began to remobilise. In addition to this there is considerable variance in the layout, structure and fabric of NHS facilities across Scotland.

Whilst the two metre distancing restrictions will have played a part in capacity and throughput, other factors will also have influenced them. These include bed closure, staff absences (including those who have been deployed elsewhere to assist with the pandemic or were shielding) and throughput lost to other IPC controls, which include removal of beds to reduce potential risk of COVID-19 transmission.

There has been a change in the way services have been delivered in outpatient settings, for example – staggered waiting times to avoid overcrowding within these areas/ reduce footfall, one-way access/egress and the use of Near Me where possible to avoid face to face consultations.

ACER UK Limited was one of three companies to submit a tender for the contract for phase two delivery of the national standardised assessments in Scotland – incorporating both the Scottish National Standardised Assessments and their Gaelic equivalent, the Measaidhean Coitcheann Niseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghidhlig.

ACER’s tender did not progress to the Price Analysis stage of the evaluation as it did not achieve the minimum requirements for the Quality Analysis stage. Cost comparisons with the successful tender cannot therefore be drawn.

As the contract for delivery of phase one of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments is due to expire in July 2022, the Scottish Government was legally required to compete the ongoing service.

Returning to the market to compete public contracts enables us to maximise value for money and secure the benefits of technical (and in this case education, assessment, psychometric and accessibility) developments over the period since the last contract was awarded. In conducting a regulated procurement exercise the Scottish Government is required under procurement legislation to treat all potential suppliers equally and without discrimination. Tenders are evaluated on the basis of the information contained therein, and no other factors.

The contract for phase two delivery of National Standardised Assessments for Scotland effectively combines two existing contracts, for phase one delivery of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments and their Gaelic equivalent, the Measaidhean Coitcheann Niseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghidhlig respectively. As such, there is no one current provider and a transition of services would have been required whatever the outcome of the procurement evaluation. The risks and opportunities associated with that transition have been carefully assessed and will be closely monitored and managed through the governance structures established for the National Improvement Framework Programme. Outgoing service providers are contractually obliged to support the smooth transition of services to a new service provider.

The Evaluation Guide and Award Criteria published as part of the Invitation to Tender determined the Quality: Price ratio for the evaluation process as 75:25. The emphasis placed on quality reflects the importance the Scottish Government attaches to delivering a high quality assessment resource to schools, and recognises the requirement for a range of technical, educational and psychometric expertise to deliver the complex and multi-faceted Services associated with the Contract.

The Award criteria for the Quality Analysis element of the evaluation identified a series of questions across a range of areas, including Assessments and Reporting; Technical; Service Management; Security; and Transition, Implementation and Business as Usual. Some of these questions were identified as mandatory, requiring a minimum score of 2 in order for the tender to progress to the Price Analysis. The rationale for this approach is that if suppliers are unable to fulfil particular aspects of the service, the service would not be viable, irrespective of cost. Mandatory items are clearly identified within the published Evaluation and Award Criteria.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 Statutory Guidance (amended 2021) states that regulated contracts must be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender. The Guidance clarifies that this means contracts cannot be awarded on the basis of lowest price or lowest cost alone.

Please find the requested information set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government is in discussion with key stakeholders involved in the provision of swimming lessons and water safety education. We recognise the importance of swimming lessons in helping to build water confidence and learning to be safe in and around water, as well as the benefits swimming provides to physical and mental health. We would encourage parents/guardians to contact their local swimming lesson provider to discuss when their children are able to attend lessons.