Chamber and committees

The 2020-21 Arts Alive programme received 52 applications and 42 were successful.

The applications comprised of:

• 32 applications for school sessions, from 31 applicants, covering 35 schools. 32 applications were successful.
• 20 applications for school residencies, from 20 applicants, covering 31 schools. 10 were successful.

Broken down by Local Authority Area:

The Scottish Government, through Home Energy Scotland, provides loans with cashback grants to enable households in all parts of Scotland to install zero emissions heating systems, including heat pumps.

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback scheme provides interest-free loans with up to 75% (or £7,500) cashback grant funding for homeowners to replace fossil-fuel heating systems such as oil with low or zero emissions heating systems such as heat pumps, plus up to 40% (or £6,000) cashback grant for energy efficiency measures, including solid wall insulation.

Additionally, through Warmer Homes Scotland, our national fuel poverty scheme, eligible households are offered a funded, bespoke package of measures. The scheme aims to make the homes of those living in fuel poverty or at the risk of fuel poverty warmer and cheaper to heat.

Zero emissions heating and new insulation measures are available, some of which may be particularly beneficial to rural and remote communities not served by the gas grid.

And to further support all households to make their homes greener, we also provide:

• free, impartial, bespoke advice through Home Energy Scotland, including specialist home renewables advice;
• the Green Homes Network which allows households to find out about the experience of others who have already installed measures; and
• the Renewable Installer Finder Tool which helps households find installers and suppliers in their area.

These advice and support schemes, including advice on eligibility for Warmer Homes Scotland, can be accessed through Home Energy Scotland, managed on behalf of Scottish Government by the Energy Saving Trust.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of Scotch Whisky to the Scottish economy and to wider society. Scottish Ministers meet regularly with the whisky sector and the Scotch Whisky Association to discuss issues of interest, including the economy and industry growth.

The infection, prevention, and control (IPC) guidance for dentistry is currently being reviewed by Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland are responsible for the Scottish Guidance. This Guidance has a provisional publication date of 29 November.

The Cabinet Secretary recently wrote to NHS dental teams describing the proposals from the Scottish Government on how we recover NHS dental services to normal practice. This letter is attached for reference: Letter from the Cabinet Secretary to NHS dental teams | Scottish Dental.

Instrumental music tuition is now available free of charge in all Scottish local authorities following agreement between Scottish Government and local authorities as part of the implementation of the Scottish Government's100-day manifesto commitments.

The Scottish Government has provided funding of over £7m in the 2021-22 academic year to sustain provision at current levels and is committed to working with local authorities to develop a model for a long-term sustainable instrumental music tuition service which includes sustainable funding arrangements.

The next round of allocations will be confirmed and dispersed to local authority areas shortly. We will provide further information once the allocations have been confirmed.

There has been no change in the Scottish Government’s position and we are not currently able to offer support in the funding of adult Dyslexia assessments. However, wider support is provided for people with Dyslexia – including funding for Dyslexia Scotland through our Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) fund, to provide information, advice and support.

In addition, dyslexia may be considered a disability under the Equality Act 2010 and, as such, employers have a legal duty to ensure employees are not discriminated against. Employers must make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to enable a disabled member of staff to carry out their role to a satisfactory standard. There is no requirement to have had a dyslexia diagnostic assessment in order for reasonable adjustments to be put in place in the workplace.

The organisations funded under the Equality and Human Rights Fund are taking forward work that meet the aims and objectives of the fund, which are:

To fund, support, develop and learn from civil society organisations and partnerships that:

1. Develop and deliver work that is grounded in the progression, protection and realisation of human rights.

2. Deliver support to address the needs of people facing structural inequality and develop and deliver work to increase participation and empowerment.

3. Support delivery of commitments within relevant Scottish Government equality and human right strategies, action plans and documents.

4. Generate data, learning and insight into the experience of people to support analysis and challenge on equality and human rights issues, across a wide range of policy areas.

A list of the successful applicants is available on the Scottish Government website Equality and Human Rights Fund: projects funded - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government routinely publishes official labour market statistics for disabled people in Scotland and uses these to analyse how labour market barriers and outcomes for disabled people are changing over time and how they have been impacted by COVID-19.

Latest data are published at:

Labour market monthly briefing: October 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We know, for example, the disability employment gap in Scotland - the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people - narrowed over the latest year to July 2020 – June 2021, to 32.0 percentage points.

Analysis is also published as part of the annual progress report of a Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: employment action plan - our plan to at least halve the disability employment gap in Scotland by 2038.

Latest report available here: Fairer Scotland for disabled people - employment action plan: progress report - year 2 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Working alongside Disabled Peoples Organisations, the STUC, and representatives from the third, public and private sectors, the Scottish Government is currently developing a refresh of ‘A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan’.

The refreshed action plan will set out how we will build on the progress we have made in tackling inequalities as we recover from the pandemic. We expect the plan to be published in Spring 2022.