Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29611 on 20 September 2024. 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.

The Scottish Government is keen to come to a voluntary agreement with local government on protecting learning hours, but if no agreement is reached we will consider options including use of regulations. We continue to engage with local government on this matter.

I am concerned at suggestions of cuts to learning hours in any local authority. I wrote to all local authorities in February this year make clear that this would not be acceptable to Scottish Government.

We are continuing to engage with COSLA to work towards a voluntary agreement with local government on protecting learning hours. If no agreement is reached, I remain open to taking steps towards utilising the powers in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to prescribe in the regulations the number of hours made available.

Transport Scotland has already allocated over £145 million of our 2024-25 budget to delivery partners across both Active Travel infrastructure and behaviour change. 2024-25 is the first year for a local authority and Regional Transport Partnerships led delivery model for infrastructure and behaviour change programmes that will encourage a shift towards more walking, wheeling and cycling. This funding remains in place.

The utmost importance is placed on balancing the Scottish Government’s budget each financial year. The Scottish Government and the whole of the public sector face a financial position that is extremely challenging. As with all programmes across Scottish Government, further active travel funding will need to be considered in this context for 2024-25. As the active and sustainable travel funding referred to in the Cabinet Secretary for Finance’s Pre-Budget Fiscal Update had not been allocated, no organisations nor local authorities will see their previously confirmed 2024-25 funding reduced as a result.

Scottish Government funding for the development and maintenance of the Scottish Youth Parliament/Children’s Parliament Mind Yer Time website is as follows:

The number of unique views to the Scottish Youth Parliament/Children’s Parliament Mind Yer Time website in each of the last 12 months are as follows:

Scottish Government officials meet with St Mary’s Music School on a regular basis to discuss funding and other issues, for example the impact of the removal of VAT exemption on school fees. We also continue to work with the school to regularly update the St Mary’s Music School (Aided Places Scheme) (Scotland) Regulations 2015, which includes an examination of, for example, the income thresholds for parental contributions and ancillary grants.

Safety is a paramount priority and the Scottish Government fully supports Police Scotland and its partners in dealing with illegal use and misuse of off-road vehicles.

Enforcement is a matter for Police Scotland and local policing teams are best placed to identify where misuse is causing public concern and ensuring those areas can be prioritised to prevent future incidents. Police Scotland have previously outlined work within local policing divisions that raises awareness about the dangers of the misuse of these vehicles and we encourage local authorities to continue to work with Police Scotland to address this issue.

Within Glasgow, there are a range of initiatives being pursued by Police Scotland working closely with partners including Glasgow City Council. This includes nine officers within the Greater Glasgow Division who are trained with off-road motorbike capability and can access hard to reach local areas and open spaces. The local division also promotes social media messaging promoting legal use of these vehicles.

A number of public health campaigns will continue to run. Public Health Scotland will continue to undertake targeted communications work for vaccine programmes, including Winter Flu, to ensure those who are eligible for vaccinations are aware and encouraged to take them up. The Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Early and Dementia campaigns are currently running and a number of public health topics continue to be supported by social media, public relations and partner marketing, which is delivered directly by the Scottish Government Communications Directorate.

Following the UK Chancellor's July statement, the Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution.

Whilst any reduction is regrettable, we remain committed to taking forward our work across mental health, working closely with key partners. Our collective focus has to be on making as much difference as possible with our funding.

We continually monitor both CAMHS and Psychological therapies (PT) waiting times performance and directly engage with all 14 territorial NHS Boards. The latest CAMHS and PT waiting times statistics published on 3 September 2024 show positive signs of improvement. However, we are not complacent and continue to direct enhanced support to those NHS Boards with the longest waits.