Chamber and committees

It would be premature to review the impact until at least a year of official data is available to allow for a proper assessment of the impact of the legislative change. This data will be provided as part of the Scottish Government homelessness annual statistical publication in summer 2024. The data will inform a report on a formal review of the legislation, which will be shared with the Social Justice and Social Security Committee as per the commitment of Shona Robison, then Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, at her appearance before the Committee in November 2022.

There is also ongoing monitoring through a monitoring and evaluation framework which was co-produced with local authorities, third sector organisations and people with lived experience of homelessness. This captures the qualitative impact of the legislative change on homelessness services and is used by Scottish Government officials to monitor impact and address any emerging issues.

There are a number of avenues for local authorities to engage with Scottish Government on this issue including via the Housing Options Hubs, through the Local Connection Solutions Group and via the regular meetings between local authority and Scottish Government officials. Local authorities are also encouraged to contact Scottish Government officials on an ad hoc basis regarding any queries they have or issues they want to raise. In addition, local connection has been an agenda item at meetings the Minister for Housing has had with Housing Convenors.

Scottish Government officials also meet specifically with the island local authorities on a regular basis as per the Island Community Impact Assessment, which was completed in advance of the legislation.

The responses to the consultation on the draft guidance on the Delivery of relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education are currently being analysed ahead of the report being prepared for publication. The Scottish Government expects to publish a report on the consultation analysis in Spring 2024.

The Supporting Transgender Young People in Schools non-statutory guidance sets out a range of advice on legislation, policy and practice including illustrative examples of the concerns faced by young people through a range of statistical information. All statistical material used in the production of the guidance was reviewed for suitability when the guidance was written. It is for education authorities and schools to use the guidance as they see fit, in line with local priorities and circumstances.

As is indicated in the answer to question S6W-25608 on 4 March 2024, the Scottish Government will review the Supporting Transgender Young People in Schools Guidance in due course. This would include taking account of any significant legislative or policy developments. The CASS Review is considering clinical gender identity healthcare for young people. How this care is provided by the NHS is beyond the responsibilities of schools and education authorities. The guidance makes clear that school staff are not required to be involved in the process of a young person seeking or accessing gender identity healthcare. That is a matter for the young person themselves and their family.

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 .

Officials have been engaging with COSLA on partnership development of this strategy and are jointly planning stakeholder engagement which is expected to commence in the coming weeks.

The commitment to develop a new digital strategy for education was made in the 2023 Programme for Government and is expected to complete by Autumn 2024.

The non-statutory guidance on supporting Transgender Young People in Schools sets out a range of advice on legislation, policy and practice including illustrative examples. It is for education authorities and schools to use the guidance as they see fit, in line with local priorities and circumstances.

As would be usual with any relevant significant legal or policy developments, the Scottish Government will consider whether the guidance requires to be updated to reflect these.

In the June response we committed to establishing a new Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme to co-ordinate and drive further change and improvement over time in line with the Scottish Mental Health Law Review ambitions. This Spring, we intend to publish an initial delivery plan setting out the key actions being taken forward against priorities identified under the Programme.

The Scottish Government commissioned Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is playing a central role in working with Health Boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign.

CfSD programmes have developed strong clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG), including one for Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT), which promote multidisciplinary team working, and support local adoption of service improvement programmes. These groups are now well established and have supported several new and innovative pathway developments to free-up additional capacity in the NHS system, many of which are now being successfully scaled up across Scotland. For ENT this includes Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT), Discharge Patient Initiated Review (PIR) and Opt-In Pathways.

We know there is more to do but we are making progress; since the introduction of our long wait targets in July 2022, ENT waits over two years have reduced by 93% for new outpatient appointments and by 54% for inpatient and day-case patients.