Chamber and committees

Each child is considered in respect of their individual needs and risks when they are referred to the Principal Reporter, or where a children’s hearing is to be convened. The Scottish Government is not aware of evidence of inappropriate or unequal treatment between care-experienced children and those who do not have care experience or are coming to the system’s attention for the first time.

Scotland’s secure accommodation centres offer an integrated model of delivery, caring for children together in locked premises under high intensity supervision. This applies regardless of the route children have been placed there.

When a child is placed in secure care, children’s safety is to the fore. Secure care centres are highly skilled and experienced in directing and restricting the contacts that a young person can have with others.

The daily care arrangements experienced by individual children are tailored to their own risk and needs, and the safety requirements of other children. This involves risk-assessing the individual child, and then formulating a plan, based on those risks and the vulnerabilities of any others with whom they may come into contact.

Young people who have been supported and supervised under the children’s hearings system are not dealt with as ‘offenders’, as would be the case in the criminal justice system. There is no retributive focus for decision-makers in the children’s hearings system. Once a compulsory supervision order (CSO) has ended or been discharged, then the implementation authority has duties regarding the necessary aftercare arrangements. Section 7 of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill would, if passed, amend the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 to enable a children’s hearing on reviewing a CSO, to consider whether after the CSO is to come to an end, the child might still need supervision or guidance after the child turns 18. In that case, the relevant local authority's duty to provide the child with that supervision or guidance continues to have effect after the child turns 18 until they turn 19. 60% of over 100 respondents to the Bill consultation in 2022 supported this. By this point, there would be no compulsion or obligation to accept offers of support. Rather, the young person may benefit from, and wish, voluntary advice, guidance and assistance as they transition to adulthood.

We are aware of the pressures in temporary accommodation that many local authorities, including Fife Council, are facing and are working with them on what support is needed to reduce their use of temporary accommodation. The Minister for Housing is due to meet again with Cllr Hamilton, Fife’s Housing Convenor, on 7 November.

We have committed to reducing the use of temporary accommodation by 2026 and are acting on the recommendations of the expert Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group. We will invest at least £60 million for local authorities and social landlords to acquire properties for use as affordable homes, as part of our wider £752 million Affordable Housing Supply Programme investment this year. We are also asking social landlords to increase allocations to homeless households and to bring empty homes and void properties back into use, and are supporting councils to develop targeted plans, supported by an additional £2 million in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government is continuing to meet with the local authorities most under pressure to discuss what is required to help reduce their use of temporary accommodation. The Scottish Government has established a Short Term Housing Supply Group to consider how to address the barriers to increasing housing supply in the short term. We are working with COSLA, ALACHO, the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the Glasgow West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations to consider what we need to do differently in the next two to three years to reduce the use of temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government is providing £220,000 of support to the St Andrews Rail Link (StARLink) project through the Local Rail Development Fund (LRDF).

Responsibility for the management and delivery of the project sits with the StARLink Campaign which is required to provide a detailed options appraisal, to the Scottish Government, by the end of March 2024.

To inform the next stages of the project, this appraisal will then be considered against the Scottish Government’s investment priorities for the strategic transport network, a robust business case, affordability and other competing proposals.

The Scottish Government’s latest annual progress report on child poverty , published on 13 June 2023, sets out progress toward the meeting the child poverty targets and in implementing the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’.

Modelling published alongside this year’s progress report estimates that 90,000 fewer children will live in relative and absolute poverty in 2023-24 as a result of Scottish Government policies, with poverty levels 9% points lower that they would have otherwise been. This includes lifting an estimated 50,000 children out of relative poverty through our Scottish Child Payment. However, we will not know if the interim child poverty targets have been met until March 2025.

Our approach to tackling child poverty is in stark contrast to that of the UK Government. Scottish Government analysis, published in April 2022, estimated that reversing key UK Government welfare changes that have taken place just since 2015 could lift an estimated 70,000 people out of poverty in Scotland, including 30,000 children, and put £780 million in the pockets of Scottish households this year.

As official statistics on rates of relative poverty in Scotland come from the Family Resources Survey which is run by the Department for Work and Pensions, which is a sample survey. This therefore this does not allow a breakdown to be produced below the national figure for Scotland.

Progress is being made. At a national level the poverty-related attainment gap remains narrower than it was pre-pandemic for National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers. We’ve seen good progress in primary school literacy and numeracy, with the latest data showing the biggest reduction in the gap on record and a record low gap in positive destinations for school leavers 9 months after leaving school.

The Scottish Government gathers a range of data via the National Improvement Framework, which includes 11 key measures of particular relevance to the attainment gap in both the Broad General Education and Senior Phase – with two new key measures added on School Attendance and Initial Positive Destinations. A detailed breakdown of attainment and the poverty-related attainment gap can be found on the Scottish Government website - Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence levels: 2021/22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 5: 2023 Edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

At a local level, the publication of the Scottish Attainment Challenge: Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress includes a requirement for all local authorities to set locally identified stretch aims for progress in raising attainment and closing the poverty related attainment gap. The national aggregation of all 32 local authority 2022/23 stretch aims for progress closing the gap is available to access here:- Scottish Attainment Challenge - local stretch aims: 2022 to 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Collectively, the core stretch aims set by local authorities showed a great deal of ambition for both recovery and accelerating progress. Further, we have now received all local authorities’ stretch aims for progress for 2025-26 and are reviewing these ahead of publication later in the year.

Local Authorities and schools in Mid Scotland and Fife are able to access ongoing advice and guidance from Education Scotland's Attainment Advisor team who help to share best practice and provide guidance on effective planning, implementation and evaluation of interventions helping to maximise improved outcomes for children and young people in schools and local authorities.

The response to question S6W-21286, answered on 13 September 2023, notes that as a result of the devolved settlement and the Scottish Government’s powers, along with the interaction with reserved tax and benefits, it is not possible to deliver the Parental Transition Fund as originally envisaged.

As set out in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy, the current financial situation facing the Scottish Government is amongst the most challenging since devolution. Tough and decisive action must be taken to ensure the sustainability of public finance, whilst also strengthening the immediate support available for households impacted by the cost of living crisis. On this basis, the £5 million made available for the Parental Transition Fund in 2023-24 has been reallocated to help meet the previously announced increased investment in the Fuel Insecurity Fund to address the need for immediate help with fuel costs and to support the Scottish Government’s path to balance.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-21286 on 13 September 2023. 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