Chamber and committees

In keeping with our statutory assessment obligations, work on a Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations Appraisal to inform the emerging National Planning Framework 4 is currently underway. We will also consider the likely health effects of proposed national developments as part of the SEA process. We have also commissioned consultants to undertake an independent assessment of the likely impact of each proposed national development’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions on achieving national greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets.

To ask the Scottish Government how it will take into consideration (a) legally binding net-zero emissions targets and (b) the aspirations of its Biodiversity Strategy when deciding on national developments to be incorporated into National Planning Framework 4.The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 sets out six outcomes to which a future National Planning Framework (NPF) should work towards, including meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and securing positive effects for biodiversity. We are developing proposals for radical change to our national planning policies and spatial strategy to support a transition to net zero by 2045 and economic recovery, as well as adaptation to the long term impacts of climate change. Our spatial strategy will explore how we can promote nature-based solutions to climate change, including woodland expansion and peatland restoration, which protect and restore biodiversity and deliver wider benefits.

We published our criteria for analysing national developments in January 2020 and issued an open call for nominations during our early engagement programme. We are considering all nominations received. The draft National Planning Framework 4, including details of proposed national developments, will be laid in Parliament in autumn 2021. Extensive public engagement will run alongside Parliament’s consideration of the draft and will provide further opportunity for anyone to comment on proposed national developments, or alternatives to them.

Legislation was laid on 27 May 2021 to extend the temporary exceptions of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order for a further three months until 30 September 2021. Local authorities have been advised that they should prepare for the temporary exceptions to expire on that date.

Our priority is to keep people safe so we extended these measures while the path of the pandemic remains uncertain, and we will keep the situation under review.

We are doing all we can to ensure that people experiencing homelessness are not housed in unsuitable accommodation for any longer than is necessary. However, it is crucial that we help local authorities to keep people safe during the pandemic.

Our ambition is for all households to have a decent temporary home and to move into settled accommodation as quickly as possible. We will continue to work with councils to help them overcome any barriers as we shift to a new way of dealing with homelessness.

Transport Scotland, through its Trunk Road Operating Companies and Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. Repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

The following table shows the number of potholes reported or identified on the trunk road network since 2007, by financial year. Transport Scotland’s asset information system does not hold this data prior to 2007.

The Scottish Government fully funds the inspection and repair of all high risk category 1 defects (for example vandalism flooding, spills and potholes), on the trunk road network. The repair of all category 1 defects is funded from commercially sensitive monthly sums and cannot be provided. Transport Scotland’s asset information system does not hold the cost of repairing individual defect types such as potholes.

Trunk road investment is not allocated, recorded or reported on the basis of local authority area.

Since 2007, this Government has invested £4.35 billion in managing, maintaining, and safely operating the Scottish trunk road and motorway network. In 2021-22, we will invest £529 million, an increase of £59 million from 2020-21.

The budget for structural repairs and network strengthening of trunk roads and bridges, including the Forth Road Bridge, is being increased by £46.5 million in 2021-22 to £207 million. The budget for routine and winter maintenance of trunk roads is being increased by £12.5 million to £106.9 million.

We will continue to invest in our extensive trunk road maintenance and operations programmes, to improve Scotland’s road network through essential road maintenance schemes, our bridge strengthening programme, renewal of ancillary assets and increasing the resilience of the network to unplanned events such as landslides, flooding and extreme weather events.

The increases in Network Strengthening and Structural Repairs budgets will provide further investment to support our programmes of essential road carriageway maintenance and bridge strengthening and repairs contributing to our commitment to double investment in maintenance of existing assets over the next 5 years.

In addition, the overall condition of our network is being enhanced through the delivery of our capital investment programme.

Scottish Ministers and the principal funder of Winchburgh Developments Ltd met twice in 2020 to discuss the proposed Winchburgh station. Transport Scotland and rail industry partners continue to work with West Lothian Council and Winchburgh Developments Ltd to progress the proposals for a new developer funded station at Winchburgh.

Information is not centrally held on numbers diagnosed with an eating disorder. However, Public Health Scotland (PHS) holds information on inpatients admitted with an eating disorders diagnosis.

The number of patients admitted to a mental health or general/acute specialty for an eating disorder is shown in the following table for the calendar years 2007 to 2020, broken down by year of admission, NHS Board of residence and age group (child: < 18; adult: 18+). Please note that complete figures for 2021 cannot yet be provided.

Number of child (1) patients (2) admitted to a general/acute or mental health specialty (3), either as an inpatient or day case, with an eating disorder (4); by age, year of admission and health board of residence, 2007 - 2020.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) is the independent, regulatory body for the teaching profession and are responsible for the accreditation and approval of all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. They will only approve programmes which meet the requirements in their Guidelines for Accreditation of ITE Programmes. The Framework specifically asks how student teachers are supported to develop an understanding of a range of pedagogy approaches in a number of key areas. One of the key areas is health and wellbeing education with mental health education being included in this theme.

ITE providers regularly meet to discuss the quality of their provision and, on 8 June, held a symposium covering health and wellbeing. The learning from this symposium will inform future revisions to programmes.

Information on the number of classroom assistants in the years 2003-2020 is provided in the following tables. Data on the number of classroom assistants or other support staff from 1999-2002 is not held by Scottish Government.

The variability in categorisation of staff and the definition of full time equivalent means that caution should be taken if making comparisons over time or between local authorities. Full details on the use and comparability of the data are available in the background notes of the statistical publications.

Table 1: 2020 Pupil Support Assistants - Hours Worked per week

Table 2: 2020 Classroom Assistant and ASN Auxiliary or Care Assistant - Hours Worked per week

Data on school support staff was collected in the form of hours per week rather than the number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff in 2020. This is because different local authorities have different definitions of ‘full time hours’ so changing to measure hours rather than FTE allows for more accurate comparison between local authorities.

Statistics on hours worked per week of pupil support assistants in 2020 are provided in Table 1.

Management information on hours worked per week hours worked of classroom assistant and ASN auxiliary or care assistant are provided in Table 2.

Table 3: Pupil Supports Assistant - 2017 to 2020 – FTE

The use of the term 'classroom assistant' varies between local authorities and is sometimes used interchangeably with 'additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant'. Therefore these two categories of school support staff have been combined and reported as 'pupil support assistants' in the published statistics on school support staff since 2017. Statistics on FTE of pupil support assistants for 2017 to 2020 are provided in Table 3.

Since 2017 the categories of classroom assistant and additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant have been published separately as management information and have not been subject to the same level of quality assurance as the published statistics.

Calculations of full time equivalent (FTE) numbers of pupils support assistants for 2020 were published to allow a comparison to be made with data from 2018 and 2019. The data on pupil support assistants published in 2017 is not directly comparable because of changes to the method of estimating FTE in some authorities. Calculations 2020 FTE of classroom assistants and ASN auxiliary or care assistant have not been calculated.

Table 4 - Classroom assistants - 2003-2019 - FTE

Table 5 - ASN auxiliary or care assistant - 2003-2019 - FTE - (part 1)

Statistics and management information on the FTE of classroom assistant and ASN auxiliary or care assistant from 2003 to 2019 are provided in Tables 4 and 5.

The Turing Scheme is currently signposted on the Scottish Government mygov.scot public services website, as well as on the website for the Scottish Funding Council.

Any action to promote the Turing Scheme will be for local authorities themselves to decide and report on.

It is the Scottish Government’s position that the UK Government’s Turing Scheme is not fit for purpose. It is a replacement scheme, which cannot match the breadth and scope of Erasmus+. With funding only guaranteed for one year, no provision for inward mobility to the UK, and no support being offered for adult education and youth work, Turing will see support for our most disadvantaged learners cut, and opportunities for our students, staff and young people reduced.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government to ensure Turing better reflect the needs of Scotland.

Full details of Scottish Government budget allocations, including those to Local Government can found in the Scottish Government annually published Scottish Budget at Publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).