Chamber and committees

The detailed information requested is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 65812).

This information is not held centrally.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to promote school meals and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that all children and young people entitled to receive free school meals are given full support to access them.

As I confirmed to the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 2 April, we remain committed to the roll-out of universal free school meals in the longer term.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards.

In developing the national apology, the Scottish Government engaged with individuals and families affected by historic forced adoption, drawing on personal testimonies and findings from relevant inquiries across the UK and internationally. This included findings from the Truth Recovery Design Panel report for the Northern Ireland Executive and recommendations from campaigning groups such as the Movement for Adoption Apology Scotland on what would constitute a meaningful apology.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Local Authorities are responsible for providing a range of public services, including education, so the member may wish to approach local government for the information requested.

International students have a positive economic impact. We want to attract and retain international students in Scotland. While immigration is a reserved matter, the Scottish Government is committed to working closely with the UK Government to make a positive difference. Student sponsor licences are arranged between colleges and the Home Office directly. We have had multiple engagements with the UK Government regarding the Immigration System following the change of UK Government last July.

Information on referrals is not held centrally.

Local authorities have statutory responsibility for most secure placements and make referrals directly to the secure care services. A placement in respect of any child may only be accepted if the secure accommodation Head of Centre is confident that they can meet the needs of the individual referred child, while keeping safe all other children already in their care. The concept of any or all secure services ‘turning away’ a child has limited applicability.

In addition, the statutory criteria regulating children’s eligibility for referral to secure care are tightly drawn. A change in circumstances or a child’s own need and risk profile may mean that an alternative to secure care represents a more appropriate placement.

Secure centres have robust matching procedures in place, following the Care Inspectorate’s Admissions Guidance for Residential Services.

The Children’s Social Work Statistics 2023-24 – Secure Care Stats provide details of the number of admissions to this type of accommodation.

Given that drug and alcohol related problems can contribute to loss of accommodation, the actions taken through Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) to provide recovery-based support can help prevent homelessness. To help align their contribution, ADPs bring together a range of partners at the local level with experience and responsibilities spanning the statutory, third sector, and community space to ensure that strategic planning reflects the wealth of local knowledge and expertise in providing services to those most in need. Whilst there is no prescriptive direction as to which individuals and organisations should sit on or contribute to an ADP, there is an expectation that local authorities will field representation with sufficient insight into wider services within their remit, such as Housing, Social Work, and Education, to ensure appropriate linkage to those areas of service provision.

The Scottish Government wants to ensure that progress is made based on the principles of shared public responsibility and earlier intervention to prevent homelessness, as set out in the proposals for new homelessness prevention duties in the Housing (Scotland) Bill currently before the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government is currently working with COSLA, and in consultation with other partners, to revise the Partnership Delivery Framework to Reduce the Use of and Harm from Alcohol and Drugs, to bring greater clarity and consistency to the remit, membership, and organisation of ADPs.

The provisions contained within Part 2 of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill are proposed to allow for the sharing of information for the efficient and effective provision of public health and social care services. Within this context the provisions could enable the appropriate sharing of information in order to consider data-driven approaches to early intervention and targeted support, thereby helping to prevent individuals from experiencing homelessness at an earlier stage.

The Bill is informed by the extensive co-design work, commissioned by Scottish Ministers, to better inform the development of this legislation, which has included individuals with experience of homelessness. Details of this work can be found here: National Care Service - information sharing to improve care support: seldom heard voices co-design findings - gov.scot

This data is not held centrally; aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Waiting Times is sent to Public Health Scotland from each NHS Board. This data does not contain specific information about the number of young people accessing CAMHS who are international students.