Chamber and committees

Scottish Government will work with local authorities and initial teacher education providers to take forward the recommendations of the Languages Working Group Report, Language Learning in Scotland: A 1+2 Approach, which includes recommendations for an audit of teacher numbers and skills to support implementation of the 1+2 languages commitment.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with British Council Scotland as part of the arrangements for funding the Foreign Language Assistants programme. British Council Scotland report that there will be 73 Foreign Language Assistants in Scotland in 2012-13 compared with 59 in 2011-12.

Scottish Government officials have also met with COSLA to discuss the Foreign Language Assistants Programme as part of the 1+2 languages commitment.

Under Curriculum for Excellence all pupils in secondary schools have an entitlement to learning languages as part of the broad general education to the end of S3. This includes learning across all of the experiences and outcomes to the third level of Curriculum for Excellence.

In the senior phase – from S4 to S6 – young people will have options and choices to take a range of national qualifications, including those which emphasise the value of languages skills for life and work.

NHS Lothian quickly established a daily teleconference and control room as part of NHS Lothian's Business Continuity processes to ensure the availability of adequate intensive care and high dependency unit beds. An increase in capacity within critical care was quickly addressed to enable NHS Lothian to ensure that as many services as possible were conducted as normal.

In addition, NHS Lothian made contact with other NHS boards to make them aware of the potential need to request mutual aid, this was not required but was in place if needed.

NHS Lothian has reported that the number of elective procedures cancelled as a result of the Legionella impact on critical care services has been minimal. The board will continue to monitor the impact until the end of the outbreak has been confirmed. From 4 June until 13 June eight elective procedures were cancelled, all of which have already been rescheduled.

NHS Lothian quickly established a daily teleconference and control room as part of NHS Lothian's Business Continuity processes to ensure the availability of adequate intensive care and high dependency unit beds. An increase in capacity within critical care was quickly addressed to enable NHS Lothian to ensure that as many services as possible were conducted as normal.

In addition, NHS Lothian made contact with other NHS boards to make them aware of the potential need to request mutual aid. This was not required but was in place if needed.

The Scottish Government is considering the options arising from the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on Succession and will consult formally when other priorities allow.

The Scottish Government will consult formally on the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on Succession when other priorities allow.

Scottish Government officials have met informally with members of the legal profession. That informal preparatory dialogue revealed that a number have concerns about some of the recommendations in the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on Succession. Given the informal nature of discussions, it would not be appropriate to name those involved.

The Scottish Government’s priorities are set out in our Programme for Government announced by the First Minister on 7 September 2011 – Renewing Scotland: The Government’s Programme for Scotland 2011-12.

The Scottish Government’s preparatory dialogue on the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on Succession confirmed that the most divisive issue considered by the commission was whether adult children should continue to be protected from disinheritance by a parent’s will. The commission did not make a recommendation on this issue but instead offered two options for the Scottish Government to consider – either to afford all children a right to a legal share of a part of the whole of a deceased’s estate or to allow only dependent children to make an alimentary claim on the estate. Among other potentially controversial issues is whether protection for cohabitants should be extended to testate estates.