Chamber and committees

In 2021 Play Scotland published its progress review of Scotland’s Play Strategy which identified eight broad recommendations for next steps on play in Scotland, including that government and others should “maintain a focus on playful learning and play in schools”. Play Scotland’s progress review is available at: https://www.playscotland.org/resources/progress-review-of-scotlands-play-strategy-2021/.

In 2020 the Scottish Government and Education Scotland published ‘Realising the Ambition: Being Me – Practice Guidance for Early Years in Scotland’. This national guidance for staff working with children and families from pre-birth until the end of Primary 1 and beyond, draws on research, evidence and theory and includes guidance on play pedagogy across the early level of Curriculum for Excellence. On 27 July 2022, Education Scotland launched an updated and strengthened version of the Early Level Play Pedagogy Toolkit, available at: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/early-level-play-pedagogy-toolkit/.

Individual school inspection reports consider play pedagogy alongside the variety of early level pedagogical approaches adopted by schools. They report on outcomes for learners and make reference to the quality of children’s experiences.

Each screening programme has a programme board that meets regularly and provides an assurance function on governance activity across the programme, acting on behalf of the programme to advise NHS National Services Division, National Screening Oversight, the Scottish Screening Committee, and Scottish Ministers. The programme boards ensure high quality, safe and effective standardised screening service delivery in a way that is delivered to national standards and addresses any screening inequalities.

Public Health Scotland also publishes annual statistics for the breast screening programme covering performance standards, uptake, cancer detection, and screening outcomes. Healthcare Improvement Scotland provides definitions of the acceptable and achievable performance measures for the programme.

We have not undertaken any assessments regarding the affordability of nappies in Scotland, however we will continue to work with partners to ensure that our financial supports, such as the Scottish Child Payment and the Best Start Grant, are maximising the support available for families to live dignified lives and meet their basic needs.

Our Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment helps eligible low income families with expenses associated with pregnancy or with having a new child. Families are able to use this payment to best meet their needs which could include buying nappies.

Food banks do not currently publish data on nappies and other baby products, however, Scottish Government officials do meet regularly with both the Trussell Trust and the Independent Food Aid Network who share information about food bank use in general.

We are aware that a number of local authorities in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK are considering setting up warm banks this coming winter, to ensure people who cannot afford to heat their own home have a place they can access to stay warm. This is a relatively new concept, which we will continue to monitor, working together with our local government partners, alongside other measures that we may be able to deploy to provide support to those most affected by the rising cost of energy prices.

Our foremost concern is to support people worried about heating their homes to access the information and support they need to reduce their energy bills, and we have expanded the capacity of our Home Energy Scotland advice service this year to help an extra 12,000 households a year receive free, impartial advice.

Within our limited budget, we have allocated almost £3 billion in this financial year to help families and households face the increased cost of living. This includes support for energy bills, childcare, health and travel, as well as social security payments not available anywhere else in the UK. We will continue to monitor the best ways we, along with our local government partners, can provide support.

In further response to the cost of living crisis and our winter preparedness, the Scottish Government has already committed £10 million towards our Fuel Insecurity Fund across 2022/23, which provides direct support to people who are at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. From winter 2022-23, we will also introduce our Low Income Winter Heating Assistance, which will guarantee a £50 annual payment to around 400,000 low-income households each winter.

The Scottish Government funded and supported delivery of the recent Future Planners Project Report which identifies the need for a number of new initiatives to increase the number of planners working in Scotland, including introducing a planning apprenticeship scheme. We recognise the value such an apprenticeship scheme would bring and we are engaging with the Royal Town Planning Institute to support introduction of a planning apprenticeship scheme in Scotland.

Schools already have the flexibility to teach about relationships and domestic abuse. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all children and young people receive high quality relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education, an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the Scottish curriculum which has been in place since 2010. The curriculum is not mandatory, it is for teachers to decide which resources they use to deliver relevant and engaging learning. However, we are clear about the need for children and young people to gain knowledge appropriate to their age and stage of education. The aim of RSHP education is help children and young people build positive, safe and healthy relationships as they grow older and content should be delivered in a non-judgemental manner, within a framework of sound values and an awareness of the law, including that on sexual behaviour.

In addition, we are taking forward a wide range of actions in schools such as Mentors in Violence Prevention, aimed at reducing and preventing sexual harassment and violence in schools. Mentors in Violence Prevention Scotland have developed a wakelet on domestic abuse to help teachers and school staff provide appropriate support, resources and signposting to pupils. We continue to implement ‘Equally Safe’, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls and Equally Safe at School provides a suite of whole school materials. We are also committed to publishing a national framework for schools on addressing gender based violence. This work is being delivered by the Gender Based Violence in Schools Working Group who will also review existing resources and develop new resources where needed.

In accordance with the Bute House Agreement, the Gender Based Violence in Schools Working Group and the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Delivery Group met in September 2021 to consider existing work on addressing gender based violence in education settings and identify any gaps in the current approach. The minutes of this meeting can be found here . The Scottish Government have committed to commissioning an independent review following the completion of the work of both groups, which will consider the impact of the work, establish positive practice, and any further areas for improvement.

It is essential that care home staff and residents are comfortable in their environment and this includes mitigating against the effects of heat. Care providers including care homes are therefore expected to take steps to ensure that the environment is suitable for both staff and residents. This is outlined in the Health and Social Care Standards which set out what people should expect when using a Health or Social Care service in Scotland. Standard 5.21 requires care homes to “provide plenty of natural light and fresh air and that lighting, ventilation and heating can be properly adjusted”. The Care Inspectorate regularly assess a care home against their application of the Standards.

In view of the recent high temperatures, the Care Inspectorate issued advice to all care providers of adult services about steps that should be taken to maintain safe temperatures and mitigate the effects of heat. This included ensuring people are kept cool, well hydrated and drinking plenty of fluids and using cold compresses to keep people cool. The information provided also included a link to the recent UK Governments’ Department for Health and Social Care and Health Security updated heatwave advice for Health and Social Care staff. It includes advice both on caring for people most at risk during a heatwave, and on organising others who provide care. This advice is available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/heatwave-plan-for-england/supporting-vulnerable-people-before-and-during-a-heatwave-for-health-and-social-care-professionals

Public Health Scotland’s COVID-19 - information and guidance for social, community and residential care settings, provides detailed advice on the importance of good ventilation in indoor spaces to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading. The guidance also sets out steps to safely maintain adequate room temperatures for the comfort of staff and residents. This includes maximising fresh air during hot weather, wherever possible through natural ventilation - opening windows, vents and doors (excluding fire doors). Where buildings have mechanical ventilation systems, these can maximise the amount of fresh air being introduced and minimise the recirculation of air in rooms and throughout buildings. This advice is available here: www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/covid-19-information-and-guidance-for-social-community-and-residential-care-settings/covid-19-information-and-guidance-for-social-community-and-residential-care-settings-version-22/

The Health and Safety Executive ventilation in the workplace guidance also provides practical steps on improving ventilation. This advice is available here: www.hse.gov.uk/ventilation/overview.htm . The UK Health Security Agency recommends keeping room temperature to at least 18ºC as temperatures below this can affect health, especially in those who are 65 years or older, or have a long-term health condition and they published information ahead of the recent heatwave here: ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2022/07/14/staying-safe-in-extreme-heat/

The Care Inspectorate has produced guidance for service providers around design, planning and construction considerations for new or converted care homes for adults. This guidance includes information on ventilation of adult care homes and is available here: Care Homes for Adults – The Design Guide.pdf (careinspectorate.com) .

The Scottish Government engages regularly with representatives of the GFG Alliance at official and Ministerial level.

Officials hold quarterly meetings to monitor performance in respect of the Scottish Government guarantee and maintain regular engagement at local and group level on business operations. 

Four Ministerial meetings have been held with the GFG Alliance in 2022.  These meetings involving the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise took place on 24 January, 18 February, 29 March and 1 April. 

The Scottish Government will continue to publish details of all Ministerial engagements via its website (https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/).

British Transport Police (BTP) is a reserved matter and as such the Scottish Government has no locus in their operations. I have recently had meetings with BTPs Chief Constable and the Chief Superintendent of D Division (Scotland) and discussed this very matter with them.

In addition officials are undertaking research on women and girls’ personal safety across and around public transport. This includes engagement with national and local organisations representing the interests of a cross-section of women, as well as Trade Union groups who represent female staff working on the public transport network.

This engagement work with women and girls, which is currently underway, is expected to capture views and experiences of accessing and using public transport. The outcomes of this engagement work, alongside our evidence review, will be used to inform our understanding and any future policy development.

We’re working closely with Openreach to address the delays being experienced in R100 contract build, which is impacting a small number of properties that will now receive their superfast broadband connections later than indicated by our online address checker.

While the checker aims to provide the most up to date information available, details may change from time to time due to a number of factors including engineering and planning constraints and ongoing updates by commercial broadband providers.

Like many other services, we’re doing our best to minimise disruption caused by the impact of COVID-19 and associated global supply chain issues, and will continue to work with suppliers and ensure that the checker is updated as further information is supplied.