Chamber and committees

DATIX reports are held locally by individual NHS Boards and the information is part of Staff Governance Reporting (primarily through Boards' Health & Safety Departments). NHSScotland Workforce data published by ISD Scotland on 6 December 2017, available at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/index.asp#2056

shows a record number of staff working in our health service, with an overall increase of 9.8 percentage points since September 2006.

This information is not held centrally.

This information is not held centrally.

As part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge, universal support is available to all local authorities and schools across Scotland to tackle the poverty related attainment gap. This support includes access to a named Attainment Adviser who will work directly with schools to help identify actions that will make the biggest impact. Access to the National Improvement Hub which contains learning and teaching tools and strategies also provides universal support.

Earlier this year all headteachers were invited to attend one of 8 regional Pupil Equity Funding events which provided an opportunity to hear from colleagues across Scotland on their work to close the equity gap. Building on the success of these, a second series of events will be held early next year. We are working in partnership with the new Regional Improvement Collaboratives to ensure once again a place is available for all headteachers.

95% of schools in Scotland have received Pupil Equity Funding in 2017-18.

Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) is additional to the core funding that local authorities receive. All schools could benefit, either directly or indirectly, as a result of the improved partnerships, increased resources, and opportunities for professional learning that Pupil Equity Funding provides.

Through the Scottish Attainment Challenge we have committed £750 million over the course of this parliament to tackle the poverty related attainment gap. This includes £120m Pupil Equity Funding in 2017-18 allocated to schools on the basis of the number of children and young people in P1-S3 known to be eligible for free school meals, a recognised proxy for families affected by poverty. Pupil Equity Funding extended the reach of the Scottish Attainment Challenge to every local authority in Scotland and provides additional resources to the majority of schools in rural communities.

The Government issued guidance on the use of Pupil Equity Funding to support schools and local authorities to work in partnership and to plan how to effectively invest the additional funds. This guidance is available on the Government website at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/Raisingeducationalattainment/pupilequityfund/guidance. This sets out that Headteachers can work at an individual school, cluster or community level to address common interests. This may include, for example, how best to target the funding to address the impact of rural deprivation on the educational outcomes of children and young people.

We are committed to developing national programmes to further extend the reach of the Scottish Attainment Challenge and are engaging with stakeholders to consider the impact of rural deprivation on attainment.

The Scottish Government record and process correspondence addressed to Scottish Ministers on its Ministerial and Corporate Correspondence System (MACCS). In the last 12 months correspondence recorded and processed by Directorate is indicated in the following table.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Information may be available by contacting the individual services independently to request this.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the provision of Changing Places facilities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government works closely with PAMIS to support their campaign to increase the number of Changing Places Toilets in Scotland and have provided funding in 2017-18 for the Changing Places campaign officer position within PAMIS. Scottish Government officials also participate on Changing Places steering group which meets on a quarterly basis. We are pleased that there are now 152 Changing Places Toilet across Scotland but know more are needed. PAMIS have also introduced a portable Changing Places Toilet called the 'Mobiloo', which travels across the country, providing a Changing Places facility at a range of events.

The Scottish Government are intending to review the current building standards and associated Technical Handbook guidance on Changing Places Toilets, with a view to introducing measures to advance the number of such facilities in Scotland.