Chamber and committees

The assumptions behind, and calculations of, the average indicative fees for a short-term lets licence are set out in section F and Annex A of the draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment published for consultation on 25 June 2021. These fees are Scotland-wide average fees for application for a three year licence; the actual fees charged for any given application may be higher or lower, depending on the way each local authority implements its licensing scheme and the circumstances of the application. The total revenue from fees must not exceed the costs of the scheme in each local authority. Chapter 4 of our draft guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms provides further detail on setting licence fees:

Short term lets - licensing scheme part 2: supplementary guidance for licensing authorities, letting agencies and platforms - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government considers regulation of short term lets to be vital in balancing the needs and concerns of residents and communities with wider economic and tourism interests. Mr Stewart, the then Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, announced in January 2020 that regulation of short-term lets would include a licensing scheme. The remit of the Short-Term Lets Stakeholder Working Group established in February 2021 is to refine the licensing legislation and develop guidance.

The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, the Scottish Bed and Breakfast Association, Airbnb and the UK Short Term Accommodation Association favour a registration scheme. The Scottish Government has valued their contributions to the Working Group and is disappointed that they have decided not to continue to participate. The Scottish Government is committed to getting this important legislation absolutely right and monitoring its implementation.

Transport Scotland has been engaged, and will continue to be engaged, with key stakeholders prior, during and subsequent to the timetable consultation for May 2022 to seek to secure its preferred service pattern for Reston station namely up to eight daily direct services in each direction between Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed.

We are committed to ensuring that all children and young people get the additional support that they need to reach their full learning potential.

The Additional Support for Learning Act places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. We provide free professional learning opportunities for practitioners in order to support education authorities to meet their duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act. This includes the Autism Toolbox and Inclusive Practice online professional learning modules.

We published our joint response to the independently chaired review of implementation of additional support for learning in October 2020. Angela Morgan’s report sets a clear direction in how we can continue to build on progress in this area. The joint action plan and governance arrangements are available from Additional support for learning: action plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

In addition, we published our Autism Action Plan in December 2020, setting out the actions we will take to improve the support to children and young people with autism in Scotland’s schools. We have made significant progress in implementing these actions and will formally report our progress in December 2021. Our work on supporting young people with Autism and Asperger’s syndrome in mainstream schools is also supported by our guidance on the presumption of mainstream education.

Our skills agency Skills Development Scotland (SDS), who have operational responsibility for the delivery of our apprenticeships programmes, have taken a range of measures to improve uptake of apprenticeships for individuals who have Asperger’s syndrome or autism.

Since 2015, SDS have produced an annual Apprenticeship Equality Action Plan outlining their approach to support individuals from a range of backgrounds to access apprenticeship opportunities and achieve equitable outcomes. They have introduced enhanced funding contributions rates for apprentices with disabilities up to the age of 29 from 2017-18 onwards. Apprentices with disabilities may also be able to access funding via Access to Work, and SDS have hosted specialist calls focusing on support and resources such as Access to Work for neurodiverse young people.

SDS support Learning Providers in their capacity to recruit and support diverse apprentices. Needs Assessor training is provided along with the opportunity for learning providers and employers to meet with local equality organisations who can offer advice and support when recruiting. SDS additionally offers an all-age Careers Information and Guidance (CIAG) service, where careers advisors support young people with autism and Asperger’s syndrome on potential career paths, including apprenticeships.

Education Scotland’s scrutiny programme includes inspection of special schools and units within mainstream schools which provide specialist provision, including for those with autism. During all school inspections, HM Inspectors of Education evaluate the quality of provision for children, including those with additional support needs. Units within mainstream schools, standalone special schools and independent special schools are inspected by HM Inspectors of Education with specialist knowledge and experience.

HM Inspectors also focus on how well a school is performing, the impact it is having on improving outcomes for children and young people and the capacity for continuous improvement. This includes consideration of the outcomes for those learners requiring additional support. HM Inspectors take into account the context and nature of the school, its children and young people and their needs.

HM Inspectors use a set of standards to evaluate and report on quality and improvement in Scottish education. When inspecting schools HM Inspectors of Education use a selection of quality indicators from the quality framework ‘How good is our school?’ (4th edition) (2015). During inspection, HM Inspectors of Education focus on children’s and young people’s learning experiences within and beyond the classroom; their achievements, and how the school is ensuring these are of the highest possible quality. This includes those children and young people with additional support needs. HM Inspectors of Education observe learning first hand and discuss learning with learners and staff. This includes specialist support staff who provide individual or group support to learners requiring additional support for learning.

HM Inspectors of Education also seek the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including parents, staff, learners, and partners, through online questionnaires and focus group discussions. There are opportunities for stakeholders to comment on the quality of support provided. Questionnaires are adapted and distributed in different forms to enable all learners to access and complete these. In addition, HM Inspectors also engage in direct conversation with learners to discuss their views and experiences.

HM Inspectors of Education publish a report of their findings in the format of a letter for parents and a more detailed document outlining the findings in a Summarised Inspection Findings document. Both these documents and the inspection questionnaire summaries are published on Education Scotland’s website.

The Scottish Government does not hold any data on the number of teachers with specialised training in supporting pupils with additional needs. Table 1 shows the full time equivalent of teachers which have listed an ASN related subject as their main subject in the 2020 staff census.

We are committed to ensuring that all children and young people get the additional support that they need to reach their full learning potential, and recognise the particular challenges of Covid-19 for them.

Education Scotland, in collaboration with Head Teachers, published a range of information and guidance for learners with complex additional support needs, including autistic learners, to help parents support their child’s learning at home. This includes accessible learning resources for parents to use with their child at home

In June 2020 we published COVID-19 support for continuity in learning guidance , which states that local authorities should look to identify and offer suitable support to families and carers who may be facing additional challenges in regards to home learning. This guidance was further updated, in March 2021.

The Scottish Government also funds Parent Club, who provided advice for parents on their website. This advice includes : supporting children and young people with additional supports needs ; supporting your child’s mental health during coronavirus home learning and helping your child with home and blended learning.

Children and young people with complex additional support needs were prioritised within the phased approach to the return to school. They were able to return to school, first, from 5 January 2021, in recognition of the impact of covid-19 to their learning and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government COVID-19 guidance for schools currently states that at level 0, children and young people can engage in all drama, music, PE and dance activity in schools. For all activity, schools, practitioners, and pupils should be aiming to maintain appropriate mitigations, particularly the higher standards of hygiene and ventilation than were present pre-Covid. This guidance will be updated should this position change prior to schools returning in August.

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, it is for the regional health & social care partnerships to determine the level of services that are required to meet local needs and to arrange an appropriate and suitable range of services to meet these local needs, as mandated under statute in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act.

Local Authorities are distinct corporate bodies whose powers are set out in statute and as such are entirely separate from the Scottish Government, however it is the expectation of the Scottish Government that Local Public Bodies will engage with autistic people and children, including their families where appropriate, in relation to decisions regarding the allocation of funding for autism services.

In addition, the Scottish Government works closely with COSLA and HSCPs in relation to the aims and objectives of our national autism strategies. Those strategies and the delivery of them is shared jointly between the Scottish Government and COSLA. We are currently looking at monitoring and engagement arrangements for the “Towards Transformation” plan involving a range of key stakeholders, including people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, it is for the regional health & social care partnerships to determine the level of services that are required to meet local needs and to arrange an appropriate and suitable range of services to meet these local needs, as mandated under statute in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act.

Local Authorities are distinct corporate bodies whose powers are set out in statute and as such are entirely separate from the Scottish Government, however it is the expectation of the Scottish Government that Local Public Bodies will operate their own autism strategies which will involve engaging with Autistic people in relation to decisions that affect them in an accessible way.

a) This is not monitored nationally.

b) This is a matter for local public bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government are fully committed to maintaining life line ferry services across the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) network. When periods of inclement weather are anticipated CalMac will seek to try and flex the scheduled ferry service timetable to provide sailings in advance of, or following any disruption to the timetabled services, to try and minimise the impact on communities.