Chamber and committees

The recruitment of teachers is a matter for local authorities. Details on the number of teachers employed in Scotland’s schools will be available in the annual teacher census which is due to be published in December.

The university intake targets for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for the academic year 2024-25 are set by the Scottish Funding Council. The ITE target for Computing Science for 2024-25 is 52.

Scottish Government and Education Scotland have been working with stakeholders to determine the potential shape of a National Digital Academy. I am advised that this development work has not been affected by technological or connectivity restrictions.

The revised guidance on use of mobile phones in schools was fully drafted and had been agreed by the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) prior to publication. The document was in the process of completing final due diligence consideration when the need to consider whether or not it could be published during the pre-election period arose. The guidance would otherwise have been published prior to the end of the school year.

The Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group defines residential rehab as facilities offering programmes which aim to support individuals to attain an alcohol or drug-free lifestyle and to be re-integrated into society, provide intensive psychosocial support and a structured programme of daily activities, and which residents are required to attend over a fixed period of time.

The Scottish Government recognises that diversity of treatment options is important to empower individuals to have more choice and to meet the needs of individuals seeking different types of recovery, and this includes taking a person-centred approach to treatment length.

A breakdown of how funding is allocated to ADPs since 2017 can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/alcohol-and-drug-partnerships-funding-allocations/

The Scottish Government is committed to equality in agriculture, which is set out in the Agricultural Reform Route Map and in our 2023-2024 Programme for Government.

In line with the 2023-2024 Programme for Government, we are co-developing a gender strategy for agriculture. The strategy will be developed in partnership with women living and working in agriculture and through a ministerial roundtable with stakeholders. The results of these discussions will inform the development of the strategy and any future legislative needs. We are also continuing to fund training opportunities for women, new entrants, and young farmers as part of increasing business resilience, just transition, and equality of opportunity for all.

We will to bring forward a consultation on how trust law interacts with the pre-emptive right to buy for tenant farmers within the next year. This will draw on the views of the Tenant Farming Advisory Forum.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting everyone living and working in Scottish agriculture and empowering them to play their role in making our Vision for Agriculture a reality.

The Scottish Government will address the impact of changes to service provision on access and availability to alcohol and drug recovery services by continuing to ensure that the specific needs of women are considered in the design and delivery of services, and that a gendered approach is taken in all new or developing initiatives across the National Mission to reduce deaths and improve lives.

The Scottish Government provided specific funding of around £1.5m per year to Glasgow City Council to support the 218 Service. As a result of that funding relationship, Glasgow informed the Scottish Government of its plans to re-tender the service last year and discussions took place to confirm that the funding would still be available following that exercise.

Glasgow City Council has provided assurances that it worked closely with Turning Point Scotland to support individuals in transitioning to other support arrangements and that other services, including residential placements, are available to support people with similar needs. In particular, it has confirmed that all 218 service residents had moved on from the service as of 31 January 2024 – some residents naturally came to the end of their stay, while others moved back to their own tenancy or to accommodation with support.

Public Health Scotland worked in close consultation with key stakeholders to develop the core minimum dataset, which will form the basis for the monitoring of residential rehabilitation. Early versions of the dataset were shared with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Advisory Group (MERAG) and the Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group (RRDWG), which have representatives from groups such as individuals with experience, families and recovery organisations.

Current residential rehabilitation clients were given the opportunity to complete a survey to provide details of their own experience. Qualitative research was also undertaken with people with lived experience of having accessed residential rehabilitation to explore their experiences of the pathways into, through and out of this form of treatment.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) follows statistical disclosure control (SDC) when publishing data, including those submitted for their most recent report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements.

PHS applies the SDC to data due to the sensitive nature of the topic, and to reduce the risk of identifying individuals, (especially those from small geographic areas) who in this case were the number of people accessing residential rehabilitation for substance use in River Garden.

The data was therefore suppressed and an asterisk used to denote this in the published report.

Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) is an independent charitable organisation and its governance and operational management are matters for the ERCC Board to consider and act upon. The Scottish Government expects all recipients of public funding to comply with relevant laws.