Chamber and committees

Development of a national pilot scheme to provide travel support for people seeking asylum and not currently eligible for the existing National Concessionary Travel Schemes continues with the Working Group. Further information will be published on the Scottish Government website and provided to third sector organisations as preparations for the pilot to open are made.

The scheme will build on learning from the small local and regional pilots that have been delivered by third sector organisations over recent years. Expected learning from the scheme includes impact of providing free bus travel, demand for this concession, the cost of providing this concession, and the practicalities of delivery of such a scheme at the national level.

A single building assessment is a holistic whole building assessment that assesses and identifies life critical fire safety risks alongside any mitigation or remediation that is required in respect of any potentially combustible façade material. The assessment is undertaken by a competent person and considers each building in its own context. As such, it is for the person who is undertaking the building assessment to provide recommendation as to the extent to which cladding materials needs to be removed and replaced, taking into account the other recommendations that they might make in relation to improving the general fire safety of the building. The objective of the assessment it to bring the building to a tolerable level of risk.

The single building assessment technical specification was published on the 21st of June 2024 and provides detailed guidance to competent persons on how they should conduct a single building assessment (SBA) in Scotland. The SBA makes clear that the relevant benchmark guidance includes the PAS 9980, PAS 79-2 and the Benchmark criteria from the Scottish Domestic Technical Handbook. The competent person should have due regard to all of this guidance in undertaking the SBA report. The SBA sets out the need to conduct a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) and Fire Risk Appraisal of external walls (FRAEW). It also sets out templates and an approach that is relevant in Scotland. We engaged extensively with stakeholders across Scotland through the Task and Finish Group to develop the SBA technical specification and adopted the PAS 9980 standard as there is evidence that it is known and understood widely across the industry in Scotland. The objective of the assessment it to bring the building to a tolerable level of risk.

External wall assessors are expected to weigh all the appropriate evidence and apply their professional judgement in determining the extent to which external cladding requires to be removed from a particular building, with a view to achieving the overriding objective of bringing the building to a tolerable level of risk.

I will be responding directly to the EIS on the important issues raised around teacher workload in their most recent report.

I have also strengthened teacher union engagement in recent months through the creation of the Professional Association Forum, which allows for more routine engagement to discuss issues such as workload.

Any changes to teachers’ terms and conditions require tripartite agreement through the SNCT.

We anticipate that the Four Day Working Week Public Sector pilot and the accompanying Shorter Working Week evaluation report will be concluded and published in Spring 2025.

The Scottish Government will review and respond to the evidence and recommendations presented within the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report once it is published.

The Recorded Theft of Dogs in Scotland April 2019 - March 2021 was published by Police Scotland in response to queries they were receiving relating to dog theft. The data published revealed once ownership disputes arising over dogs were excluded from the data, the number of dogs thefts recorded in 2019-20 was 48 and the number of dog thefts recorded in 2020-21 was 60. It is an operational matter for Police Scotland as to information they publish as contained on their internal management information systems and any query as to whether Police Scotland will publish further information in this area would therefore best be directed to Police Scotland.

The responsibility for staff training in schools is a matter for local authorities.

The Scottish Government has published guidance on supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools. Annex B of this guidance focuses upon UK-wide Regulations which allow schools to buy and hold spare adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) devices to treat pupils suffering from allergic reactions in emergency situations where their own prescribed device is unavailable. This guidance is available through the following web link: Supporting children and young people with healthcare needs in schools: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Our guidance states that schools must arrange specialist anaphylaxis training for staff where a pupil in their school has been diagnosed at risk of anaphylaxis. The specialist training should include practical instruction in how to use the different AAI devices available.

The recording and retrieving of information by Police Scotland on incidents of pet theft is an operational matter for Police Scotland. Any query in relation to the Police Scotland operational approach in this area would therefore best be directed to Police Scotland.