Chamber and committees

Information on the number of schools currently offering Code Clubs as an extra-curricular activity is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government recognises the benefits of extra-curricular activities which are rightly determined and delivered locally to best meet the needs of learners.

Between 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 a total of £170,000 was provided by Scottish Government to Digital Xtra, which provides grants to organisations delivering extra-curricula computing and digital technology activities for young people.

Transport Scotland continues to engage with Glasgow City Council regarding their aspirations for this area, noting it is they who are responsible for bringing forward land use changes and the associated planning duties. Transport Scotland’s interests lie in the safe and effective operation of the M8.

Transport Scotland has communicated to Glasgow City Council, that in order to take forward potential proposals, a robust assessment of the potential impacts on the mainline, access roads and adjacent facilities should be carried out. Officials from Transport Scotland are currently scoping an assessment of the future of the M8.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26829 and S6W-26830 on 29 April 2024.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care guidance was introduced in Scotland on 1 June 2015 following a review of NHS continuing care. A key aim was to ensure that anyone who needs to be in hospital for a longer period of time is to get them well enough to return to whatever setting is most suitable for them in the community while ensuring that all health and social care needs are supported.

Ministers and Officials meet regularly with Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), NHS Boards, Local Authorities and CoSLA to discuss a wide range of activity, including performance and hospital discharges. The whole health and social care system is working hard to support people out of acute settings and back into the community when it is clinically safe to do so. This includes ensuring that everyone is discharged from hospital without delay, and we are working to improve discharge planning through our Discharge Without Delay Programme (DwD) which aims to improve the patient journey, from the initial point of a hospital stay, preventing any delays through early and effective planning.

While the challenge is highly complex, ever shifting and dynamic, the foundations of DwD are based on simple patient centred principles which aim to enhance discharge and prevent delay, through early and effective planning, limiting hospital stays to what is clinically and functionally essential, and getting patients home at the earliest, safest opportunity.

The Scottish Government has also developed statutory guidance for Health Boards, Local Authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships on effective discharge planning and carer engagement, Summary - Carers (Scotland) Act 2016: statutory guidance - updated July 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . We have also funded Health Improvement Scotland to improve practice on carer involvement across health, with a focus on carer involvement in hospital discharge.

Work will begin in late 2024 to scope and set up a project group to support a clinically led review of latest data and evidence and determine whether there is merit in specific additional or alternative cancer waiting times standards for different types of cancer and cancer treatment.

The Scottish Government recognises the significance of learning coding skills as part of the wider technologies curriculum, with a range of specific Experiences and Outcomes under the heading “Understanding and analysing computing technology”.

The Government has supported the teacher led body, Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science (STACS), since 2020. STACS is an organisation supporting computing science in schools, run by teachers in partnership with Glasgow University, and is a one stop shop for computing science teachers to access high quality teaching resources and professional learning. One of the key aims of STACs is to promote computing science as a desirable career option to young people and their parents/carers. Over 83% of Computing Science teachers are involved in the STACS initiative across all local authorities.

Education Scotland (ES) also offers a range of support to schools in encouraging pupils to code. For example, they offer one hour “Curriculum live” lessons which teachers can download and deliver using a smartboard, including lessons on coding. They have also supported the expansion of the First Lego League in schools which inspires young people to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills by providing programmable robotic equipment, and ES run Computing Science Scotland Week which last year reached 365 schools, 384 educators and 9,658 learners.

The Scottish Government has been making progress in several ways to improve and shorten the pathways of less survivable cancers.

For example, the Scottish Government awarded the Scottish HepatoPancreatoBiliary Network funding of £653,000 over two years to redesign the pancreatic and liver cancer pathways - the PHCC Pathway Improvement Project. The project has been extended for one more year and we are exploring options for sustained delivery of its positive outcomes after March 2025.

Through the Detect Cancer Earlier programme, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) continues to design and support the implementation of optimal cancer diagnostic pathways. As reflected in the Cancer Strategy, lung, head and neck and colorectal cancer have been identified as the first tranche. Scotland’s first optimal cancer diagnostic pathway for lung was published in December 2022.

Scotland’s first Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) have been established in 5 Health Boards across Scotland. They provide primary care with access to a new fast-track diagnostic pathway for people with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer. An evaluation published in February 2024 shows success in finding cancer while delivering a high standard of quality care at speed. Lung and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) were the two most commonly found.

HM Inspectors evaluate the quality of education in Scottish schools using quality indicators. 'How good is our school? (4th edition)’ has been in use since September 2016.

HM Inspectors use a six-point scale to grade individual quality indicators. There are two models of inspection, one in which two quality indicators are graded, and one where four quality indicators are graded. The information provided includes grades assigned for both models of inspection.

The information provided relates to grades assigned during inspections carried out using the current framework, 'How good is our school? (4th edition). The information does not include details of inspections carried out in academic year 2023-24 where fieldwork has been carried out, but the reports not yet published.

(a) In 2023-24 the Arctic Connections fund was allocated £83,276. The projects funded can be found at Arctic Connections Fund: successful projects 2023 to 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

(b) Establishing the Arctic Connections Fund was a commitment in the 2019 Arctic Connections policy framework. In 2024-25, following three successful years helping Scottish organisations collaborate with partners in the Arctic, and in line with commitments in Scotland’s International Strategy, we will begin an evaluation of the policy framework. This will consider how Scotland’s Arctic engagement has developed since 2019 and how it can be shaped for the future.

While the MV Glen Sannox and the MV Glen Rosa operate temporarily from Troon, LNG will be bunkered directly from HGV tankers to the vessels. The design of the potential improvement works at Ardrossan Harbour includes provision for an LNG storage facility to serve the vessels in the longer term.

The planned deployment of the MV Glen Rosa to the Arran route means that an LNG facility is no longer required at Uig harbour as part of the Little Minch Infrastructure Programme.

The Scottish Government has funded the creation of 15 additional training places in Clinical Oncology since 2015 (5 in 2015; 2 in 2020; 4 in 2022, and; 4 in 2023). Additional Medical Oncology places were also created in 2022 (3) and 2023 (3). These places were created in line with recommendations made by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group, which are informed by medical workforce modelling undertaken by NHS Education for Scotland.