Chamber and committees

Given the different approaches to assessment the pandemic has necessitated since 2020, it is difficult to directly compare this year’s exam results with any other year. However, in 2023, 20% of Higher entries by candidates from the most deprived areas (SIMD quintile 1) resulted in a grade A. This is higher than in 2017 (18.1%).

We use a basket of measures (including the 13 NIF measures, ACEL data and school leaver attainment) to measure the attainment gap as different conclusions may be drawn depending upon the data under consideration. For example, the attainment gap at National 5 has narrowed between 2017 and 2023. It is therefore unrealistic to assess the performance of the education system via a single measure (such as Higher A grades).

This year’s exam results showed significant progress with overall pass rates for National 5, Highers and Advanced Highers being above those in 2019.

The proportion of A grades for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher were also above those in 2019.

It is testament to the resilience and hard work of our young people that overall, this is a strong set of results in an exam year.

The Forestry Grant Scheme opened for applications in 2015 as part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) and initially had a 7 year budget of £36m per year. The Forestry Grants budget has since been reviewed on an annual basis, as part of the wider Scottish Government Budget process, to reflect the Climate Change Plan woodland creation target and on-going legal commitments.

Forestry Grant Scheme contracts are issued by Scottish Forestry, and underspends can occur where insufficient applications are received or approved schemes are delayed. Underspends occurred in 2015-16 and 2016-17 due to insufficient applications being received in the first two years of FGS. Since then underspends have occurred in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, due to combination insufficient applications and delays with approved projects being implemented.

The Scottish Funding Council’s “College Infrastructure Strategy: The Approach to Delivering Scotland’s College Infrastructure”, was published in November 2022. Following on from publication of the strategy, the Infrastructure Investment Plan for colleges, due to be published by autumn 2024, will identify future infrastructure investment needed for a sustainable college estate. The work on delivering the plan has begun and will include baselining the condition of the college estate.

We are grateful to Heart Research UK for their continued work to prevent, treat and cure heart disease in Scotland.

We recognise the scale and impact of heart disease in Scotland and have set out our strategic direction to address this in our Heart Disease Action Plan (2021).

The plan outlines a collaborative approach and acknowledges the important role of the third sector in minimising preventable heart disease and ensuring that everyone with suspected heart disease has timely and equitable access to diagnosis treatment and care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21921 on‎ 27 October 2023. 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 Scottish Government receives correspondence on a wide variety of topics. However, our Correspondent Management System does not offer a feature in which most-common subjects can be viewed.

This is not a reduction in the Scottish Government's funding awarded to Creative Scotland. Over the last five years, the Scottish Government has provided over £33m to Creative Scotland to compensate for a shortfall in National Lottery funding. As a result of rising costs and pressure on budgets across government, we are unable to make up the ongoing shortfall this year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture asked the Creative Scotland Board on 27 September to use £6.6m of their reserves to ensure all payments to regularly funded organisations are met in full. I am pleased that the Board approved this approach and will make up the £6.6m shortfall from their funding reserves, which total £17m. This will mean that the regularly funded organisations will not receive reduced funding this financial year.

Subject to the usual Parliamentary processes we will provide the National Lottery shortfall funding of £6.6m to Creative Scotland in 2024-2025.

On 28 September I wrote jointly with Julie James, Minister for Climate Change in the Welsh Government, to Michael Gove, UK Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, expressing disappointment at the Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK Government is significantly changing course on key net zero commitments.

Tackling the twin crises of climate change and nature loss is one of the most significant challenges facing people and planet this century and the Prime Minister’s statement was an unforgivable betrayal of current and future generations.

There was no prior engagement with the Scottish or Welsh Governments. Because of the weakness of current arrangements, we seek a high level summit and the establishment of a new, mutually respectful partnership to develop an agreed four nation approach to net zero in a collaborative manner. We also continue to strongly urge the UK Government to provide detailed information to enable us to fully assess the implications of the announcement.

On 5 October I made clear the Scottish Government’s position in a call with Graham Stuart, Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

On 26 October, I wrote to Claire Coutinho, Secretary of State, to express my deep concern about the path chosen by the Prime Minister in abandoning and delaying measures which have been previously committed to by the UK Government. I also seek an urgent response on long-standing proposals from the Scottish Government for action on reserved issues to accelerate the transition to net zero and help deliver both Scottish and UK targets.

I will again raise these issues when I chair the next meeting of the four nations Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Net Zero on 15 November.

The changes to examination recall times follow independent best practice guidelines set by NICE, allowing dentists to tailor recalls based on patients’ individual oral health needs. The guidelines can be found online at: Overview | Dental checks: intervals between oral health reviews | Guidance | NICE.

No one will have reduced access to dental examinations if they need them, alongside the annual extended clinical exam, there is a new review examination available, free of charge, as often as the dentist deems it clinically necessary.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on allocation of Community Link Worker posts and capacity at individual General Practice level. This data will be held by individual Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCP) alongside their local Primary Care Improvement Plans (PCIP).

At 31 st March 2023, there were over 308 WTE primary care Community Link Workers in post across Scotland. The following PCIP publication shows a breakdown of the Whole Time Equivalent by HSCP area:

Primary Care Improvement Plans: Summary of Implementation Progress at March 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)