Chamber and committees

Pupil Equity Funding is allocated directly to schools with headteachers having the discretion to make decisions about which particular interventions or approaches will be most effective at raising attainment and achievement and widening opportunities for children affected by poverty in their schools and communities. Although we expect schools to provide plans detailing their use of Pupil Equity Funding through existing planning procedures e.g. through School Improvement Plans and Standards and Quality reports, details of the particular interventions each school has implemented using Pupil Equity Funding are not held centrally.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Scottish Prison Service (SPS) staff are dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for families, friends, and for those who have support the individual on a daily basis.

SPS are fully committed to engaging with key partners to gain a better understanding to prevent deaths occurring and to ensure wider supports are in place for those in our care.

Whilst SPS have taken into account the University of Glasgow report ‘ Still nothing to see here?’, the new SPS Mental Health Strategy will explicitly reference the Scottish Governments ‘Creating Hope Together Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy’ and their emerging Self Harm Strategy. The new strategy goes even further to reference ‘Time, Space & Compassion’ which not only provides recommendations for improvements in suicidal crisis response, but is an overarching, whole person, whole system approach.

As outlined earlier this year in response to a similar question from Mr Rennie, our over £600 million investment in the R100 contracts, our R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and continued commercial coverage – including the emergence of newer technologies such as Low Earth Orbit satellite – means that every property in Scotland is able to consider options for superfast broadband connection today as was the case at the end of 2021, meeting our commitment.

The following table shows the number of care homes with a confirmed case of COVID-19, by week, for residents and staff since 1 January 2023. This data has been supplied by The Care Inspectorate.

Notes:

Data submitted to Care Inspectorate by care homes for adults and older people in "Confirmed case of COVID-19" notifications.

Data based on date of submission.

Data between 1 January 2023 and 24 September inclusive.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service utilises the Home Office Incident Recording System (IRS) to capture incident data.

Whilst there is currently no specific category to record incidents caused by lithium-ion batteries, this information can be recorded as “further information” and data can be collected and analysed via keyword search.

Work is ongoing to update the IRS to include more categories to reflect current and future needs in statistical recording and reporting.

Zoopla published a report titled “ The Cheapest Places to Rent a Home in 2023 ” on 14 September 2023. This report is based on newly advertised rental data and does not include trends in rents for existing tenancies and does not therefore cover trends in rents for the whole private rented sector in Scotland.

This report states that the average monthly advertised rent for 1 to 4 bedroom properties on the open market in Scotland in July 2023, was £748, 64% cheaper than the corresponding rent in London of £2,053.

The report also states that these rents in Scotland increased by 12.7% in the last year to July 2023, very similar to the corresponding increase in London of 12.4% and similar to other regions in England and Wales, with increases of 10% and above in the North West and West Midlands.

The Scottish Government considers that there are a wide range of factors contributing to high increases in private rents in Scotland and across the UK. The Programme for Government confirms the intention to introduce a Housing Bill to deliver a New Deal for Tenants, including the introduction of long-term rent controls for the private rented sector to address large increases in rents both during and between tenancies in Scotland.

The Cost of Living (Tenants Protection) Scotland Act 2022 provides stability of rents for the majority of existing tenants in the private rented sector in Scotland. Since 1 April 2023, rents for tenancies subject to the rent cap can increase by up to 3%, or landlords can apply to Rent Service Scotland for approval of an increase of up to 6% in specific circumstances. Our emergency legislation has led the way at a time when rents have been rising across the UK, stabilising rents to help tenants to stay in their homes. Anywhere else in the UK, private tenants have faced a double impact of unfettered rent rises both during and between tenancies.

The Mobile Heat Pump Training Van was launched on 2 August 2023, is accessible to any college in Scotland and is capable of delivering on site training across Scotland, including rural areas.

The facility was at Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) offices in Stirling twice in August to show Colleges from across Scotland the apparatus within the van and explain the booking process. On 28 August South Lanarkshire College delivered the first training in the van to eight heating tradespeople from the plumbing and gas sector who wanted to upskill on heat pumps. At the end of September the training centre was used by the heat pump manufacturer NIBE to provide training to 13 trainers from Scotland’s Colleges to increase the capacity to deliver training.

Throughout September the vehicle has also been made available at events to allow stakeholders to visit the facility and have a demonstration of its heat pump technologies.

Energy Saving Trust is preparing a marketing campaign to promote the training available through the van.

Since the introduction of the Low Carbon Skills Grant in 2021 the fund has supported a total of 293 heating and plumbing apprentices to be trained in heat pump installation. The fund has continued to grow in popularity and this is shown by the increase in yearly delivery figures provided in the following table:

The following primary care projects were allocated capital funding by the Scottish Government in the period 2019-20 to 2023-24:

The Scottish Government will be investing in the North East Glasgow Health and Care Centre over the next two financial years.

A number of other proposals are currently being reviewed, however, as a result of very high levels of inflation in the construction industry and a lower than expected capital grant from the UK Government, there is no ability to expand the health capital investment programme at this point. Therefore, any projects not identified as priorities within the Infrastructure Investment Plan will not be able to be funded until likely 2026.