Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to providing opportunities to participate in shaping inclusive policies that promote mitigation of climate change in line with our Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change. We are aiming to engage with stakeholders and members of the public during 2023 to inform the development of the next Climate Change Plan. This is in advance of a public consultation which will commence when the draft Climate Change Plan is laid in Parliament later in 2023 for a period of at least 120 days of scrutiny.

We are engaging on the next Climate Change Plan with stakeholders through a variety of means including the Climate Change Plan Advisory Group (CCPAG) and the Climate Policy Engagement Network. The CCPAG includes representatives of academia, NGOs, business and industry and trade unions, and meetings are planned to take place up to October 2023. The Climate Policy Engagement Network will consist of representatives of key sectors of interest, organisations and relevant experts to enable meaningful participation in delivery of climate change policy. Additionally as the draft Climate Change Plan continues to be developed, we will continue engagement at a sectoral level with stakeholder representatives and we are exploring other opportunities to engage with other relevant interests.

We are committed to ensuring that every school-aged child has access to a device to support their learning by the end of this parliament in 2026.

We have already provided £25m to local authorities, which supported the purchase of 72,000 devices and 14,000 internet connections for school children across Scotland.

The Capital Spending Review, published May 2022, set out high level spending plans for capital and provided an indicative allocation of £140 million to support the rollout of digital devices.

The budget published in December 2022 allocated £13 million budget for 2023/24. We will continue to develop delivery plans in partnership with Cosla and local authorities, including phasing and funding options for this commitment.

(a) In 2014, the Deputy First Minister committed to re-opening the Fund and provided £5.5 million per annum to enable ILF to re-open to new applicants for the first time since 2010.Through an extensive process of co-production, the ILF Scotland Transition Fund was developed as an alternative to re-opening the 2015 Fund. The Transition Fund was designed to support young disabled people with the transition to adult life. This entirely new fund opened to applications in December 2017.

(b) The Cabinet Secretary wrote to the ILF Scotland Board on 16 December 2022, 26 January 2023 and 27 February 2023 stating his support for ILF Scotland but indicating that re-opening the 2015 Fund could only progress when affordability and sustainability could be assured.

The Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care wrote to the Chair of ILF Scotland’s Advisory Group on 23 January 2023 stating that he remains committed to re-opening the 2015 Fund but is unable to do so due to financial constraints.

The Scottish Government is a Living Wage accredited employer. As of 30 September 2022 9150 staff were directly employed by the Scottish Government and all are paid a salary at least equivalent to £11.48 per hour.

Social Security Scotland works to progress applications as quickly as possible.

Decisions for the majority of people who applied for Scottish Child Payment, or added additional children to their award, between 14 November and 31 December 2022 have now been issued and this will be reported on in the next round of statistics. As previously announced, all successful awards will be backdated to the date that the application was received.

Around 143,000 school age children benefitted from the Winter 2022 Bridging Payment of £260, with over £37.1 million of payments awarded to families. We do not hold information on the number of people who applied for Scottish Child Payment who also received Bridging Payments.

The latest available information on new applications for Scottish Child Payment is contained in the most recent official statistics release, covering the period to 31 December 2022 - https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/scottish-child-payment-high-level-statistics-to-31-december-2022 .

Drinks importers that buy products from supplier outside of Scotland have the same requirement as drinks producers to register with the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme to meet their legal obligations. Circularity Scotland as the scheme administrator is rightfully leading on engagement with businesses, including drinks importers, to help them register with the scheme.

The Destination Net Zero Vehicle Charge Point Tourism Recovery Fund was administered by Energy Saving Trust on behalf of VisitScotland and the Scottish Government. The full value of the Destination Net Zero Vehicle Charge Point Tourism Recovery fund has not yet been spent, however VisitScotland anticipate that it will be. A total of £227,733.47 has been paid to 79 businesses to date.

Both the Final Report (May 2022) and the Action Plan Assurance (October 2022) for the Gateway Review for the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme were published on the Scottish Government website on 14 December 2022.

The Scottish Government is committed to re-opening the 2015 Fund when affordability and sustainability can be assured. We will continue to actively consider re-opening the Fund as part of the annual budget setting process.

The Scottish Government is clear that the continued under-representation of minority ethnic teachers, at all levels, is unacceptable and requires continued action. Through our Diversity in the Teaching Profession and Education Workforce (DITPEW) working group we are taking a range of specific steps - all of which are predicated on engagement with minority ethnic people with anti racist and educational expertise - to meet the 4% target. These include:

• Appointing 2 minority ethnic, senior education professionals to co-chair the DITPEW working group and drive forward Professor Arshad's recommendations. DITPEW working group members also have lived experience of racism, professional experience in education and in developing anti-racist practice.
• Working with the General Teaching Council for Scotland to develop the new National Race Diversity Lead post which is supported by SG funding in 2022-24. It sees the postholder working across local authorities, regional improvement collaboratives and schools, to facilitate increased racial diversity within the teaching profession.
• Working with Dr Khadija Mohammed, Associate Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at University of the West of Scotland in the development of an anti-racist framework for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers. The framework's aim is to ensure that minority ethnic ITE students have an anti-racist experience from initial application stage through to becoming a newly qualified teacher.
• Working with minority ethnic teachers to deliver sessions through the Developing the Young Workforce Live platform, aimed at encouraging minority ethnic children and young people to consider teaching as a career.

Key to informing the development and delivery of these ambitions is the annual Scottish Government Diversity in the Teaching Profession Data report, which will be published at the end of March.