Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will be applying an uplift of 5.6% to the value of the GP contract later this year. This uplift will be backdated to 1 April 2022 and will include funding to cover a 4.5% increase in non-staff expenses. Scottish Government are also adding an extra 20% to all item of service claims made by NHS general dental practitioners in quarter three of this year (October to December), and 10% in quarter four (January to March). The Welsh Secretary and I have jointly written to the UK Government asking it to provide additional funding given that it is their actions that have caused record high inflation. A copy of the letter has been placed in SPICe, bib number 63796.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12059 on 30 November 2022. 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 First Home Fund closed at the end of the 2021-22 financial year. The Scottish Government does not plan to reopen the fund - key findings from the evaluation show that 72% of buyers would have been able to purchase a property which met their needs without financial assistance. However, we continue to support home ownership through various interventions to help first time buyers. These include our Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy their first home either through the open market (Open Market Shared Equity) or new build (New Supply Shared Equity). Support is also available through the Self Build Loan Fund.

The Islands Impact Assessment became a legal duty in December 2020, one year after the launch of the First Home Fund. Nonetheless, as the fund was available to all eligible applicants in Scotland to utilise, with no upper price cap, it was not likely to have an effect on an island community which was significantly different from its effect on other communities.

Since 2014 we have undertaken one of the most significant reforms to public services in a generation by almost doubling the entitlement to high quality, funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 to 1140 hours per year, for all eligible children.

The early level of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) purposely spans early learning and childcare (ELC) and primary schooling. It is designed to support the implementation of a responsive, continuous, play-based curriculum for children from age three until the end of P1 (for most children). Key messages on the use of child-centred play pedagogy across the early level and beyond have most recently been confirmed and strengthened in 'Realising the Ambition: Being Me' (2020), the evidence-based and internationally recognised national practice guidance for the early years in Scotland.

Education Scotland is taking forward a range of activity to support the consistent and effective implementation of the ‘Realising the Ambition’ guidance, including through hosting webinars and supporting practice at regional and local levels tailored to local needs. We are aware that many Scottish Local Authorities have, or have immediate plans to implement, programmes of professional learning on play pedagogy for practitioners working in the early years of primary school.

From August 2023, all children who defer will automatically be entitled to an additional year of funded ELC.

Raising the school starting age and introducing a ‘kindergarten stage’ would represent a fundamental change in the scope of early years’ education in Scotland and a significant structural change to the provision of education, and was not part of the Scottish National Party’s manifesto for this current Parliamentary term.

The priority for this parliamentary term must be to fulfil the commitments on which this Scottish Government was elected, including building a system of school age childcare and a new early learning and childcare offer for one- and two-year olds, starting with those who need it most. These priorities are outlined in ‘Best Start: Strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland, 2022-26’, published on 6 October 2022.

While the Scottish Government does not have plans to change the age at which children start school in Scotland in this Parliament, we welcome an active debate on these issues as part of our ongoing National Discussion on Education.

Scottish Government officials have met with European Commission officials regarding sharing knowledge and expertise on the operational elements of the Erasmus+ programme’s mobility and exchange, pertaining to the development of a Scottish Education Exchange Programme.

The impact and efficacy of the FPMC scheme is monitored through supervision of the projects awarded funding. This is done in several key ways:

Firstly all beneficiaries are required to submit progress reports with each claim for payment which set out the progress made against achieving the stated objectives of the project. Scottish Ministers have the legal right to take action, up to an including revocation of the grant award if progress is found not to be satisfactory.

Secondly, we operate an inspection regime, which ensures all claims for payment are run through an automated inspection selection process which ensures 5% receive a physical inspection each year. We also have the right to require that an ad hoc inspection be carried out should concerns arise over any project achieving its’ objectives.

Thirdly, all projects awarded funding are subject to an annual monitoring process which seeks to confirm whether or not the project’s objectives in terms of employment, increased turnover and sales have been achieved.

The Iterative Plan Review Process (IPR) is ongoing and officials have completed an initial review of the assessments conducted for the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (SMP-OWE) adopted in 2020. This initial review identified which aspects of the assessments are likely to be affected by the ScotWind and clearing process results. The full review is estimated to take around 12 months and a final programme for the review process will be fixed in the coming weeks, taking into account the findings of the initial review. Officials at Marine Scotland Directorate will hold a series of stakeholder engagement events and statutory consultation as part of the re-assessment process.

Scottish Government Officials are working towards holding the first meeting of the Joint Regulatory Taskforce as soon as possible and aim to hold before the end of 2022. Communications to key stakeholders to facilitate this will be issued shortly.

The Taskforce will also support and drive early progress towards meeting our commitments in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation to review and improve the process of developing, implementing and reviewing regulation to meet our economic and societal aims. Reviewing regulatory burdens on business will be a critical component of this work and we will seek to balance the essential role that regulation plays on driving innovation and achieving economic, societal and environmental goals with the concerns that businesses have expressed about the impact of new regulations during the cost crisis.

While the Taskforce was announced as part of the Emergency Budget Review in response to the ongoing cost crisis, it is also expected to help support the work towards the longer term goals. Therefore, there is no set date for the conclusion of its work but the terms of reference will be subject to ongoing review to ensure the group continues to be in the best position to support the delivery of these goals.

Following the high level assessment of unmet need raised in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, the Scottish Government considered unmet need in its consultation for the National Care Service.

Unmet need in adult social care is continually monitored as Scottish Government analysts are considering options for increasing our understanding of the nature and level of unmet need in adult social care. We will continue to engage with external partners and those with lived experience of unmet need in social care services as we develop the National Care Service.

We are delivering person-centred, tailored services to those further from the labour market through a combination of locally designed services (No One Left Behind) and our national employment service Fair Start Scotland. We provide support that is flexible, person-centred, and aligned with other key services including health, justice, housing and advice services. Support is tailored to the individual’s specific circumstances, people with convictions are eligible for support through both No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland.

We are currently working with the Scottish Prison Service, Disclosure Scotland and DWP to further enhance our employability offer for people with convictions and have undertaken specific work to help promote the service offer to individuals with convictions pre and post-liberation, ensuring support is available immediately on release.