Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of educational mobility.

While we remain committed to Erasmus+, in the interim, we are creating a Scottish Education Exchange Programme to support participants from across Scotland’s education system.

This is a Programme for Government commitment and will help maintain Scotland’s place as an outward looking, internationally connected destination for work and study.

We are engaging with stakeholders from across the education spectrum, including higher and further education, schools (including early years and care), vocational education and training, youth work, adult education and sports. We are listening to the sectors and the needs of their learners and staff in order to ensure we create a programme fit for Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not have any immediate plans to directly fund PhD students through the introduction of student loans.

We do however support postgraduate research by providing universities with funding to support the training of PhD students through the core research and knowledge exchange grants from the Scottish Funding Council. One of these is specifically aimed at PhD training and support: the Research Postgraduate Grant which is £36.9m in 2022-23.

The Scottish Government is exploring options for restarting the travelling Cabinets programme in 2023 after it was paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In line with standard practice, the location of each event would be announced in advance, including by notifying local elected representatives and local media.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall Roundabout as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal.

Transport Scotland continues to progress the proposed scheme through the statutory process to deliver improvements at this key junction as soon as possible.

Following publication of draft Orders and Environmental Statement, Transport Scotland received a significant number of representations, including objections, to the proposed scheme. Given the number of objections, a Public Local Inquiry (PLI) is required, during which an independent reporter will consider all outstanding objections prior to making recommendations to the Scottish Ministers. The PLI is due to commence on Monday 30 January 2023. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate statutory forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn.

While I am keen to see the improvements delivered as soon as possible, the statutory right for individuals to have their say on proposals cannot be set aside. Delivery of the scheme itself can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory procedures, at which point a timetable for its progress can be set.

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council, in partnership with the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), has been working for a number of years to engage with universities and colleges to shape the future workforce for the digital health and care sector. This includes work with Skills Development Scotland, and the FUTUREquipped project with Scotland's colleges: FUTUREquipped | Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (dhi-scotland.com)

The focus of this report was providing a response on how to implement the recommendations of the Drug Deaths Taskforce Report, Changing Lives , published in July 2022.

However, people with problematic alcohol use and those who use alcohol alongside drugs will benefit from a number of the actions outlined in the plan such as the work to address stigma, the actions on early intervention and actions to support people with co-occurring mental health and substance use needs. In addition, the actions outlined in the plan to develop a trauma-informed workforce, to ensure that those with lived or living experience are involved in the development of work across both alcohol and drug policy and on residential rehabilitation services, will benefit people with problematic alcohol use as well as problematic drug use.

The Changing Lives report was the final report of the Drug Deaths Taskforce which has now concluded its work.

As a recipient of Scottish Government grant funding, Inspiring Scotland are subject to regular monitoring and reporting against pre-agreed and clear outcomes as set out in their offer of grant.

The Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums Trust (SSPDT) is not funded by the Scottish Government therefore we do not hold this information. Further information on their funding can be found on their website www.sspdt.org.uk .

The National Piping Centre is a Regularly Funded Organisation (RFO) through Creative Scotland and has received £150,000 each year through their RFO grant since 2018. The National Piping Centre has also received additional funding support from the Youth Music Initiative, Youth Arts Fund and the Recovery Fund for Cultural Organisations at a combined total of £531,477 over the last five years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14158 on 3 February 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 .