Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13013 on 9 January 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 .

In 2023-24 the Local Government finance settlement will provide over £13.2 billion to local authorities with a real terms increase in funding of £160.6 million or (1.3%).

Official Statistics on Scottish Child Payment are published every quarter. The last publication was on 29 November 2022 and provided information on processing times up to 30 September 2022: Scottish Child Payment: high level statistics to 30 September 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The next release of Official Statistics, covering the period to the end of December 2022, is due to be published on 28 February 2023.

Social Security Scotland received a high volume of applications for Scottish Child Payment when it extended to under 16 year olds on 14 November. Initial management information indicates that from Monday 14 November 2022 to Sunday 11 December 2022, the total number of applications received was 123,000.

Social Security Scotland are working hard to process payments as quickly as possible and tens of thousands of eligible of clients will receive their payment before Christmas. The remaining eligible clients will receive payment in early 2023 and have been contacted to make them aware of this so they are able to plan accordingly.

If eligible, all payments will be calculated from the day that the client applied or submitted a change of circumstances to add an extra child, so nobody should lose out financially.

The phasing of the PDR review programme is kept under review to ensure that it reflects – and helps to promote – wider Scottish Government objectives. The stakeholder update which I issued with the Chief Planner in October 2022 confirmed that, in light of the current cost and climate crises, Phase 3 of the review will focus on PDR for domestic and non-domestic renewable energy equipment – and that a consultation will be published early in 2023.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on the content of our consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion.

Officials in the Alcohol Harm Prevention Team have met with the ASA at regular intervals to discuss alcohol marketing and ASA research.

I will meet with key stakeholders, including the ASA and other advertising bodies, during the consultation period to directly hear their views on the proposals and any potential impacts they may have.

As noted in the 2022-23 Programme for Government, we are continuing our preparatory work to ensure every school-aged child has access to a digital device by the end of this parliament in 2026.

As Mr Marra is now aware, there was no announcement on class sizes in my statement to Parliament on 8 December. Mr Marra has now confirmed that his question is about the reduction in class contact time.

We are continuing to discuss the Programme for Government commitment to reduce class contact time by one-and-a-half hours per week for teachers through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). The SNCT is responsible for teachers’ terms and conditions, and as such it will be for the SNCT to agree the implementation of this change.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school aged children have access to a device to support their learning by the end of this parliament.

In 2020-21, we provided £25 million of funding to local authorities across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device to support their learning. The following table shows the number of devices distributed via that funding, as reported by individual local authorities, as well as the number of pupils currently on the school roll in those council areas.

The role of the Education Reform Strategic Programme Board is to provide advice and support to the programme, ensuring its successful and safe delivery.

The strategic board and three delivery boards have been established to lead, design and deliver work to establish three new national education bodies to replace the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland. The arrangements for education reform governance include a wide range of external stakeholders to provide a broad and diverse range of views and to put critical challenge at the centre of this work. Minutes of the Education Reform Strategic Programme Board, including attendance, can be found at www.gov.scot/groups/education-reform/.

Engagement with education reform stakeholders and users will continue to be a core part of the education reform programme whose delivery this board oversees. This engagement will provide all those with a stake and interest in the success of education reform with opportunities to provide further input and challenge to inform the design and delivery of the three new national education bodies and the wider education reform programme.

The £32 million Local Bridge Maintenance Fund broken down by local authority and successful applications is set out in a document that has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib number 63925.