Chamber and committees

The proposed National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Young Persons is expected to increase patronage and cause modal shift but the precise impact of these changes is uncertain. The Scottish Government will monitor the scheme to assess the level of take up and the impact it has on people’s travel behaviours and on other modes of transport, including active travel.

Evidence from the existing National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Older and Disabled Persons indicates that people who benefit from free public transport tend to be more active as a result. These journeys can be used to access outdoor activities and most will involve an active component, for instance to get to or from the bus stop.

The Scottish Government has established the Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce, comprised of leaders from the bus operating, bus manufacturing, energy and finance sectors, including representation from rural bus operators. At its first meeting the group set out its vision for a future where “Bus operators are exclusively running zero-emission battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell buses, and the bus sector provides an excellent service meeting passengers’ day-to-day needs”. The guiding vision informs all aspects of the Taskforce’s work. The Scottish Government is making £120 million available over the coming years to support operators in both urban and rural areas transition to zero-emission technology. The first phase of our Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund, worth £50 million, is currently open for bids. A second phase will be subject to review of the first.

Since June 2020 the Scottish Government has made up to £210 million in additional financial support available to enable bus operators to continue to run services during the pandemic. It is for individual operators to lead dialogue with trade unions and to determine pay arrangements with their employees. Scottish Government funding is provided on a not for profit basis and any pay increases for staff would need to be funded by bus operators through efficiencies or any reserves they may have accrued prior to the pandemic.

There are approximately 4,400 public service buses registered in Scotland, the majority of which will have to transition to zero emission buses in order to meet the 2023 ambition. The Scottish Government has already supported 272 zero-emission buses through the Scottish Ultra-low Emission Bus scheme 2020-21, which is over and above zero emission buses that have been deployed through other means.

No evaluation has taken place of the ScotZEB scheme as it is still open for applications until 4 November 2021.

The Scottish Government will continue to take forward our No One Left Behind approach to employability, which is based on partnership and collaboration to deliver joined-up person-centred services through transformational change.

No One Left Behind sees a departure from nationally commissioned programmes to a more localised commissioning approach, which supports local service delivery and a holistic package of support tailored to individual needs, aligning more closely with other services such as health, housing and justice, to drive better outcomes for individuals who want help to find work.

The first stage of implementation commenced in April 2019 when ‘Activity Agreements’ and ‘Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive’ ceased and were replaced by a local allocation of No One Left Behind investment across the 32 local authority areas.

As outlined in the No One Left Behind Delivery Plan (24 Nov 2020), we will proceed with further implementation of No One Left Behind from April 2022 after a delay to take into account the circumstances of the pandemic. This means the employability programmes Community Jobs Scotland and Employability Fund will cease with funding transferring to No One Left Behind local governance arrangements.

This local governance approach allows Local Employability Partnerships (LEP’s), which involves a range of partners including Skills Development Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions, Colleges, NHS, the third sector and business representatives to work together with local communities to design and deliver services that best meet both individual and labour market needs in each local area.

We remain committed to working with partners in the public, private and third sector as we prepare for this change to ensure continuity of support and access to employability services for individuals.

We fully support the pig sector in Scotland and understand the difficulties created by Covid-19 and the knock-on impact this has had on exports to China. The Scottish Government are running a £715k Pig Producers Hardship Support Scheme to support the sector by assisting the producers who supplied the abattoir between 8 February and 31 March. I recognise the strain that the loss of the export licence to China in particular has placed on the sector as a whole. While we are doing what we can to push for relisting, the decision to relist UK sites for exports is ultimately a decision for the Chinese government.

Further to the answer to question S6W-01792, the Scottish Government invests £862 million in general medical services, and a further £250 million in support of general practice through the Primary Care Fund.

Specific details of actual expenditure would require to be requested directly from individual NHS Boards .

In August we confirmed that the central planning assumption is that an examination diet will be held in 2022 for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. We have been clear that fairness for all learners sitting those exams is an absolute priority. At the same time we remain focused on closing the attainment gap and ensuring every young person has the chance to fulfil their potential.

Pupils living in Scotland’s most deprived communities are among those to benefit from £215 million of funding in 2021-22, targeted via the Scottish Attainment Challenge, to support education recovery, and help close the poverty-related attainment gap.

This funding is made available to head teachers to support pupils experiencing poverty, and to local authorities and schools with the highest levels of deprivation. It includes is our ‘COVID-premium’ payment of £20m, which recognises the new challenges schools face as a result of the pandemic.

Our approach empowers head teachers to decide how best to invest their allocation to best support their disadvantaged pupils, including those that will be preparing for SQA examinations in Spring 2022 . Teachers know their pupils best and will take cognisance of best practice to put in place supports that will allow learners to maximise their senior phase attainment in session 2021-22. I am grateful to them for their efforts in this respect.

Over and above these measures, we are committed to boosting in-person Easter study support provision in 2022. To this end, we will work with local government colleagues to increase this further where appropriate, ensuring that resources for targeted Easter study support provision are available. I will also soon announce our plans for the next phase of the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme.

Furthermore, to complement and enhance further school-based supports, Education Scotland is putting in place the following package of supports, some of which are already underway:

i) e-sgoil Easter Support

Learners will have an opportunity to attend online Easter Revision Classes in a range of SCQF Level 4 to Level 7 courses. Information regarding Easter Study Support will be available in early 2022 with promotion of the support through direct correspondence to schools via Directors of Education, and Social Media.

ii) Study support e-sgoil sessions

Throughout the term learners will be able to attend online evening revision classes in a range of SCQF Level 4 to Level 7 Courses. A comprehensive on-line study support programme for 2021/2022 launched in the week beginning 6 September. All 32 local authorities have engaged with this study support. Measures are being taken to target and engage with groups of learners for this support. Additionally, from early 2022,
‎ e-sgoil can offer specialised targeted study support (via referral from their Headteacher) for those young people considered to have been most impacted by COVID.

iii) Attainment Advisor support

Working as part of regional teams at Education Scotland, Attainment Advisors will continue to provide bespoke support to each local authority, and in partnership with local authority officers to individual schools and/or clusters of school. The support provided is focussed on helping practitioners make effective use of data and evidence to identify where young people require support and identify the actions which will have most impact. This support could take a variety of forms and may include professional challenge, advice and guidance to maximise the investment of Scottish Attainment Challenge funding to increase educational outcomes for young people most impacted by poverty.

iv) On-line webinars for teachers/lecturers

Secondary schools in Scotland have recently been given three opportunities to attend a ‘Routes to Success’ webinar where they will learn about alternative pathways to achievement that have been implemented with success in a number of Scottish Schools. These sessions will consider best practise on raising attainment and/or supporting disadvantaged learners. Other sessions may be planned based on feedback and the needs identified from the first three on-line webinars.

v) Learner support e-sgoil sessions

Learners will have an opportunity to access specific advice to support assessment preparation and their own health and wellbeing. Building on work carried out in 2021, 2022 e-sgoil will intensify its offer for learner support. Sessions consist of a range of generic advice to help prepare young people for both naturally occurring assessment, prelims and final examinations. This input includes advice on exam technique and revision strategies as well as health & wellbeing advice, including managing stress and where learners can access additional services. The first specific on-line support session will be available after the October break.

Special Advisers in the Scottish Government are bound by the Special Adviser Code of Conduct and the standards of integrity and honesty required of all civil servants as set out in the Civil Service Code. The Scottish Government has accepted the Hamilton Report proposal to give further consideration to matters relating to Special Advisers. We will cooperate with the Independent Advisers on taking this forward as part of any wider revisions to both the Ministerial Code and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers that might be required.