Chamber and committees

The guidance on face coverings in schools was most recently updated on 17 February, and this updated guidance came into force on 28 February. This guidance is available at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-reducing-the-risks-in-schools/

The removal of the requirement to wear face coverings in secondary school classrooms is a positive milestone which signals the possibility of a brighter future where schools can regain some normality. Pupils and staff who continue to choose to wear face coverings in class will be supported in doing so.

The remaining mitigations in schools, including the wearing of face coverings in communal areas, are being kept under review by the Advisory Sub-group on Education and Children’s Issues to ensure they remain appropriate, proportionate, and in line with wider society wherever possible. As always, we will ensure that all decisions on such mitigations are based upon the best available evidence and expert advice.

As the First Minister set out we are developing a managed transition plan which will ensure that Scotland continues to have a proportionate and effective testing response as we learn to live with COVID. As part of this we are reviewing the groups of individuals who will need to access a COVID test for treatment in line with the latest clinical advice and risk assessments. We will outline our plans later this month.

Under Schedule 1, Part B, Rule 8(1) of the 2009 Act it is for the Parliament to appoint all trustees by resolution on nomination by the SPCB.  The SPCB recently agreed to nominate Gordon MacDonald MSP, Murdo Fraser MSP and Mark Ballard (pensioner trustee) as Fund Trustees of the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme.  The motions for the Parliament to approve the appointment of the above named were moved on Wednesday 9 March 2022.

The following table shows how many school-aged children are in each local authority (as at September 2020) and how many devices have been distributed by councils using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets. We do not hold information centrally on those approaches, therefore, the following table only shows devices distributed through the funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government are committed to providing a device for every school aged child by the end of this Parliament.

The fourth and final meeting of the Building Standards (Fire Safety) Review Panel 2020-22 took place on 24 January 2022. Draft minutes of the meeting were circulated to members of the panel for comment on 03 March 2022. The final minutes will then be published by the end of March 2022.

The following table shows how many devices have been distributed by councils to school aged children using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets. We do not hold information centrally on those approaches, therefore, the table only shows devices distributed through the funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government are committed to providing a device for every school aged child by the end of this Parliament.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many households have received the single person’s council tax discount in each year between 1999 and 2003, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government does hold data on how many households have received the single person’s council tax discount in each year between 2004 and 2021, broken down by local authority.

A copy of the table has been placed in SPICE - BIB number 63208.

In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models to help inform a national rollout. There are currently 12 local authorities, including East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire which are not covered by a pilot.

Funding for devices was provided to local authorities by the Scottish Government. As such, local authorities undertook their own procurement exercises and devices purchased became assets of, and are managed by individual local authorities. Decisions on their use, are taken locally. We do not hold information on how devices are used and monitored.

Current building regulations require that fire spread on external walls is inhibited. The guidance which supports the regulations calls for non-combustible or limited combustibility cladding and insulation materials on the exterior walls of high rise buildings over 11m and high-risk buildings. Combustible cladding and insulation can only be used in such situations when the fire performance of the whole of the cladding system (including thermal insulation and fire barriers) has passed a large scale fire test. The Scottish Government requires to be notified when such a test has been used to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.

The current review of building regulations has considered a ban of the highest risk cladding materials including the role of the large scale fire test, BS 8414. It is expected that amended regulations will be laid in the Scottish Parliament shortly.