Chamber and committees

A direct comparison of the costs of renting and buying is complicated because a range of factors need to be taken into account. For example, the capital element of a repayment mortgage creates an asset for the owner, which rent does not; conversely, renters will need to provide a smaller deposit than home owners. Other factors that should be included in a comparison are that, unlike a renter, an owner will be liable for costs such as buildings insurance, repairs and maintenance, and LBTT. It is unclear from the Hamptons Report whether any allowance has been made for these factors in their methodology.

In the year to end September 2020, the average 2-bedroom rent in Scotland was £689, [1] as compared with £793 in England. [2] In May 2021, private rental prices rose by an annual 1.3% in Scotland as compared with 1.1% in England. In April 2021, the average house price in Scotland was £160,632, up by an annual 6.3%, while the average house price in England was £268,321, up by annual 8.9%. [3]

We are committed to ensuring that everyone has a warm, comfortable and safe place to live, and to expanding our social and affordable housing stock. Housing to 2040 , Scotland’s vision for housing to 2040, includes a commitment to take action to ensure the housing market operates more fairly across Scotland, providing affordable housing options and choices in all communities.

For the social and private rented sector, we will publish a new draft Rented Sector Strategy, by the end of this year, which will be consulted upon in 2022. The Strategy will be informed by those most affected, that will seek to improve accessibility, affordability and standards across the whole rented sector.

These commitments, builds on the significant reforms already put in place through our 2016 Private Housing Tenancies Act, which provided private renters with a range of new rights and greater security, stability and predictability in their rents. We will also reform Rent Pressure Zones, so that this is a workable tool for local authorities to address high rents in localised areas.

[1] Scottish Government, Private sector rent statistics: 2010 - 2020

[2] ONS, Private rental market summary statistics in England: April 2020 to March 2021

[3] UK House Price Index

The self isolation support grant(SISG) is designed to encourage eligible individuals who have tested positive for Covid 19 to self isolate for the required period to stop onward spread. The SISG will be available for as long as required, subject to budget availability, with no plans at this time to withdraw that support.

The number of people who died of infectious diseases in each of the last five years are shown in the following table. These figures are available on the NRS website up to 2019. Data for 2020 will be published on 17 August 2021. This data can be accessed at: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/vital-events-ref-tables/2019/vital-events-19-ref-tabs-6.xlsx

The Scottish Government has made significant progress in addressing injustices in land ownership, specifically through the 2016 Land Reform Act. However, we recognise that there is more to do and are committed to land reform on an ongoing basis. As set out in our manifesto, we will introduce a new Land Reform bill in the current session.

Everyone has a stake in Scotland’s land and everyone should benefit from Scotland’s land. In September 2017, the Scottish Government published the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement, the first of its kind anywhere in the world. Taking a human rights approach, it sets out a vision of a strong and dynamic relationship between Scotland’s land and its people, where our land contributes to a modern and successful country and where land rights and responsibilities are recognised and fulfilled.

We have also committed to double the Scottish Land Fund to £20 million per year by the end of this Parliament to provide further support to communities wishing to acquire assets. We look forward to working with parliament and society to take forward this work together to create a fairer Scotland.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the UK agency responsible for the approval of both clinical trials in the UK and of marketing authorisations (licences) for new medicinal products.

The MHRA is aware that ivermectin, administered orally, is being studied for safety and efficacy in numerous clinical trials worldwide. This includes an exploratory study being conducted within the UK: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04632706 . Potential new therapeutic approaches to COVID-19 are being tested through the UK-wide platform trials, including RECOVERY, PRINCIPLE and REMAP CAP. These trials are active in Scotland. The PRINCIPLE study is a UK-wide clinical trial led by the University of Oxford, evaluating potential treatments for COVID-19 including ivermectin.

The Scottish Government is closely monitoring all emerging evidence on the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments and their clinical effectiveness in particular patient groups to ensure medicines with the greatest impact in treating COVID-19 are available for patients in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is considering funding arrangements for student allied health professions as part of the ongoing Allied Health Professions Education review.

Work to preserve and increase the stock of grey partridge has traditionally been led by shooting interests such as the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

GWCT lead on the PARTRIDGE project in the UK, supported by the EU via the Interreg North Sea Region programme. It show-cases how new and improved management solutions can improve biodiversity and ecosystem services at 10 demonstration sites across the region. There are two demonstration sites in Scotland at Balgonie Farm in Fife and Whitburgh Farms in East Lothian promoting land management techniques specifically to benefit grey partridge https://northsearegion.eu/partridge/ .

More widely, the protection of Scotland’s biodiversity is a key priority for the Scottish Government, and we are committed to doing more to safeguard our species and habitats. Our high level Statement of Intent on biodiversity, published in December 2020, signalled our ambitions for biodiversity in Scotland, and the development of a new post-2020 biodiversity strategy. We have committed £7 million to date to the Biodiversity Challenge Fund and recently launched a new £10 million Nature Restoration Fund to help finance projects that support nature recovery and address climate change. Action to restore biodiversity is also central to our Green Recovery from Covid-19.

Information on the number of classroom assistants in the years 2003-2020 is provided in the following tables. Data on the number of classroom assistants or other support staff from 1999-2002 is not held by Scottish Government.

The variability in categorisation of staff and the definition of full time equivalent means that caution should be taken if making comparisons over time or between local authorities. Full details on the use and comparability of the data are available in the background notes of the statistical publications.

Table 1: 2020 Pupil Support Assistants - Hours Worked per week

Table 2: 2020 Classroom Assistant and ASN Auxiliary or Care Assistant - Hours Worked per week

Data on school support staff was collected in the form of hours per week rather than the number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff in 2020. This is because different local authorities have different definitions of ‘full time hours’ so changing to measure hours rather than FTE allows for more accurate comparison between local authorities.

Statistics on hours worked per week of pupil support assistants in 2020 are provided in Table 1.

Management information on hours worked per week hours worked of classroom assistant and ASN auxiliary or care assistant are provided in Table 2.

Table 3: Pupil Supports Assistant - 2017 to 2020 – FTE

The use of the term 'classroom assistant' varies between local authorities and is sometimes used interchangeably with 'additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant'. Therefore these two categories of school support staff have been combined and reported as 'pupil support assistants' in the published statistics on school support staff since 2017. Statistics on FTE of pupil support assistants for 2017 to 2020 are provided in Table 3.

Since 2017 the categories of classroom assistant and additional support needs auxiliary or care assistant have been published separately as management information and have not been subject to the same level of quality assurance as the published statistics.

Calculations of full time equivalent (FTE) numbers of pupils support assistants for 2020 were published to allow a comparison to be made with data from 2018 and 2019. The data on pupil support assistants published in 2017 is not directly comparable because of changes to the method of estimating FTE in some authorities. Calculations 2020 FTE of classroom assistants and ASN auxiliary or care assistant have not been calculated.

Table 4 - Classroom assistants - 2003-2019 - FTE

Table 5 - ASN auxiliary or care assistant - 2003-2019 - FTE - (part 1)

Statistics and management information on the FTE of classroom assistant and ASN auxiliary or care assistant from 2003 to 2019 are provided in Tables 4 and 5.