Chamber and committees

High quality, accessible and affordable early learning and school age childcare is critical to keeping children in Scotland out of poverty. That is why we continue prioritise investment of around £1 billion per year in delivering funded ELC to all eligible children, despite the significant financial challenges facing the Scottish Government as a result of budget choices made at Westminster.

As a result, families across Scotland have been benefitting from the provision of 1140 hours of high quality ELC since 2021. We also committed in the 2024 Programme for Government to work with local authorities to maximise the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds.

It is important to recognise that the UK Government’s offer is not an expansion of universal ELC for children under three, as it is only available to working families in England. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made clear that, despite billions of investment by the UK Government, ‘the poorest one third of families will see almost no direct benefit from the new entitlements’’.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking the time needed to deliver a childcare expansion that is both fair and affordable, giving children the best possible start in life and supporting parents and carers to work, train and take up education opportunities. Our approach is backed by international evidence which shows that high quality ELC is critical to giving children the best start in life, especially those experiencing poverty.

In this Parliament we are working with six councils on childcare early adopter communities (EAC), backed by £16 million over 2024-25 and 2025-26. The EACs are supporting the development of affordable childcare for low-income families with children from the early years through to the end of primary school, and evaluating the difference this can make.

The engagement and targeted delivery that takes place for younger children in the EACs this year will be a key element in developing our evidence base to inform a future expansion. We will also be drawing on research to understand what different approaches to early learning and childcare are best for younger children and piloting new approaches via projects funded by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

Preparatory work is now underway for the NIFS4 contract but this remains at an early stage. No decision on the detailed requirements of the contract has been taken but the views of stakeholders and operational feasibility will inform the approach taken. This will include considering how the booking system can be operated to maximise flexibility for customers.

The Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) Strategic Approach and Vessels and Ports Plan were published for public consultation and community engagement last year, with the consultation report and Transport Scotland’s Initial Responses published in September 2024. Following the recent completion of the associated Strategic Environmental Assessment, it is anticipated that the final versions of these two documents will be published shortly.

Work on the ICP will continue through refreshed needs assessments for island and peninsula communities served by the Clyde & Hebrides and Northern Isles ferries. The first of these, for Cowal and Rosneath, was published last September. We intend to commission the remaining assessments in the coming year.

Other ICP workstreams, including those on fares, integration and low carbon are ongoing.

A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) was published to accompany the introduction of the then Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill 2023. The BRIA can be found on the Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/visitor-levy-bill-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/

The BRIA was written using the best available information at the time, based on evidence gathered from engagement with relevant stakeholders. Local authorities are encouraged to actively consider the varying capacities of businesses in the local area. It is important that the administrative requirements on smaller businesses are minimised. If a council introduces a visitor levy it is required to establish a visitor levy forum, with members from businesses, communities, and tourism organisations, to provide the council with views on a visitor levy scheme.

An online reporting and payment platform is being developed by some Councils with the Improvement Service. This platform will be for use by businesses across Scotland to remit the visitor levy to the Council if their accommodation is liable and will help. This standardised system will help streamline the returns process and support businesses operating across multiple authorities.

According to data obtained via the Public Contracts Scotland Contract Register, the Scottish Government currently has one active contract that includes the requirement to install cavity wall insulation. This is the Managing Agent for the Heat in Buildings Scotland National Scheme (HIBS), which oversees the delivery of the Warmer Homes Scotland programme (WHS).

The Managing Agent and all installation sub-contractors are required to have the skills outlined in the PAS 2030:2019 and PAS 2035:2019 standards (note: adherence with the new PAS 2035:2023 standard shall be required from 31 March 2025). These PAS standards ensure a consistent, high-quality approach to retrofitting buildings for energy efficiency, focusing on assessment, design, and installation practices.

At procurement phase, the suppliers were required to demonstrate that they had appropriately skilled staff and to provide a detailed implementation plan on how they would organise their team and resources in order to meet both the contract requirements and PAS 2035 standards. In addition to having the essential skills and experience, the supplier is required to continue to develop and improve their workforce - sharing knowledge and skills with their sub-contractors.

Each installation completed is also subject to multiple quality inspections with further independent audit inspections carried out on a sample of work at various stages of the WHS Customer Journey.

A link to the Contract Award Notice for the HIBS Managing Agent contract is provided for information.

https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JUN481760

VisitScotland is responsible for producing, and maintaining, guidance on the operation of the Visitor Levy. Following the outcome of the meetings with stakeholders, as referred to in the response to the question in S6W-35723 on
25 March 2025, we will work with VisitScotland as they consider any changes to guidance. This may include further information in relation to those operating their business within a local area with a Visitor Levy scheme.

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

Currently children and young people learn about a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents in the school curriculum. They explore the impact risk taking behaviour has on life choices and health.

Paid for marketing channels are not used within the school setting. There is no recorded spend for Scottish Government marketing for anti-smoking campaigns within schools during this time frame.

ASSIST was a licensed, peer-led, school-based smoking prevention programme that encouraged the dissemination of non-smoking norms. The ASSIST pilot ran between 2014-2015 and 2016-2017.

We know that many carers experience mental, physical, employment and financial impacts as a result of their caring role. We recognise that a highly effective mental health system must address all levels of need. It means recognising and responding to the many underlying social determinants, circumstances and inequalities that can affect people's mental health and wellbeing.

The Scottish Government’s National Carers Strategy (https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-carers-strategy/) published in December 2022 sets out our cross-government approach to carer support and recognition, and sets out the importance of carers, including young carers, and their mental health.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Delivery Plan and the Workforce Action Plan were published jointly with COSLA in November 2023. Actions in the Delivery Plan cover a wide spectrum, from maintaining good mental wellbeing, to support in communities, to ensuring specialist services are available whenever needed.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan recognises the valuable role of carers and sets out our ambition to both improve carer awareness training for the mental health and wellbeing workforce and also improve access to wellbeing support for carers.

Our National Wellbeing Hub provides advice for unpaid carers, with information and resources to support carers to look after their mental health and wellbeing.

The National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions was published in September 2023. It aims to improve access to and the quality of psychological therapies and interventions so that people accessing help, including unpaid carers, have positive experiences.

Support for carers is one of the aims of the Core Mental Health Standards, which includes signposting to support and resources when needed. These standards were developed with the input of individuals with lived experience, including carers and set out clear expectations for what services will provide and to let individuals, their families and carers know what they can expect from a secondary mental health service. They emphasise the involvement of carers in care planning and decision-making, as well as the importance of gathering and acting on carer feedback.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider the Community Trade Union’s report as part of our continued commitment to the vitally important sector. We acted at pace in 2016 to secure the future for the Dalzell and Clydebridge steel works, rescuing more than 100 jobs, and retaining steel plate production in Scotland. To protect the interests of the Scottish workforce, the Scottish Government maintains regular engagement with the plant owners, the UK Government and other partners; and we will shortly respond to the UK Government consultation on the Plan for Steel.