Chamber and committees

As referenced in the Scottish Government Programme for Government 2025-26: Building the Best Future for Scotland, the purpose of the Taskforce is to strengthen our approach to keeping children safe online, providing oversight and direction across Scottish Government and identifying what more can be done to protect children and young people. In meeting this purpose it will bring together work from across government to better effect, maximising the funding available across government to keep children safe online and help promote wellbeing through positive behaviours.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41190 on 7 November 2025. 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.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. Building management responsibilities are a matter for the owners and managers to ensure the safety of their premises. Statutory requirements for the fitness of premises to be used for the provision of early learning and childcare are set out in Section 10 of The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011. These requirements are enforced by the Care Inspectorate, which assesses compliance during inspections and registration processes.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

As the member may be aware, while the Scottish Government does not collect national statistical data on this matter, in June 2025 Nature Scot, Learning Through Landscapes and Play Scotland have published “School Grounds in Scotland in 2025 Key Points and Reflections from a ‘State of the Nation’ Report”, based on a sample survey of 1,000 schools. While the report contained a number of positive conclusions on progress made since a similar report in 2005, it also contained a number of areas for improvement.

The Scottish Government’s Learning for sustainability: action plan 2023 to 2030 - gov.scot contains a range of actions aimed at improving the way that schools buildings, grounds and policies support Learning for Sustainability, including outdoor learning. Additionally, the Learning Estate Strategy – which was co-produced by the Scottish Government and COSLA – includes a guiding principle that makes clear that outdoor learning and the use of outdoor learning environments should be maximised.

The Scottish Government is currently working with a range of national partners to deliver the actions within the LfS Action Plan, to implement the Learning Estate Strategy and, through the work of the Scottish Outdoor Learning Strategic Working Group, to agree further actions to support and promote outdoor learning.

To date, £148.1 million has been allocated through the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding to support transformational change in how services are delivered for families across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has sought to balance value for money with a clear commitment to allocating the full amounts available. This approach ensures that investment is both impactful and aligned with the strategic priorities of government.

Despite the tight fiscal position, we have increased Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) funding from £32 million to £38.1 million per annum in 2025-26. This investment will safeguard the progress already being made, and as set out in our Investment Approach, the Scottish Government’s commitment to CSPPs will continue through to the financial year 2026–27. Funding levels are based on a careful assessment of CSPP readiness and capacity for spend, ensuring that the pace of spend matches CSPP need. This long-term investment reflects our belief in the importance of early intervention and holistic support.

Looking ahead, our investment is being shaped by work across the Scottish Government to explore how preventative investment can be brought together to help Scotland tackle child poverty and Keep the Promise.

The Care Inspectorate has provided the following information:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41194 on 7 November 2025. 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.

It is the responsibility of building owners and managers to check their buildings for Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) and, if identified, to determine whether there is a risk.

From information provided by local authorities and Scottish Futures Trust, the Scottish Government is aware of only one operational local authority early learning and childcare (ELC) setting currently containing RAAC. This has been inspected and assessed as serviceable, and is being monitored by the local authority through an enhanced inspection regime. The Scottish Government does not collect or hold any information on RAAC in non-local authority ELC settings.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

From January 2022 to September 2025, there have been four permanent vacancies at Disclosure Scotland that were unfilled for more than six months (from when advert went live to start date). We cannot access data for the period May 2021 to December 2021 as the iCIMS system that stored this data has been discontinued.