Chamber and committees

Children and young people are not taught about their own gender identity in Scottish schools. That is a personal matter for any individual and, in the case of young people, their family.

Relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the school curriculum in Scotland. Learning and teaching focusses on equipping children and young people with the knowledge, skills and values to make informed and positive choices about forming relationships. This aspect of the curriculum is intended to enable children and young people to build positive relationships as they grow older. Relationships, sexual health and parenthood education has been in place since 2010, the same year Curriculum for Excellence was implemented.

I am concerned at suggestions of cuts to learning hours in any local authority. I wrote to all local authorities in February this year make clear that this would not be acceptable to Scottish Government.

We are continuing to engage with COSLA to work towards a voluntary agreement with local government on protecting learning hours. If no agreement is reached, I remain open to taking steps towards utilising the powers in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to prescribe in the regulations the number of hours made available.

The Scottish Government is keen to come to a voluntary agreement with local government on protecting learning hours, but if no agreement is reached we will consider options including use of regulations. We continue to engage with local government on this matter.

A number of public health campaigns will continue to run. Public Health Scotland will continue to undertake targeted communications work for vaccine programmes, including Winter Flu, to ensure those who are eligible for vaccinations are aware and encouraged to take them up. The Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Early and Dementia campaigns are currently running and a number of public health topics continue to be supported by social media, public relations and partner marketing, which is delivered directly by the Scottish Government Communications Directorate.

Creative Scotland, in its role of supporting the growth of sustainable creative businesses in Scotland, has an explicit focus on environmental sustainability. This is detailed in their 2022 A Climate Emergency and Sustainability Plan for Creative Scotland | Creative Scotland and subsequent annual reviews, Environmental Sustainability Review 2023/24 | Creative Scotland as well as in the detailed guidance in the form of funding criteria Environmental Sustainability | Creative Scotland that is employed in assessing applicants to its Grant-in-Aid and National Lottery funds.

The design sector, as defined by Scottish Government, reported GVA of £570.8m in 2022, but its impact and benefits are often overlooked. In response to this, Creative Scotland and V&A Dundee have been working together under the banner of ‘Design for Scotland’ to progress a project involving the design community responding to a call to action of ‘Ask not what Scotland can do for Design, but what Design can do for Scotland’. This has included consideration of the environmental impact of design.

In Scotland, we benefit from excellent design education in our colleges and Universities. Per head of population, Scotland has more of its art and design schools in the global top 100 ranking Universities than any other European country.

Furthermore, Architecture and Design Scotland helps support the design of sustainable buildings and places in Scotland, including with local authorities, agencies, stakeholders and communities to address environmental impacts of the built environment and promote positive environmental outcomes.

We can be confident that both the Design community and the structures that support them are looking forward to ensuring that their skills and aspirations are fully employed in ensuring that environmental impact is at the heart of the design process in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is working hard to support hard pressed families to be able to enjoy the benefits of digital inclusion. Since 2022, around 280,000 digital devices had already been provided to learners along with 14,000 connectivity packages.

The Scottish Government is developing a new digital strategy, for school education in Scotland, in partnership with COSLA and key education stakeholders. The strategy will outline the important role we believe digital tools and services play in the future of Scottish education and will highlight the key features of successful technology provision. It will consider both people and technology aspects of digital in education in Scotland to help support deployment and purposeful use of technology in our schools.

Through our Connecting Scotland programme, the Scottish Government provides internet-enabled devices, connectivity, and digital skills support to those who are digitally excluded. Since it was established, the programme has delivered more than 61,000 devices, removing barriers to digital access and supporting inclusion.

Marking of exams is an operational matter for the SQA in its independent role as an examination body.

However, given the persistent concerns that have been raised in relation to the marking of Higher History this year, I met with the Chief Examiner and the Chair of the SQA to discuss the position on 18 September.

SQA has confirmed that, in light of the concerns, a review is underway which is being carried out by SQA's Head of Standards – an individual who has had no involvement in the marking of Higher History. I have asked for a further update once the review is complete, and have agreed with SQA that, if necessary, the findings will be reviewed independently. The findings will be published, and both SQA and Scottish Government are clear that if any issues are uncovered then action will be taken.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring high-quality care for people with kidney disease, and other non-communicable diseases, expecting adherence to existing guidelines and best practice, such as the National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions.

The Specification sets out how access to and the quality of psychological service delivery can be improved, and what the people of Scotland can expect.

To support the implementation of the Specification we are producing a number of ‘Once for Scotland’ guides, in collaboration with key partners. These national guides will support the delivery of psychology therapies in Scotland and promote best practice.

NatureScot’s Deer Work Programme Action Plan and spreadsheet showing progress on delivery of the Deer Working Recommendations are on their website (https://www.nature.scot/doc/deer-work-programme).

These show progress across the range of projects, initiatives and activities that are aimed at increasing culls to achieve a more sustainable deer population in Scotland.

NatureScot are also working to improve cull data collection and presentation to better monitor progress.

£97.1m in Barnett consequentials was received in 2021-22. The cumulative spend of the programme to date is £9.m, spend of £0.5m was incurred in quarter one 2024-25 to support programme delivery works. Details on spend to date are on the Scottish Government website Single Building Assessment programme: spending information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)