Chamber and committees

We do not think it is right that ownership and control of much of Scotland’s land is still in the hands of relatively few people.

A 2019 report by the Scottish Land Commission: The Model CHP for the Scottish Government and Associated Public Authorities Sector in Scotland - Word Template (landcommission.gov.scot) concluded that highly concentrated landownership can have detrimental effects on rural development outcomes, and that these effects arise because landowners have the power to decide who can access land, when, for what purpose and at what price.

Analysis by the James Hutton Institute to support the Bill identified 1066 landholdings above 1000 hectares, representing 4.32 million hectares, or 55% of Scotland’s land.

Canals in Scotland were not considered during the second Strategic Transport Projects Review, as water-based transport on canals and estuaries (such as water taxis) were deemed to be out of scope of the review, as noted in the Appendix A of the. Final technical report - December 2022 - STPR2 | Transport Scotland

The Scottish Government laid out their plans for the canal network in the 2013 publication HYPERLINK "" Making the most of Scotland’s canals | Transport Scotland based on the following seven principles:

• Valuing the heritage of our canals
• Fulfilling statutory and regulatory obligations
• Risk management and safety
• Increasing awareness of the potential contribution which canals can make
• Delivering a high quality experience
• Working through partnership and collaboration
• Monitoring and measuring outcomes

The UK Government is responsible for national security and energy-related critical national infrastructure.Like the UK Government, we consider that China’s global impact means it is important to maintain pragmatic economic relationships with the potential to create jobs and growth. The Scottish and UK governments, relevant agencies and delivery partners work closely with experts and investing businesses on these issues.

We welcome the involvement of international companies in supporting the domestic offshore wind sector and supply chain. When attracting inward investment strict due diligence is applied on a case-by-case basis by the lead enterprise agency and supported by guidance from Scottish Government. Due diligence will factor in a range of political, economic and social issues, including sanctions, human rights and national security.

The Scottish Government published our social isolation and loneliness strategy, A Connected Scotland’ in 2018 which set out our key priorities for tackling social isolation and loneliness. Our updated delivery plan published in 2023, set out a number of actions we are taking across Government to tackle this public health issue. Two themes within the plan, that develop better access to community facilities, focus efforts on creating opportunities for people to connect and support an infrastructure that fosters connections.

Practical work we are delivering under these themes include funding Befriending Networks as a critical partner to build capacity within the befriending sector, and share learning from the developing evidence base on befriending to highlight what works to tackle social isolation and loneliness. Our £3.8m Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund supports 53 community organisations throughout Scotland that provides opportunities for people to connect.

We are also focussing on place-making and community infrastructure to foster connections by supporting Scotland’s Public Library Strategy 2021-2025. Since 2021 we have provided the Scottish Library and information Council (SLIC) with £665K. This includes £450,000 for Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF) to support creative, sustainable and innovative public library projects throughout Scotland.

We have invested £66 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults since 2021, with more than 3,300 grants made to local projects across Scotland in the first two years alone. The Fund was put in place to support those in the community with mental health and wellbeing, one of the top priorities of the Fund is social isolation and loneliness. More than 2,260 projects who have cited social isolation and loneliness as a main priority have received funding in the first two years of the Fund. This Fund provides a range of classes and activities to encourage people to re-engage with their community.

The information sought is not held centrally.However, it may be useful to note that Scotland’s independent school sector includes Queen Victoria School in Dunblane. Queen Victoria School is an independent, mainstream, boarding school funded by the Ministry of Defence. The school caters to the children of UK Armed Forces personnel either based in Scotland or with a connection to Scotland. In September 2023, the school reported that around 260 children and young people were enrolled.

The Board of His Majesty’s Commissioners (HMC) are responsible for the management of Queen Victoria School and can be contacted care of: The Secretary to the Board of His Majesty’s Commissioners, Queen Victoria School, Dunblane, FK15 0JY or the Director of Defence, Children’s Services, MOD.

The relationships, sexual health and parenthood education consultation report will be published in the coming weeks. I will ensure the member is sent a link to the report when it is published.

The information sought is not held centrally.However, as at September 2023, around 28,500 children and young people were reported to attend an independent school in Scotland. Of those 28,500 children and young people, around 700 children and young people were reported to attend an independent special school.

The following table outlines independent special school pupil numbers by Local Authority.

The Scottish Government recognises that all parents are entitled to support throughout their parenting journey, and parents with disabilities will have specific needs that should be met.

This support begins in pregnancy and one of the key recommendations in The Best Start, which sets out our vision for maternity care in Scotland is the introduction of continuity of carer. Through this model, women will receive the majority of their care through their primary midwife, supported by the wider team, which helps to build a continuous caring relationship, understanding that such personalised care will be particularly important for disabled women.

Health visitors play a vital role in supporting families from pre-birth to age 5 and where additional needs of the parent are identified, the health visitor can facilitate additional support and referrals to specialised services. In recognition of their unique role, we invested over £40 million over four years to recruit an additional 500 health visitors between 2014-18.

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, however, it is local authorities and health and social care partnerships who have the responsibility to ensure that the right social care support is available to meet the needs of those who rely on local services. Local and national government have committed to respecting each other’s democratic mandates as part of the Verity House Agreement.

Scotland’s Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) approach underpins the delivery of high-quality universal and targeted support through a single, coordinated approach to planning across education, social work, and health and social care; and between public services, the third sector and community partners. The Scottish Government published a series of GIRFEC policy and practice guidance Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) in 2022-23 to provide practitioners and professionals with confidence, clarity and practical support to continue to embed the 'Getting it right for every child' approach across children’s and related services.

Self-directed Support (SDS) is Scotland’s approach to social care that enables disabled people, people living with long term conditions, and unpaid carers to manage and choose the support they require. The Scottish Government published Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013: statutory guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) in 2014, and reviewed and updated this in November 2022, making it clearer that self-directed support is for everyone in Scotland who needs social care services or support. In June last year we also published our Self-directed support: improvement plan 2023 to 2027 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) which builds on the progress of the previous plan, aiming to set out priorities in a clear and helpful way, and to ensure that there is regular and appropriate reporting, monitoring and evaluation of what is being done.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) to develop and implement a plan that is informed by the lived experience of disabled people and will deliver actions to help with the significant challenges they are currently facing.

Independent external evaluation of the Programme is a core component of delivery. A Year 1 process evaluation report of the programme was published on 31 January 2024: Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) - year 1 process evaluation: final report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and evaluation of Year 2 is currently underway. Both focus on impact of the Programme in relation to short-, medium- and long-term outcomes set out in our WFWF logic model. A full evaluation report of Year 2 will be available in early 2025. Planning for the evaluation of Year 3 and beyond is underway, supported by a Research Advisory Group comprised of external experts and stakeholders.

The Scottish Government has a distinctive way of delivering policy and public services. This has become known as the Scottish Approach and prioritises working in partnership to co-produce policy and shape services. In the development of policies related to care of children, co-production with parents and caregivers is achieved in a variety of ways. These include lived-experience panels, public consultations, citizens assemblies, and ensuring parents and caregiver organisations are involved in key stakeholder groups.