Chamber and committees

£25,000 per annum.

The Scottish Government does not hold details relating to the funding for the development of “wheelchair exemplar properties”.

In relation to the allocation of funding for homes for wheelchair users, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27750 on 4 June 2024.

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

Following engagement with teachers and stakeholders, the Scottish Government has further considered the role of the national education agency, including how it can add most value to Scotland’s education system.

An excellent curriculum from 3-18 requires national leadership and direction. Therefore, the primary purpose and focus of Scotland’s national education agency will be to lead curriculum design, delivery and improvement, including the provision of resources to support high quality learning and teaching.

The national agency will also have an important role in supporting a thriving professional learning sector through a national framework for professional learning and will build on the existing and well-regarded national leadership professional learning programmes.

The Scottish Government is ambitious for all of Scotland's children and young people and Scotland’s local authorities and schools have an important role in creating the conditions for them to thrive. The national agency will work with local authorities to inform approaches to wellbeing, inclusion, behaviour and enabling better support for those with additional support needs. The national agency will also employ its unique national perspective to inform, share and promote wider approaches to improvement to close attainment gaps as set out in the National Improvement Framework.

The Scottish Government has determined that refocussing Education Scotland will deliver the change and improvement necessary to achieve excellence and equity for Scotland’s children and young people including across Gaelic Medium Education.

Work is underway to set out further detail on transition plans and associated timescales, including for the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive for a refocussed Education Scotland and HM Chief Inspector of Education, both of which will be taken forward as quickly as practicable. In line with previous commitments, there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of this reform.

In 2022-23 and 2023-24 over £70m of Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) was invested by the Scottish Government to deliver a transformational change in holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. The funding was distributed as follows:

• £32m provided annually for Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) to build local service capacity for transformation and the scaling up of holistic family support in local areas. This funding is being provided on a recurring, multi-year basis to 2025-26.
• £0.8m for National Support for Local Delivery – including a package of activity aimed at supporting local transformation. This part of the funding also supports the wider evaluation and research work for WFWF.
• £5.3m was provided to Scottish Government led national policy delivery for 12 specific projects that are transforming how families are supported.

We have prioritised £50m funding in 2024-25 to maintain the programme of activity above. Further details will be provided in a Whole Family Wellbeing investment approach to be published in due course.

Co-ordination of Community First Responders (CFRs) and Wildcat Cardiac Responders sits within the Scottish Ambulance Service National Risk and Resilience Department (NRRD). The Community Resilience team within NRRD provide governance, recruitment, training, and support to CFR schemes and ensure the consistency of operating practice across Scotland.

CFRs subscribe to an agreed governance framework and clinically approved Scope of Practice. The primary focus of the role is responding to cardiac arrests, heart problems, chest pains, breathing difficulties, stroke and choking. Volunteering is flexible and there is no minimum requirement.

CFRs are dispatched, predominantly via Airwave radio, by the Alternative Resource Desk (ARD) within the Ambulance Control Centre. CFRs may also use the GoodSam app to ensure an expedited response to known and suspected cardiac arrests.

The 2019 recruitment and retention Action plan for Disabled People has been superseded by the Diversity and Inclusion Employer Strategy for Scottish Government published April 2024. Having a workforce more representative of the people of Scotland it serves, remains one of our Employer Equality Outcomes. We have higher levels of disabled staff than ever before but still have further progress to make. The overall proportion of disabled people working in the Scottish Government has more than doubled over the last ten years, rising from 6.4% in 2013 to 14.1% in 2023.

The Scottish Ambulance Service started using the GoodSAM system in 2017 in a limited capacity – initially this was aimed at SAS clinicians to register. This was paused during the Covid-19 pandemic. Full implementation of GoodSAM, which was open to all, was launched in October 2022. Since this date, effectiveness has been measured based on month on month increase to both registrations and alerts accepted through it. Data modelling is now ongoing to establish how best to optimise the system for different parts of Scotland.

Scottish Ambulance Service see volunteers as a key part of its 2030 strategy, there is an emphasis on working collaboratively with communities to improve population health, enhance the resilience of communities and deliver high quality emergency care for patients. Community First Responders are an integral component of this approach.

New volunteers must undertake a 4-day mandatory training programme and assessment, aligned to a clinically assured Scope of Practice, prior to becoming an active CFR. The course is delivered in-house by SAS that aims to equip volunteers for their role.

Scottish Government and Crown Estate Scotland representatives meet regularly to discuss actions CES are taking forward which directly benefit Scotland’s communities. CES is a revenue-raising public corporation. Many of these conversations include commercially sensitive discussions. The last catch-up took place on 31 May 2024.