Chamber and committees

There are various research papers that that can be found online that are relevant in this area. This includes : Dog Pulling on the Leash: Effects of Restraint by a Neck Collar vs. a Chest Harness - PMC (nih.gov) .

In addition, there are papers on the behavioural and biomechanical effects of using harnesses from a welfare perspective, for instance: Effect of harness design on the biomechanics of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) — SRUC, Scotland's Rural College

The Scottish Government does not hold data on whether dogs involved in incidents were wearing a harness or lead at the time of the incident.

Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio data is one of a series of measures we use to monitor safety in Scotland’s hospitals. With regard to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE), the Deputy National Clinical Director (DNCD) has been in contact with NHS Lothian and has received assurance that this has been investigated.

The investigation provided evidence that there were a number of factors that have contributed to the higher-than-predicted mortality for admissions to RIE. The DNCD is confident that appropriate action has been put in place to address the findings of the investigation.

The Regional Centre for Cancer and Clinical Neuroscience is based at the Western General, and this is an important factor in its HSMR data. The slightly different case-mix of patients have understandably higher predicted probabilities of mortality.

The mix of patients seen varies between hospitals, and the mortality rate may be higher or lower at a hospital for many reasons; the patients seen, for example, may be more seriously ill than average. HSMRs therefore take account of some of the factors known to affect the risk of death, so that comparisons between individual hospitals and Scotland are made on a comparable basis.

Under planning legislation set out in The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) it is a breach of planning control to carry out any development, including the installation of replacement windows, without the required planning consent.

When a planning authority consider that a breach of planning control has occurred in their area, the planning authority has a range of powers available to them to ensure that the breach is rectified. These powers extend to requiring that any changes to the appearance of a building or land be reversed and the property in question restored to its original state prior to the unauthorised development taking place. Should any person responsible for the unauthorised development fail to comply with enforcement measures, the planning authority has the power to enter the land and carry out the required remedial work themselves, with the costs of such work being recovered form that person. Additionally the planning authority can seek to prosecute that person through the Scottish Courts with the maximum fine on summary conviction currently set at £50,000.

In the case of unauthorised works to a listed building, in addition to any action taken under the 1997 Act, the owner may also be subject to enforcement action under the Town and Country Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997. Again, they can be required to carry out any remedial work and can be liable to conviction with a fine of up to £50,000 on summary conviction.

The Board agreed its workplan in September 2023. The most recently published version of the workplan can be found on the Scottish Government website. https://www.gov.scot/publications/strategic-board-teacher-education-meeting-27-thursday-1-february-2024-10-00am-11-30am/pages/2/

The workplan contains three workstreams:

• Workstream 1 – Workforce Planning and Increasing Diversity of the Profession
• Workstream 2 – Improving the Promotion of Teaching as a Valued Career
• Workstream 3 – Continuum of Teacher Education

The Board has held meetings in November, February and March to progress these workstreams. The agendas, minutes and papers from these meeting are published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/groups/strategic-board-for-teacher-education/

The Board last met on 15 May 2024, and the agenda, minutes and papers from this meeting will be published on the Scottish Government website following the next meeting of the Board, which is scheduled for 27 June.

The provision of education and training of audiologists is being considered as part of the National Audiology Improvement Programme. In addition, there is a review underway of Healthcare Science Education in Scotland to look at education and training provision in healthcare science more widely.

This is an operational matter for Abellio ScotRail for the year 2021-22 and for ScotRail Trains for the years 2022-23 and 2023-24. The member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.

This is an operational matter for Abellio ScotRail for the year 2021-22 and for ScotRail Trains for the years 2022-23 and 2023-24. The member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.

We remain committed to reducing class contact timegiving teachers more time out of the classroom. Any changes to terms and conditions for teachers, including how this time will be used, are matters for agreement through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers.

To inform this work, we commissioned an external modelling and research exercise to help inform discussions which was published on 7 May. This contains a number of high-level future scenarios and assesses their broad compatibility with any changes to teachers’ contracted class-contact time.

These scenarios will help to facilitate our discussions with SNCT partners on how we can best deliver this commitment.

We are offering local authorities £145.5m in this year’s budget to maintain teacher numbers. This will assist in delivery in the reduction of class contact time.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme offers a £20,000 payment to career changers who are looking to undertake teacher training in hard-to-fill STEM subjects – physics, maths, technical education, computing science, chemistry and home economics. The scheme was also extended to include Gaelic as a secondary subject, and Gaelic medium across all secondary subjects and in primary.

In addition, the Strategic Board for Teacher Education (SBTE) is considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, together with work to improving the promotion of teaching as a valued career.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council have also offered to work with universities to develop alternative routes into subjects which have traditionally been difficult to recruit to.