Chamber and committees

A ‘South Asian production’ is a broad term which could span various languages, countries, art forms, and cultural contexts.

Generally the region is defined to include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Regarding organisations and individuals that specifically described their project as ‘South Asian’ or referred to one of the countries that form South Asia, Creative Scotland has received a total of 131 funding applications since 2022-23 to date. 59 applications were successful in receiving funding, 64 applications were unsuccessful and four applications are currently pending a decision.

The total funding awards broken down by year are as follows:

2022-23

• 19 approved awards for combined value of £413,653
• 10 unsuccessful applications requesting combined value of £229,635

2023-24

• 15 approved awards for combined value of £470,229
• 19 unsuccessful applications requesting combined value of £326,521

2024-25

• 19 approved awards for combined value of £367,359
• 27 unsuccessful applications requesting combined value of £1,087,174

2025-26 (to date)

• 6 approved awards for combined value of £91,199
• 4 applications that are pending decision for combined value of £202,882

We have funded 27 restorative justice test cases. Information on individual outcomes cannot be shared due to the personal and confidential nature of the process. A report summarising general learning and outcomes from the test case project will be published soon.

The Charitable Bonds programme provides loan finance to Registered Social Landlords to support the delivery of new affordable homes. To date, all repayment obligations have been met and no enforcement action has been required.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41337 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 recognises the valuable support provided to young people through high quality youth work. This work contributes to the Scottish Government’s priority of eradicating child poverty and tackling inequality.

The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013, in effect, requires local authorities to identify need and plan provision in their areas. These regulations require that a Community Learning and Development (CLD) plan is produced every three years by each education authority. The most recent plans were published in September 2024 and can be accessed at: Local Authority CLD Plans.

The Scottish Government respects the autonomy of local authorities to allocate resources to meet the needs of learners, including for youth work. However, the Scottish Government published strategic Guidance to Local authorities to support them to develop their CLD plans in 2024 which can be accessed at: CLD: guidance for 2024 to 2027.

Recognising the important role local authorities play in delivering local services, including youth work, the Scottish Government has increased the total resources available to local government by over £1.1 billion in 2025-26, a real terms increase of 5.5%.

Additionally, by investing national funding in youth work through programmes such as Cashback for Communities, this opens up further valuable opportunities for young people and communities at a grassroots level. This helps empower young people to grow, thrive, and shape their own futures through improved mental health, physical activity, and gain the skills they need for learning, life, and work.

Regarding quality of local authority provision, between September 2023 and June 2024, HM Inspectors carried out a programme of visits to all 32 local authorities as part of the 2023/24 annual programme of inspection. These inspections were designed to support improvement and provide external assurance of the quality of CLD provision across Scotland, specifically evaluating quality and improvement in leadership and governance. Individual reports can be found here: CLD Inspection Reports.

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.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

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 Scottish Government recognises the valuable youth work provided to young people in rural and Island communities.

Each education authority is responsible for securing Community Learning and Development (CLD) in their area under the Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013, including in rural and island education authorities.

The 2013 Regulations require local authorities to plan and arrange the provision of CLD. In line with the Verity House Agreement, local authorities have the autonomy to deliver services that meet the assessed needs of young people in their areas.

Since 2021-2022, the Scottish Government have also provided grant funding to Youth Scotland to coordinate the Young Islanders Network which provides young people aged 5-25 years a safe space to express and discuss issues that affect their lives and their islands. Scottish Government are providing £119,400 in 2025-26 to support the network.

Young Islanders Network members have been closely involved in informing both the implementation of the current National Islands Plan, published in 2019, and the development of the new iteration of the plan.

In 2024-25, Scottish Government also provided £125k to the Rural Youth Action Network (RYAN) as a youth-led project, coordinated jointly by Scottish Rural Action (SRA) and Youth Scotland, to consolidate momentum behind a rural youth mobilisation and participation platform in Scotland.