Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers, including our young carers, make to our communities as well as the pressures many carers are under.

The Young Carers Package, delivered by Young Scot, was put in place to provide additional benefits and opportunities for young carers. The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 defines a young carer as someone who provides (or intends to provide) care who is under 18 (or over 18 and still at school). The package is designed to support children and young people who are not eligible for social security benefits and other support available to young adults.

In recognition of the fact that transitioning from being a young carer to an adult carer can be difficult, as young people look towards work or further or higher education, the package includes a transition bundle to provide extra benefits before young carers turn 19. There is a Young Scot webpage with further information on the transition bundle and young carers transitions more generally at: www.young.scot/get-informed/young-carers-transitions

I would encourage anyone providing unpaid care to contact their social work department or local carer centre to find out what support they may be able to offer.

We continue 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 challenges they are currently facing. Venues should be familiar with and address their broader duties under UK health and safety, and equalities legislation including, for people with a visual impairment, the requirement for service providers to make reasonable adjustments in circumstances where disabled people are placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled people. The Scottish Government expects all relevant organisations to comply with the requirement of the Equality Act 2010. We welcome the report’s recommendations which will support venues in meeting these requirements.

Creative Scotland’s regularly funded organisations, which include a number of venues across Scotland, are contractually obliged to develop and implement Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans. Creative Scotland provide their own guidance on how to best achieve this edi-toolkit-dec-2019.pdf (creativescotland.com). This covers all aspects of the work for these organisations, including audience development activities. Facilitating access and participation to culture, is central to the artistic purpose of all Scottish Government funded culture bodies and they all share a desire to communicate with as large and diverse an audience as possible.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29283 on 24 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website search facility, which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

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.

Wild Deer Best Practice (WDBP) covers the practice of leaving carcasses on the hill and this guidance is regularly reviewed through the steering group to ensure it provides accurate and up to date information.

NatureScot recognises the benefits of leaving carcasses on the hill (in line with WDBP guidance) for nutrient cycling and food sources for wildlife. Decisions on when to leave carcasses is at the discretion of the land owner / manager and in many properties (including NatureScot properties) a proportion of culled deer are not removed.

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.

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.

Further to the answer to S6W-24007 on 4 June 2024, Scottish Government officials regularly meet Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and have reiterated the need for effective co-operation on these matters in order to ensure that any negative impact on people receiving Scottish social security benefits can be mitigated.

The Scottish Government has consistently opposed the Work Capability Assessment reforms as proposed by the previous UK Government, and will continue to call on the current UK Government to choose to protect people's incomes and not implement the proposed changes.

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 remains committed to modernising deer management to tackle high deer numbers, specifically in order to help us to achieve our biodiversity and carbon objectives. We continue to pursue a range of actions to deliver this commitment.

The Scottish Government’s future legislative programme has been set out as part of the 2024-25 Programme for Government. The Natural Environment Bill will be introduced this Parliamentary year, which will bring forward significant reforms to the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996.

In the meantime we are working on those Deer Working Group recommendations that do not require primary legislation through the Strategic Deer Board.

In addition to this there are three pilot incentive schemes led by NatureScot and the Cairngorms National Park Authority which will launch this autumn to financially support deer managers to control numbers of deer in specific parts of Scotland in response to the climate and nature emergencies.

The Scottish Government published the National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions and the Core Mental Health Standards in September 2023.

We have made a commitment to take a phased approach to implementation, to ensure the Standards and Specification would be implemented effectively in light of existing pressures across the health and social care system.

Assessment tools to assess and support adherence to the Specification and Standards were developed and piloted in spring 2024 and will be rolled out across all boards in 2024-25.

Additionally, Public Health Scotland have reviewed the publication of the Mental Health Quality Indicator Framework and will be publishing this in interactive dashboard format including new Board and HSCP level data from 26 November 2024. This will provide transparency of key access and quality indicators relevant to the Specification and Standards in one place, with the intention to expand this collection in due course.