Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27332 on 22 May 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 .

The recent appointment by the First Minister of his ministerial team has resulted in changes in the ministerial titles of certain Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers. A change in title does not necessarily equate to a change in ministerial responsibilities. International development is now within the portfolio responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.

Full information on the roles and responsibilities of the Scottish Ministers is set out on the Scottish Government website ( www.gov.scot ).

Ministerial responsibility for planning, which includes the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4), sits with myself.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), with funding of £12.9 million invested in 2024-25 to fund Regional Groups and School Coordinators. We will continue to work with the network to explore options for the future in ways that can better support service delivery and improve outcomes for young people.

Local authorities are responsible for the provision of local waste services and are, therefore, best placed to comment on readiness to comply with the ban on sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill in 2025.

The Scottish Government continues to provide procurement support to local authorities to secure contracts in preparation for the forthcoming ban. As part of this support, Zero Waste Scotland is working with local authorities to provide technical, legal and procurement advice.

Through this support, we understand that 28 local authorities have contracts in place for 2025 that comply with the landfill ban, covering over 90% of household residual waste, these are: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, City of Edinburgh, City of Glasgow, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, East Dunbartonshire, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Fife, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Shetland, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, and West Lothian.

None of the concerns or grievances raised by this group in respect of their own experiences within the children's hearings system justify a wider review of the well-established and highly-regarded multidisciplinary children's hearings system. More broadly, and working with system partners and with people bringing lived experience of children’s care and justice, the Scottish Government is currently engaged in redesigning the children’s hearings system. This work follows publication of the independent ‘Hearings for Children’ report in May 2023. The Scottish Government published its own response to those recommendations in December. A redesign board was established in January to progress non-legislative improvements to the system. For those improvements that require new legislation, a full public consultation on proposed reforms will take place in summer 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27466 on 21 May 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 .

We do not have plans to review the legislation or statutory guidance for the current offer of funded ELC.

Statutory eligibility for access to funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is set out in the relevant legislation (Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) Order 2014, as amended).

As set out in my previous answer, we provide statutory guidance for local authorities on their duties and powers in relation to funded ELC: Introduction - Early learning and childcare: statutory guidance - July 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Local authorities have a discretionary power to provide access to funded ELC to any child residing in their area, as they see fit.

Over the next year we will begin work to develop an expanded national offer for more families with 2-year-olds, in doing so we will engage with various family types to identify need, focusing on those who will benefit most, aligning with the finding from the recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation report that noted “low-income families must be prioritised in a wide expansion of early years childcare”.

Glasgow is an excellent host city for Major Events, as proven most recently by the successes of the UCI Cycling World Championships in 2023 and the World Athletics Indoor Championships in March 2024.

A decision on whether to bid to host the Invictus Games in 2029 or 2031 would be primarily for Glasgow City Council. VisitScotland's Events Directorate EventScotland, work with partners to actively assess hosting opportunities to secure a strong and diverse pipeline of Major Events for Scotland, involving the Scottish Government as required.

Bidding to host any event, including the Invictus Games, could only happen through an appropriate formal bidding process and would first be informed by a feasibility study to determine the viability, benefits and legacy of hosting. It would also require the assembly of a partnership which could offer suitable assurances of a viable funding package to plan, host and deliver the event in question. At present the Scottish Government is unaware of a viable proposal and funding package.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of complaints received by Police Scotland or any other public body that relate to Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs).

On 9 May 2024, Police Scotland published their interim guidance on ‘ Responding to Hate Crime ’ which includes information on the recording and handling of NCHIs. They also have a dedicated complaints system for instances where an individual may feel they have not been provided the level of service expected.

You may wish to contact Police Scotland directly regarding any other questions you have in relation to these procedures.