Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the valuable contribution that children and young people who speak English as an additional language (EAL) make to Scotland's schools and communities. We are aware that the number of pupils recorded as having English as an additional language has increased over recent years, reflecting Scotland's increasingly diverse population and our proud reputation as an attractive and welcoming country.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people receive the support they need to access learning and achieve their full potential. Responsibility for the delivery of education and for meeting the needs of pupils who require EAL support rests with local authorities. Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, education authorities must identify, make provision for and review the additional support needs of children and young people whose education they are responsible for. We recognise that support for EAL will reduce as pupils’ English language levels increase.

Through the local government finance settlement, local authorities receive funding to provide education services and to respond to local needs and demographic changes. Between 2012-13 and 2024-25, ASL spending has increased from £540m across all local authorities to almost £1.1 billion - an increase of £560m in the last 10 years. The Scottish Government also funds Enquire, the national advice and information service on additional support for learning, who provide information, advice, training, learning resources and support services to help support children and young people with specific additional support needs, including those with English as an additional language.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with local authorities, Education Scotland and other partners to monitor emerging pressures, share effective practice and ensure that schools have access to appropriate guidance and support to meet the needs of Scotland's increasingly diverse learner population.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02346 on 2 September 2026. 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 are seeking to transform Scotland’s childcare offer to better support families with the cost of childcare, for children from 9 months to the end of primary school. As this Parliament agreed in May, this is a priority, and must be informed by learning from the ELC 1140 expansion and the voices of those who use and deliver childcare in Scotland.

Our Programme for Government set out our intention to publish and consult on a blueprint for the future, building on learning from the last ten years of childcare design and delivery. Given the scale of our ambition it is only right we take the time to develop that blueprint, and we will publish it for consultation next year. The Scottish Government will of course inform the Parliament of the blueprint’s publication in line with standard procedures.

When concerns have been raised about the interaction between Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits and Pension Age Disability Payment or Carer Support Payment, Social Security Scotland has worked with DWP to investigate those cases.

Investigations undertaken to date have not identified any systemic issues affecting Pension Credit calculations following an award of Pension Age Disability Payment or Carer Support Payment. Neither have they identified evidence that the cases examined resulted from a failure in the routine sharing of information between Social Security Scotland and DWP.

Social Security Scotland continues to work closely with DWP to ensure information is shared appropriately and systems operate as intended. This includes investigating individual cases when concerns are raised and working jointly with DWP to resolve any issues identified.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and empty town and city centre buildings.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local housing development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable sites and funding for regeneration activity.

This is supported through our regeneration investment programmes which are providing up to £52 million in resource and capital programmes for community-led regeneration across Scotland in 2026-27. This may be used to transform vacant empty buildings into homes. For example, previous investment is supporting the reuse of the B-listed Tureen Street School in Glasgow. This is a derelict, B-listed building will be repurposed, retaining the façade and renovating the site to build 42 new homes for social rent.

Local authorities may also choose to use Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant to convert empty properties into housing.

Additionally as part of ongoing work to support the establishment of More Homes Scotland, we are undertaking an exercise alongside local authorities to understand potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate affordable housing delivery on vacant and derelict land and in empty town and city centre buildings.

I wrote to the Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee on 3 September 2026 to notify them of my intention to bring forward a Scottish statutory instrument which, subject to Parliament’s consideration, will amend the number of Land Commissioners at the Scottish Land Commission from five to four. We expect the instrument to be laid in early October. The letter can be found on the Parliament’s website https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-7/rural-affairs-committee/correspondence/2026/land-reform-scotland-act-2016-of-3-september

Ministers will continue to comply with the requirements of the 2016 Act, including having regard to the desirability of the Commission, taken as a whole, having expertise or experience across the areas set out in the 2016 Act when making future appointments.

Between April to 28 August 2026

A) 604 calls were received and supported by the administering agent on the First Homes Fund

As of COP 7 September 2026:

B) 444 applications have been submitted

C) 372 have had their applications approved

D) 372 received an offer of support

E) 53 have entered into a shared equity agreement

F) 53 have completed a purchase of a property using support from the Fund.

The First Homes Fund is a demand led scheme and the Scottish Government is committed to delivering this fund alongside our other wider package of home ownership support to help first-time buyers including our popular Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) Scheme which reopened last month.

Ahead of phase two of the First Homes Fund roll-out, we are committed to learning lessons and making the Fund as accessible as possible including planned additional marketing and working closely with key stakeholders in the finance and housing sectors.

The Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government has responsibility for the operational running of the organisation, including recruitment, attendance and location policies.

All civil service vacancies within the Scottish Government are advertised through the internal jobs portal, with some advertised externally via the external jobs website. While posts indicate a location, there are no restrictions preventing employees from applying for any internal role, regardless of their current place of work.

I would encourage the member to direct any further questions on this matter to the Permanent Secretary.

There is an administration fee of £650 charged to all buyers. This is collected after the Award Letter has been issued and no later than three weeks before the expected settlement date. If the transaction falls after payment of the fee, the fee is to be refunded to the buyer in full.

Any other costs incurred during the home buying process are not set by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government provides support for the historic environment through our sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland, our lead public body that investigates, cares for and promotes Scotland’s historic environment. Historic Environment Scotland actively engages with a variety of international stakeholders, enabling the exchange of knowledge and expertise that can help inform historic environment policy and practice in Scotland.

While there is currently no specific plan to evaluate local government procurement practices in relation to heritage and conservation policies, procurement can and should be an enabler of public sector policies. Where relevant to the local governmental body, this can include policies and good practice set by Historic Environmental Scotland.