Chamber and committees

The indicative timeline for the Scottish Government’s proposed response to the consultation is March 2025 with an implementation date of January 2026.

Hotels are not listed as ‘relevant buildings’ within the meaning of the Building Scotland (Amendment) Regulations 2022. All new and converted hotels having a storey, or creating a storey at a height of 11 metres or more above the ground, must comply with the relevant mandatory functional standards, including mandatory standard 2.7 that requires the fire spread on external walls to be inhibited.

BS 8414 testing and the assessment criteria in BR 135 may be used for hotels as an alternative route to compliance with the mandatory standards. The continued use of this alternative solution for hotels over 11 metres in height is currently being considered by the Building and Fire Safety Expert Working Group.

The Scottish Governments Foreword - Health and Social Care Standards: my support, my life - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) set out what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland including care homes. They seek to provide better outcomes for everyone; to ensure that individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and that the basic human rights are upheld. Standard 2.12 states that if residents are unable to make their own decisions, the views of those who know their wishes, such as carers, independent advocates, formal or informal representatives must be sought and taken into account.

The Care Inspectorate is the regulator of care services in Scotland and is a non- departmental body and independent of the Scottish Government. Using the Health and Social Care Standards, they inspect services to ensure the safety, protection and wellbeing of residents. Through their inspection process, they review personal plans to determine the capacity status of individuals in receipt of care and support. If a valid s47 certificate of incapacity is in place they will review that the legal proxy advocate is involved in pro-active decision making about the care and support in accordance with the individual.

The most recently published figures show a cumulative spend of £7.141m which supports the assessment, urgent interim measures and remediation of those buildings with the pilot programme. Information on expenditure is published quarterly on gov.scot

https://www.gov.scot/publications/single-building-assessment-spending-information/

On 18 April the Scottish Government published a new package of climate action measures, this included the intention to establish a pilot scheme to support the roll out of methane supressing feed products to reduce emissions from livestock.

Officials are currently exploring the options for delivering such a scheme. Methane supressing feed products offer opportunities for emissions reduction in Scottish livestock systems and evidence on the efficacy and appropriate application of these products will be considered in developing the pilot scheme. Further details on the pilot scheme will be provided in due course, including a timescale for establishing the pilot scheme.

Estimating carbon sequestration rates for different land uses falls under the remit of the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory and the Scottish Government does not make these kinds of estimates.

The Scottish Government has commissioned research through the ClimateXChange which considers how grassland management can impact carbon stocks. “ Understanding carbon sequestration from nature-based solutions ” concluded that further evidence is needed on the impact of the restoration of species-rich grassland on carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions, and “ Managing permanent grasslands for carbon sequestration in Scottish soils ” found that grazing rates, grass species, application of fertiliser, and tillage affect sequestration potential.

Since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased from 52,247 to 54,033 and the pupil teacher ratio has improved from 13.6 to 13.2.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff, and the Scottish Government continues to provide local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also 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.

Since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased from 52,247 to 54,033 and the pupil teacher ratio has improved from 13.6 to 13.2.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff, and the Scottish Government continues to provide local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme is offering 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 Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also 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.

To meet our commitment to increasing Residential Rehabilitation capacity by 50%, from 425 beds to 650 beds by the end of the parliamentary term in 2026, over £38 million has been made available through two rounds of the Residential Rehabilitation Rapid Capacity Programme (RRRCP). Investment in these projects combined will provide a total increase of 172 beds by 2025/26, boosting the current rehab capacity in Scotland from 425 to 597 – an increase of over 40%.

Despite there being no further openings of the projects funded through the RRRCP during the time frame you asked about, some are expected to be completed later this year. Aberlour’s Mother and Child recovery unit in Dundee opened in January 2023, with their second house in Falkirk opening in summer 2024. The expansion at Maxie Richards, Tighnabruaich is due to be complete summer 2024 and CrossReach, Inverness in January 2025. There is also the development of a new Residential Rehabilitation service for the North East run by Phoenix Futures which is due to open in early 2025.

Since the establishment, the Nursing and Midwifery taskforce has held four ministerial led meetings in April, July, December 2023 and March 2024. The taskforce has also held two official led meetings in June 2023 and March 2024.

The Scottish Government publishes the agreed minutes and actions from each meeting on its website: www.gov.scot/groups/nursing-and-midwifery-taskforce/