Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not given specific consideration to the implications of recent flooding on wild salmon populations. High river flows potentially wash out salmon eggs from nests on the riverbed and displace juvenile fish downstream. However, research suggests that salmon are well adapted to natural flow variability, including floods in natural river systems. Current evidence suggests a periodic trend towards more extreme flows in some Scottish rivers. With climate change scenarios, there is potential for further increases in high flows which may impact on salmon.

Heavily modified rivers are likely to be less resilient to potential disturbance. Restoration of natural morphological processes and channel characteristics could improve resilience. The Wild Salmon Strategy covers five priority areas, including ‘improving the condition of rivers and giving salmon free access to cold, clean water.’ The Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) specifically encourages projects to restore wildlife and habitats.

The Scottish Government published a progress report on 25 March 2024, which outlines the work undertaken to progress over 50 of the actions in the first year since publication of the Wild Salmon Strategy Implementation Plan.

In June 2021, the Scottish Government published a new professional learning resource for school staff aimed at providing essential learning required to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing https://www.cypmh.co.uk/

Education Scotland also offers a comprehensive suite of professional learning resources to support teachers in assessing, monitoring, and enhancing the health and wellbeing of pupils. These include trauma-informed training delivered to over 1,000 practitioners in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland. Additional Education Scotland resources, such as the Cycle of Wellbeing and Positive Mental Wellbeing guide practitioners in fostering positive change, are also available.

The Inclusion, Wellbeing, and Equalities Professional Learning Framework , launched by Education Scotland in November 2023, further supports educators in building capacity and understanding across the four key themes of Inclusion, Rights and Equalities, Relationships and Wellbeing and Care.

Data on education outcomes of care experienced young people is collected and published as part of the annual Education Outcomes of Looked After Children (EOLAC) Official Statistics publication. This covers pupils in publicly funded mainstream schools in the 32 local authorities, and one grant aided school. For the latest EOLAC 2021-22 publication, information was linked from:

• Looked After Children statistics, 2008-09 - 2021/22
• School Leaver Initial destination data
• School Leaver Follow-up Destination data
• Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels data

Information on the methodology used to match looked after children’s data is available in the background notes of the EOLAC 2021-22 publication. The latest education outcomes for looked after children statistics include analysis for:

• All children looked after within the year
• Children looked after for the full year
• Children looked after for part of the year
• Children who had been looked after at some point for any duration since age 5, and since age 12. These statistics were published for the first time in the 2021-22 publication as Experimental Statistics.

The experimental statistics will be reviewed before the next iteration of the statistics, planned for publication in August 2024.

Data on (b) achievement , (c) attainment and (d) positive destinations is collected annually. Further information on the types of analysis breakdowns provided for these education outcomes can be found in the supporting Tables document of the 2021-22 publication. Data on (a) attendance is collected every second year, and was last published in 2020-21. Further information on the types of analysis breakdowns provided for attendance can be found in the supporting Tables document of the 2020-21 publication. Information on the groups each of these education outcomes is analysed for can be found in the respective section of the publication report, as per the hyperlinks provided above.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), as procuring authority, undertakes robust open procurement exercises in line with relevant legislation and guidance for all new vessel projects. In previous procurement exercises CMAL has received interest from shipyards worldwide.

All allocations in the Local Government Settlement are published on the Government Website at: 4 Tables and Interactive Dashboard - Scottish Local Government Finance - Green Book: 2024-2025 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The allocations for school counselling services for 2024-25 is as follows:

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any assessment of the number of canine fertility businesses operating in Scotland over the last five years. Responses to our recent animal licensing consultation indicated that there are potentially hundreds across the UK, but we do not have figures for Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of Sign Language Week in promoting British Sign Language (BSL) given its positive impact on both culture and community in Scotland. During this week the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills reiterated support of BSL and the Scottish Government’s commitments within the BSL National Plan 2023 – 2029.

In response to (a), the Scottish Government published the BSL National Plan 2023 – 2029 in November 2023. This plan sets out our approach to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, visit, work, and learn; it sets out 45 commitments across ten priority areas including health, education, and justice. The BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 also requires listed authorities to publish their own Authority Plans; they are our key partners in promoting the use of BSL in public spaces.

In response to (b), the Additional Support for Learning Act places education authorities under duties to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those affected by deafness. The level of support required, and input from a specialist teacher of deaf children and young people, will vary depending on a child’s individual needs. To support deaf children and young people the Scottish Government provides funding of £150,000 to The Scottish Sensory Centre to support staff training enabling effective support to deaf pupils. In addition, Education Scotland has developed a professional learning resource which seeks to support practitioners to engage more effectively with British Sign Language users. This can be found on their website at the following link: https://education.gov.scot/resources/good-practice-in-working-with-deaf-learners-their-parents-and-families-bsl-plan/

Education Scotland has published a BSL toolkit setting out the key national legislation and General Teaching Council for Scotland standards which practitioners should be aware of when working with BSL users. Information to help practitioners understand BSL, Deaf culture and identity is provided throughout the Toolkit alongside some of the key definitions and terms used when working with parents and families. You can view the Toolkit here: British Sign Language (BSL) - Toolkit for Practitioners | Resources | Education Scotland . Education Scotland also published resources to help families support their children’s learning, which can be found at: BSL | Parentzone Scotland | Education Scotland

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail for further information on this matter.

A Transvaginal Mesh Implants Learning Package is available on Turas Learn for all primary care staff.

This was issued to all Primary Care Leads and NHS Board leads for Mesh by the Chief Medical Officer in October 2023 along with information and resources including the referral pathway for mesh patients available on the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde website, patient information on pelvic floor available on NHS Inform and the importance of sharing information with patients and obtaining fully informed consent using the use of BRAN during consent discussions: what are the benefits, risks, and alternatives, and what if I do nothing.

Topics within the learning package include:

• an introduction and background to pelvic floor disorders for women;

• a review of the background history to pelvic mesh in the UK;

• an overview of pelvic mesh complications; and case studies

The learning package remains the most comprehensive resource for primary care.

As part of their Continuous Professional Development (CPD), GPs are also required to access a wide range of professional development resources to support their continued professional development which includes online learning, information from colleges and interface working with primary and secondary care teams.