Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20954 on 19 September 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15474 on 10 March 2023 .

The IUCN Red List classifies species at risk of global extinction into nine categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild and Extinct. NatureScot, working with stakeholders, have identified approximately 12,000 species in Scotland which fall into one of these categories, of which around 75% (8,381) are considered to be of Least Concern and not, therefore, considered to be at imminent risk of extinction.

1,748 species have been assessed as at some risk of extinction, with 148 assessed to be Critically Endangered, 295 Endangered, 673 Vulnerable and 632 Near Threatened.

Historically, monitoring of species has been influenced by various factors including the taxa, visibility and popularity, which has resulted in some data deficiencies, including in respect of some critically endangered species. NatureScot is working with stakeholders to address this, including through projects such as Species at Risk, which aims to bring all taxa onto a level playing field and focus more attention toward the lesser-known species. With new datasets and analytical tools becoming available, we are able to present trends in status for more species than ever before.

Our Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045 recognises the importance of good quality biodiversity data to achieving our goals, and together with NatureScot we are providing £580,000 over two years to support the Better Biodiversity Data Project, led by the National Biodiversity Network Trust. The project will establish a Scottish Data Hub which will bring together biodiversity data from a range of sources and make it more accessible for analysis. More information on this is available at: https://nbn.org.uk/news/better-biodiversity-data-project/ .

Further details can also be found in the latest State of Nature Scotland Report for 2023, a collaborative work between government agencies and eNGOs, published on 28 September 2023. The report is available at: https://stateofnature.org.uk/countries/scotland/ .

The Scottish Government does not recognise the term 'school hardship fund' and it is not part of Free School Meals legislation.

This is a matter for education authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

However, Local Authorities have the powers to provide discretionary free school meals who they believe require them.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with a range of stakeholders across the North East and Moray, including offshore energy sector businesses and trade unions regarding the operation of the Just Transition Fund where appropriate. Details of the latest meetings are as follows:

So far, the Just Transition Fund has allocated £75 million to date, supporting a cross-sector portfolio of projects ranging across sectors like energy, agriculture, digital innovation and construction while also supporting communities across the North East and Moray to create jobs, support innovation, and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future.

Individuals are not eligible to apply directly to the Just Transition Fund, however through our £50 million multi-year capital grant programme we are providing support to the current and future offshore energy workforce, including oil and gas workers, as they transition to net zero.

For example, this year we are funding 400 free pilot training courses in energy transition skills. We are also sponsoring the development of an Offshore Energy Skills Passport which, once complete, will aim to support any member of the UK offshore energy workforce to transition between offshore energy sectors.

Through our Supply Chain Pathway and Energy Transition Challenge Fund project we are supporting energy supply chain companies currently servicing the oil and gas markets to transition to new opportunities in green energy across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and Moray. In Year 1 we supported 11 local businesses and over the Fund’s 4-year lifetime we will deliver £10 million in grant support to companies in the region.

The Scottish Government does not recognise the term 'school hardship fund' and it is not part of Free School Meals legislation. Local authorities have powers to provide financial or other support to any child in need under section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Additionally, section 12 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 enables the provision of assistance to adults, including provision of cash, in relation to emergencies. Both of these powers have been utilised in past to enable the provision of direct payments in lieu of free school meals. The latter are usually referred to as crisis grants.

Although school meal debt is a matter for councils, the Scottish Government will do everything that we can to support families, and we will consider all the options that are available to us to ensure that families do not find themselves punished for struggling during a cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people who require free school meals receive these. Education authorities have duties to provide free school meals to those who are eligible in primary 6 to S6 and the Scottish Government has already expanded universal free school meal provision to those in primary 1 to 5 and special schools. We are currently working with Local Authorities on the next stages of expansion of Free School Meals to those in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in P6 and P7. In addition, Local Authorities have the powers to provide discretionary free school meals who they believe require them. These meals meet high nutritional standards as set out in The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink (Scotland) Regulations 2020 ensuring that school lunches contain an appropriate amount of energy and nutrients to support healthy growth and development’.

The Scottish Government works closely with the university sector to ensure that we secure economic advantage from innovative research. Our recently published Innovation Strategy highlighted work to deliver a step change in the commercialisation of this research with a focus on facilitating even greater collaboration between industry and academia, supporting the creation of more scalable spin-outs and ensuring that we have the necessary infrastructure to retain more of these spin-outs in Scotland over the longer term. In this specific case, officials from both the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise are making contact with the university to discuss what support is required to realise the full economic potential of this exceptional discovery.

The Scottish Government held a public consultation on the draft of new physical intervention in schools guidance in 2022.

We are carefully considering all responses received on this sensitive topic and a consultation analysis report is being prepared for my consideration by education officials.

I recognise there has been a delay to this work. We remain committed to publishing the final guidance as soon as possible following the completion of the consultation analysis.

We recognise that there have been calls for further legislation. Alongside the publication of the guidance, and in line with our original commitments, we are exploring options to strengthen the legal framework in this area during the course of this parliamentary term. This includes the option of placing the guidance on a statutory basis.