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 .

The position described is entirely a matter for the CHS Chair. The Scottish Government is aware that the Chair of Children’s Hearings Scotland has been pleased to meet with other Members. The Member may wish to meet the Chair to seek further reassurance that these matters have been fully and appropriately addressed.

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.

Ministers and Scottish Government officials have clearly and comprehensively explained the Scottish Government’s position in relation to these matters to the former panel members and their representatives on numerous occasions dating back several years. A summary of the provided information follows:

- The Children’s Hearings (S) Act 2011 provides that the terms and conditions of children’s panel membership are for the National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS). The National Convener’s independence in discharging his functions are set out in the same statute. Scottish Ministers and Scottish Government officials have no role in decisions regarding recruitment, tenure or training of panel members and any departure from that would not be appropriate.

- The National Convener reports to the Board of CHS on the performance of his duties. Any complaints about the National Convener, members of staff within CHS, or CHS policies and procedures, should be directed to the CHS Board.

- The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman has confirmed that the CHS complaints procedure is compliant with their standards. CHS has satisfied itself regarding the suitability of its complaints procedure, including taking external advice. No concerns therefore arise for Scottish Ministers or Scottish Government officials.

The Scottish Government has exhaustively explained the position and has confirmed that there is no appropriate locus for Ministers or officials in these matters, so it would not be appropriate to meet the group.

Since 2021 the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) has supported the productive reuse of 50.5 hectares of vacant and derelict land across nine projects in Glasgow.

The aim of the VDLIP is to help with tackling persistent vacant and derelict land, supporting place based approaches to delivering regeneration and sustainable inclusive growth, as part of a just transition to net-zero. It is not intended to fund the remediation and reuse of all sites that are registered as vacant and derelict land.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. It is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical purposes and the information within it is structured accordingly. Information provided is at date of extract and may therefore be subject to change as data and systems are updated for operational reasons.

From 1 April to 14 May 2024, 123 hate crime charges and 422 charges with one or more hate crime aggravations have been reported to COPFS. The combined total number of charges is 545.

As at 14 May 2024, 343 charges have been marked for court proceedings and a further 60 charges have been marked as “not separately actioned”. Where a charge is marked as “not separately actioned”, no action was taken against the charge, but action (prosecution in court) was taken against the accused and some of the libel in the charge may have been incorporated into a charge that was actioned.

COPFS is not the holder of conviction data but, according to our case management system, 26 charges have so far resolved after court proceedings, a conviction is recorded in 17 of these charges.

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 £500,000 fund to leave pilot was announced in October 2023 and ended on 31 March 2024. Women’s Aid groups disbursed the funding on behalf of the Scottish Government in five pilot areas. The Scottish Government expects a full report from Scottish Women’s Aid on the outcomes achieved by the start of June. Interim reports show that the £500,000 fund has been fully distributed, with over 500 applications being approved.

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.