Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to developing a long-term strategic approach to skills and careers in the sector across the creative sector.

The music talent pipeline is already supported through a very significant offer across Scotland’s Colleges at NC, HNC and HND level covering performance, production, sound engineering, music business and event management. There is also increased specialisation at degree level across Scotland’s Higher Education sector, covering classical, contemporary and traditional music disciplines. Further information should be available from Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

In addition, Creative Scotland plays a major role in talent development and supporting the creative talent pipeline through the National Lottery funded Open Fund for Individuals which offers early career funding to emerging artists. Through their Targeted Routes and organisations funds, Creative Scotland support organisations and events such as Wide Days, the SAMAs and Showcase Scotland Expo, which provide mentoring for young acts.

The Scottish Government fully values the important contributions that both grassroots and large-scale music venues provide to Scotland. We recognise the role venues play in skills development and the talent pipeline.

It remains crucial that we continue to engage with live music venues of all sizes, and experts from all areas of the music industry, to hear directly the views and experiences from the sector first hand.

I will be meeting with the Music Venture Trust later this month to better understand how we can further support the music sector and grassroots venues.

We are currently developing detailed proposals for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). A formal remit will be drawn up (and published) in due course.

The work of the Observatory will align closely with our obligations under the Equality Act (2010) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and will inform and support implementation of the Convention in Scotland.

Performance venues throughout Scotland make an important contribution to the cultural, social and economic life of Scotland. We have regular contact with Creative Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and representatives of the music industry, as part of our on-going work to ensure that we understand the challenges and opportunities that the industry in the Highlands and Islands region, as well as across Scotland, face.

Many grassroots venues in the Highlands and Islands received support through the Scottish Government COVID-19 Emergency Funds, including Gellions Bar, Hootenanny, The Tooth & Claw, Aros Centre and The Sound Archive through the Grassroots Music Venue Stabilisation Fund.

HIE has supported a number of venues in the region and has directly supported venues to look at how they collaborate. HIE also support organisations, such as the Touring Network, a collaborative membership organisation that supports promoters in the region. HIE is also considering how digital tools and changing business models can support venues by generating new revenue streams.

More generally, grassroots music venues in Scotland can apply to Creative Scotland funds for specific projects and programmes of creative work.

The Scottish Government does not gather this information. It is for local authorities to determine how they deliver the service to suit the needs and circumstances of children and young people in their area. We produced guidance to support local authorities, available at: Access to counselling in secondary schools: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We have today published a consultation on our Biodiversity Framework. The Framework will accelerate the pace and scale of our efforts to halt the loss of biodiversity, creating a nature positive Scotland and supporting people and communities to take the opportunities presented by restoring and protecting our natural environment. It includes an updated version of our Biodiversity Strategy, which takes into account the outcomes of CoP15 and the new Global Biodiversity Framework, as well as the first underpinning Delivery Plan, where we set out a range of ambitious and wide reaching actions to tackle the nature crisis. The Consultation also includes draft frameworks which set out the Vision and Principles that will underpin delivery of our commitment to protect 30% of Scotland’s land for nature by 2030, and to create nature networks across Scotland. Elements of the proposed Natural Environment Bill are also being consulted upon, including our proposal to create statutory nature restoration targets, and enhancements to National Parks legislation to reflect the important role our Parks already play in tackling the biodiversity and climate crisis. The consultation and associated documents are available at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835212769 .

In March 2023, the Scottish Government requested Public Health Scotland (PHS) to undertake an independent review of the Paediatric Scottish National Spinal Service (SNSS) which is hosted in NHS Lothian.

The review was requested to identify any variance between the number of cancellations reported by PHS and those held locally by SNSS. PHS confirmed cancellation data held by SNSS is aligned to PHS reported data.

PHS also assessed the application of National Waiting Times Guidance for children that were referred to SNSS, particularly focusing on children that required further diagnostic tests before a decision to treat was made. PHS found NHS Lothian to be adhering to and applying the waiting time guidance correctly.

Therefore, PHS concluded through this external assurance process that SNSS, hosted in NHS Lothian, in all of the areas reviewed adheres to and applies National Waiting Times Guidance with no apparent variation in the local data to that published by PHS.

A copy of the report can be found at Publications - Public Health Scotland .

The Scottish Government’s vision for Scottish education is excellence and equity and ensuring that every child has the same opportunity to succeed regardless of their social circumstances or support needs.

The school’s approaches to closing the poverty related attainment gap and achieving excellence and equity for all children and young people form a key part of every school inspection.

HM Inspectors consider the quality of education provision and how well schools are meeting the needs of all children and young people including those children who require additional support and are entitled to free school meals.

HM Inspectors are provided with key information about the school. This includes the number of children with additional support needs, the nature of those needs, the percentage of children living in each area identified in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and the percentage of children and young people entitled to free school meals.

When evaluating the quality of education provision, HM Inspectors take account of the school's specific circumstances. They look closely at the needs of individual learners and groups of learners with additional support needs and those affected by poverty. They evaluate how well the school is supporting children and young people by looking closely at their support plans, observing learning and teaching and speaking to them. HM Inspectors consider the extent to which schools promote equity of success and have raised attainment and achievement for all children and young people, including those who are most disadvantaged.

Table 1 provides the number of school leavers who left school with one or more National Qualification(s) at Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework (SCQF) Level 6 or better from 2012-13 to 2021-22. This covers attainment in National Qualifications such as Highers and Skills for Work.

The figures are taken from the Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations publication and cover the attainment of leavers from mainstream, publicly funded schools.

Table 1: Number of school leavers with one pass or more at SCQF Level 6 or better, 2012-13 to 2021-22

The Scottish Government publishes statistics showing the number of young people who were in a positive destination three months and nine months after the end of each school year. These statistics are available on a comparable basis for school leavers from academic years 2009-10 to 2021-22. They cover all young people who left from a publicly funded mainstream secondary school in Scotland.

Table 1 shows the numbers and proportions of school leavers in a positive "initial" destination, three months after the end of the school year, for 2009-10 to 2021-22. Table 2 provides the same information for "follow-up" destinations, nine months after the end of the school year.

Positive destinations are: higher education, further education, employment, training, voluntary work, activity agreements (from 2010-11 to 2017-18 inclusive) and personal skills development.

The time period covered by these statistics means they contain data that will be affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The pandemic could have affected the opportunities available to some school leavers, either directly or due to an impact on attainment caused by the alternative approaches taken to grading National Qualifications in 2020, 2021 and 2022. This should be kept in mind when making comparisons over time.

Table 1. Number and percentage of school leavers in a positive initial destination, three months after the end of the school year, 2009-10 to 2021-22.