Chamber and committees

Pre-pandemic, the poverty related attainment gap in primary schools was closing across Scotland, including in South Lanarkshire. We nonetheless recognise the negative impact of the pandemic. We are now seeing strong evidence of recovery: the latest published data, the 2021-22 Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (ACEL) data, shows the biggest single year decrease in the gap in primary numeracy and literacy levels since records began (in 2016-17).

Before the pandemic, the attainment gap in South Lanarkshire was below the national average. During the pandemic, in 2020-21, we saw a widening in the attainment gap across the country, with the gap in South Lanarkshire widening by more than the average change nationally. Data from 2021-22 shows that South Lanarkshire has started to recover from the impact of the pandemic in both literacy and numeracy.

South Lanarkshire Council received £10.9 million of Scottish Attainment Challenge funding in 22-23, empowering headteachers and Local Government to achieve their ambitions to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty. This includes:

• South Lanarkshire schools receiving almost £8.95 million Pupil Equity Funding for headteachers enabling them to invest in the best approaches to raise attainment of the pupils in their schools.
• South Lanarkshire Council receiving over £1.4 million Strategic Equity Funding to develop strategic plans for closing the poverty related attainment gap; and
• Care Experience Children and Children Young People Funding of £628,425.

There are records of 212 instances of damaging or unconsented activities on SSSIs that have not been attributed to third parties. No compensatory agreements have been entered into as a result of these cases.

NatureScot is only obliged to offer compensation to a land manager if the SSSI consenting process restricts the established management of their land and where this leads to a loss of income. NatureScot has 89 active compensatory Management Agreements with land managers to prevent damaging activity. The majority date back to before 2013. The majority of active Management Agreements entered in to by NatureScot contain provisions for proactive management to restore or maintain biodiversity.

The following table sets out the charging and convictions data requested:

A total of (a) £18.181 million has been allocated from the (b) £30 million demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund for the current parliamentary term. The following table provides a breakdown of allocated funds between rural and island by local authority area.

The Scottish Budget 2023-24 published in December 2022 did not include any budget provision for teachers’ pay. At that time, the Scottish Government was participating in discussions on a 2023 pay offer through the tripartite SNCT and, as always, it was for COSLA – as the employer – to make any pay offer. Publishing a budget at that stage would have risked undermining COSLA’s position and the negotiations themselves. We continued to work with COSLA to assess what specific support was needed. At the point of the Scottish Budget 2023-24 being published, we had confirmed a contribution of over £50 million to the pay offer made to teachers.

The Scottish Government will provide a total of £205m in 2023-24 to help meet the costs of the final March 2023 pay deal, £50 million of which is included in the local government finance settlement.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the UK Government on Project Gigabit activity in Scotland.

In March 2023, the Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) carried out Procurement Area Market Engagement, engaging with broadband infrastructure suppliers to gauge the level of market interest in bidding for new gigabit-capable broadband contracts in Scotland.

On 23 March 2023, the Scottish Government launched a Scotland-wide Public Review (PR). The PR collected information about suppliers’ delivered and planned gigabit-capable networks across Scotland and will confirm eligible premises for public investment via Project Gigabit.

The PR closed on 24 April 2023 and the responses are being analysed.

The first Project Gigabit procurements in Scotland are expected to launch later in 2023.

The Scottish Government takes the improvement of welfare for all animals in Scotland very seriously and is keen to progress a consultation on the cage use for laying hens, alongside other animal welfare commitments

Consultation on phasing out cage use for laying hens was originally intended to be delivered jointly across the UK. However, progress on a number of important pieces of animal welfare legislation have been significantly delayed due to UK Government timetabling.

I have repeatedly expressed the Scottish Government’s disappointment and the need for urgency on a number important animal welfare issues, where joint working across GB has been previously agreed. Sadly no further clarity has been provided by UK Ministers.

While Scottish Ministers remain committed to introducing joint legislation where it is sensible and logical to do so in the interests of animal welfare, further consideration will be given to how we can best deliver our commitments going forward.

Sections 23(7) and 24(4) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 place a duty on the Scottish Ministers to lay six-monthly reports before Parliament setting out why the duties to (a) implement the scheme for funding for alternative dispute resolution and (b) establish a pilot of mandatory meetings on alternatives to court are not yet fulfilled, and stating when implementation is expected.

To date the Scottish Ministers have laid four such reports before Parliament and these have been published on the Scottish Government website. The latest report is available here:

Children (Scotland) Act 2020 - section 23(1) and section 24(1): fourth report on the Scottish Ministers' duties - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The UK-wide radiotherapy dataset, Cancerstats, is hosted by NHS England. Clinicians who have access to the data have the opportunity to participate in associated training.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Scottish Committee of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, to discuss areas of mutual interest.

The Scottish Government will always be guided by the democratically expressed wishes of the people of Scotland on constitutional matters.