Chamber and committees

The terms of reference are in draft format and will not be finalised and agreed until following the first meeting of the Taskforce. The Scottish Government will proactively publish the agreed terms of reference in due course.

The draft terms of reference sets out its proposed scope on a series of specific issues, though is not intended as a fully inclusive list, as further issues may surface in the context of discussion. Nonetheless, the existing list of identified issues reflect clear themes around Culture and Leadership, Wellbeing, Attraction, Education and Development, and Retention – all in aid of the development of a sustainable workforce that enables the implementation of safe staffing legislation.

The Investing in Communities Fund will support over 100 organisations receiving a share of £27 million over the three years 2023-24 to 2025-26.

There was significant interest in the fund, with a total of 801 applications submitted which were assessed in line with the process that was set out in the fund’s published guidance, concluding with the Independent Assessment Panel.

The assessment process fully allocates the available budget and as such the fund’s guidance made clear that the Panel decision was final and there is no appeals process.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15841 on 24 March 2023 . 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 Scottish Government funded a national Childhood Bereavement Coordinator project, which concluded in September 2022 with the publication of the final report ‘Growing Up Grieving’. The Co-ordinator’s report included 7 recommendations, which span a number of portfolios across Scottish Government. The publication of the report coincided with that of the UK Commission on Bereavement, and many of the principles in the UK report align with those of the Scottish National Childhood Bereavement Co-ordinator. The Scottish Government is considering how best to implement the recommendations.

The evaluation of the Deferral pilots will be published in May 2023. The report has been slightly delayed to allow for an extended recruitment and data collection phase of the research, as the response rate was lower than expected during the original phase.

The Programme for Government sets out that a Circular Economy Bill will be introduced in 2022-23 and we remain on track to meet that deadline. Further, the Deposit Return Scheme remains on track to go live in August 2023.

All applicants were advised to demonstrate and evidence how their proposal would deliver against all four areas of action for the fund, and that these were the criteria against which their application would be assessed. The criteria are:

• tackling poverty and inequality, including child poverty
• developing and sustaining place based approaches
• community-led regeneration
• ensuring a just transition to net zero

All applications were assessed equally against the criteria and organisations were advised that previous support through ICF did not guarantee a future award.

Meeting frequency will be determined by the Taskforce when it meets. We envisage that there will be a series of meetings and separate subgroup meetings focusing on the key themes within the terms of reference, and the frequency will vary by workstream, and as work progresses.

The Scottish Government will agree the date of the first meeting in due course, following confirmation of representatives and proposed structure.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role the A1 plays in providing access to key markets, jobs and services between the south east of Scotland and the north east of England, and beyond. The Borders Transport Corridors Study , identified interventions on the A1 within its recommendations, these were subsequently considered in more detail as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2).

The section of the A1 between Edinburgh and the border with England is a trunk road and therefore it’s under Scottish Minister’s remit to decide on further investment and development of the projects.

There has been no recent engagement with the UK Government on the dualling the A1.