Chamber and committees

Whilst I have not met with Professor Roy Brown, I have considered, and values, the information provided by him in relation to the role of bracken in tick population dynamics and human and animal disease.

I have accepted an invitation from the Bracken Control Group, which Professor Roy Brown is a representative on, to visit a location with established bracken, and I welcome the opportunity to discuss impacts and control options.

The Scottish Government has not provided financial support to local authorities to undertake inspections of buildings for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. It is the responsibility of building owners to undertake such inspections. The Health & Safety Executive is the UK-wide regulator for health and safety in workplaces. This legislation is not devolved to the Scottish Government. The HSE, instructed by the UK Government, are developing a research methodology to assist with identification, assessment and remediation of RAAC and we will consider any recommendations appropriately.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18442 on 13 June 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 is supporting a wider range of broadband providers through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS). We are also supporting full fibre providers by enabling access to rates relief on newly laid and lit fibre up until March 2034 – the longest period of fibre rates relief anywhere in the UK.

The R100 programme has not frozen funding, with the R100 SBVS continuing to offer vouchers for up to £5,000 per premises to deliver connections to eligible properties. While the Scottish Government is using the levers available in order to support suppliers, as telecoms is a matter wholly reserved to Westminster, it is for the UK Government to ensure that a supplier of last resort mechanism is in place to protect customers affected by any financial issues a supplier may face.

Of course, our substantial investment in the R100 and S4GI digital infrastructure programmes, as well as the UK Government’s Project Gigabit and the cross-administration Shared Rural Network programme will also ensure that those affected by such issues in future remain able to access high-quality digital connectivity.

The Additional Support for Learning Act places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. It is for individual authorities to determine the training required for all staff to ensure pupils reach their full potential.

All initial teacher education programmes must align with the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s Standard for Provisional Registration. The Standard sets out that student teachers are required to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of additional support needs and to take account of learners with such needs.

The Scottish Government is working closely with local government partners to improve the experience of children and young people with additional support needs at school, implementing the recommendations of the 2020 additional support for learning review, including those relating to the professional learning of school staff. In November 2022, we published an updated action plan and a second progress report . A further update is due to be published in May 2024.

The Drug Deaths Taskforce had an allocation of £9 million to invest in 2020-21 and £5 million in 2021-22.

We do not hold this information in the Transport Scotland injury road collisions database. We only have information about whether an animal was involved in a collision on the carriageway and we only collect information about the severity of people who are injured in the collision.

This Bill will disproportionately impact vulnerable groups including victims of trafficking, children and LGBTQIA+ people. It is regrettable that the Home Office did not publish an Equality Impact Assessment for the Bill until the 10 May, by which point it had already passed through the House of Commons, consequently restricting the ability of those involved to scrutinise this Bill to the full extent of their powers.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights published a report on the Illegal Migration Bill last week in which it said certain provisions were incompatible with the UK’s legal obligations under international law, including the European Convention on Human Rights. The Home Secretary herself, was unable to make a statement that provisions of the Bill are compatible when it was introduced. The implications of the bill as it applies to Scotland are being assessed in the context of the requirement for legislative consent and were also considered by Parliament when the bill was debated in April. The requirement to carry out and publish any impact assessments belongs with the UK Government.

We are currently considering whether or not to retain snaring as a land management tool in Scotland. If it is decided we will not retain snaring, we will bring forward provisions to that effect alongside a short public consultation document in time for stage 2 of the wildlife management and muirburn bill.

In Scotland, a formal identification of dyslexia or a learning difficulty is not required before appropriate support is provided, although I recognise that a diagnosis can be helpful for children and young people and their families.

We want all children and young people, to receive the support they need to reach their full potential. Under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, education authorities have duties to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. We are committed to supporting teachers and school staff to meet these needs.

Our national approach recognises that children and young people with dyslexia benefit from early identification. We are working with local government partners to continue to improve the consistency of early identification through the adoption of the Scottish working definition of dyslexia and use of the Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit’s Dyslexia Identification Pathway.