Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government publishes yearly evaluation studies and annual reports of Fair Start Scotland. These contain data on the impact and experience of disabled people, as part of the overall reporting on the service. These evaluations have not specifically or separately considered the experiences and outcomes for people with learning disabilities. All evaluation reports relating to Fair Start Scotland are available on the Scottish Government website and are listed below. The first evaluation of No One Left Behind is currently underway and a report will be published in early Summer 2023. This will not specifically consider the experiences of people with learning disabilities.

Tables which accompany the quarterly publication Scotland’s Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary provide equalities information for participants on Fair Start Scotland, which includes data for disabled people and people with learning disabilities. The data reporting template for people receiving support through No One Left Behind has recently been expanded to capture where people have a learning disability, learning difficulty, autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disorders (such as ADHD). This data will be published as part of the quarterly statistical reporting in due course.

We have also undertaken a review of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and of Supported Employment to identify areas of improvement and make recommendations on future delivery of these two forms of specialist employability support in Scotland. These reviews, along with Scottish Government responses, were also published on our website and are listed below.

Evaluation reports for Fair Start Scotland

Implementation Review:

Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 1: implementation and early delivery review

Evaluation Report 2

Overview Report:

Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 2: overview of year one - November 2019

Participant Phone Survey:

Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 2: participant phone survey - November 2019

Local Area Case Studies:

Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 2: local area case studies - November 2019

Evaluation Report 3

Overview Report:

Fair Start Scotland - evaluation report 3: year two - overview

Participant Phone Survey:

Fair Start Scotland - evaluation report 3: participant phone survey - year 2

Local Area Case Studies:

Fair Start Scotland - evaluation report 3: local area case studies - year 2

Annual Evaluation Report 4

Overview Report:

Fair Start Scotland: evaluation report 4 - year 3 overview

Participant Phone Survey:

Fair Start Scotland: evaluation report 4 - participant phone survey - year 3

Local Area Case Studies:

Fair Start Scotland: evaluation report 4 - local area case studies - year 3

Economic Evaluation:

Fair Start Scotland: economic evaluation

Individual Placement and Support Review

Fair Start Scotland - individual placement and support review: findings

Support Employment Review

Supported employment: review report and Scottish Government response

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of robust data and caveated evidence to build understanding of the inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities.

Therefore, we have been collaborating with our partners through the Keys to Life, the Scottish Strategy for Autism and the Towards Transformation Plan to take forward research to better understand the daily lives of people with learning disabilities and autistic people and the inequalities/barriers they face.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory (SLDO) to understand the health equalities and barriers faced by people with learning disabilities. SLDO reports and their methods can be found on their website.

Similarly, the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD) also produced a variety of evidence-based reports to inform the development of policy around experience of people with learning disabilities including employment, hate crime, health, social care, parenting and human rights. Through the pandemic SCLD also produced the How's Life Survey and provides a snapshot of the lives of people with learning disabilities through the pandemic. They also work alongside Public Health Scotland to produce routine Learning Disability Statistics Scotland using census data.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring people with learning disabilities have access to data that is important to them, including evidence about employment and employability in Scotland.

To achieve this Scottish Government are working with our partners to refocus data collection efforts to encompass the whole life journey through a Learning Disability and Autism Data Action Plan.

We expect Zero Waste Scotland to submit the review report in May, and we will then consider its findings.

Creative Scotland monitors the organisational reserves of regularly funded organisations via the submissions provided as part of the annual contracting process. Ad hoc monitoring by Creative Scotland may also occur depending on the organisation’s financial position, including a recent RFO survey on rising costs. Organisational reserves are also publicly disclosed at Companies House.

The Scottish Government collects information on temporary accommodation placements associated with homelessness applications through the HL3 data collection. This gathers information on date of entry and date of exit (where relevant) for each temporary accommodation placement. It is possible to combine durations of individual temporary accommodation placements associated with the same homelessness application.

The HL3 data collection does not gather information on all persons present in temporary accommodation placements. However, it is reasonable to assume there is at least one adult present. An additional question was added to the HL3 data collection in 2019 to ask how many children require accommodation in temporary accommodation placements, but not all local authorities have so far been able to provide this information.

An estimate of the presence of children in temporary accommodation placements can be derived by linking household records between the HL1 and HL3 data collections. The HL1 data collection is related to homelessness applications and gathers information on household composition. However, it is important to note that households may sometimes make alternative arrangements for children when entering temporary accommodation and therefore it is not always the case that children included in the HL1 return are present in associated temporary accommodation placements. It can also be the case that children are present for only part of the stay in temporary accommodation e.g. as part of shared custody arrangements.

A full set of HL3 data is available for all local authorities from 2017-18. However, this includes temporary accommodation placements which commenced prior to 2017-18. In addition, some local authorities have provided data prior to 2017-18, but the completeness of this is highly variable across local authorities.

Information at individual (person or household) level cannot be provided due to data confidentiality.

Information gathered through Scottish Government homelessness data collections can be found under the homelessness data provider information section of the homelessness statistics webpages. Within the annual Homelessness in Scotland publications, data tables are included for a) the average time spent in temporary accommodation for closed cases, by local authority and household type and b) the distribution of time spent in temporary accommodation for closed cases, by local authority for i) all households; ii) households with children; and iii) households without children.

An approach informed by best practice methodology – Managing Successful Programmes – has been adopted to frame the development, planning and delivery of the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. This includes a programme board and programme manager to support and coordinate resources drawn from NatureScot and Scottish Government to deliver the Strategy.

Costs and resources are tracked via standard Scottish Government budget management procedures. This includes annual and monthly forecasting and monitoring returns.

Over the last 5 years, there have been 781 large outdoor fires, 243 of which were deliberate (31%). Th Scottish Fire and Rescue Service does not routinely gather information on the number of wildfires that happen as a result of Muirburn. However, a 2019 sample of the available evidence for the most severe wildfire incidents concluded that out of control burning was a relatively rare cause of these incidents.

Reducing health inequalities continues to be a top priority for the Scottish Government, and we recognise that particular efforts are needed for vulnerable populations, such as people who inject drugs. We know that stigma can stop people accessing the support they need and that stigma can manifest in many ways and in many settings. That is why Scottish Government recently facilitated a campaign to challenge the stigma which too often negatively impacts upon those who use drugs. In addition to this campaign, on World Aids Day 2022, the Public Health Minister announced the development of a national awareness raising campaign focused on reducing historical stereotypes associated with a positive HIV diagnosis.

Further to these campaigns, the HIV Transmission Elimination Proposal highlighted that equitable access and uptake of key prevention measures is required to avoid amplifying existing inequalities. Reducing health inequalities will be a key consideration for the HIV transmission elimination implementation group as they assess and prioritise the recommendations contained within the proposal.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as the recruitment and deployment of all staff in local authority schools is a matter for individual Councils.

To date the Scottish Government has provided £11.6 million for the STEM bursary scheme.

Work is currently underway to scope the development of the Biodiversity Investment Plan. The Plan is anticipated to be completed in the second half of this year.