Chamber and committees

The £32 million Local Bridge Maintenance Fund broken down by local authority and successful applications is set out in a document that has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib number 63925.

The Scottish Government is aware of the decline of wading birds in Scotland. Wading bird ecology is complicated and varies between species. However, it appears wader declines in Scotland are linked to low breeding success which could be due a range of reasons. The changes in the Scottish countryside in recent decades has resulted in many wader habitats being lost. Some of this loss is the result of land management changes designed to increase agricultural efficiency. Increased afforestation also appears to adversely affect waders which naturally prefer landscapes with fewer trees. Higher numbers of generalist predators in the countryside may also leading to the waders that do nest from successfully producing young.

The Terrestrial Breeding Birds Official Statistic 1994-2021 was recently published by NatureScot https://www.nature.scot/doc/official-statistic-terrestrial-breeding-birds-2022

The latest figures (1994-2021) show that the decline in wetland birds is 17% rather than the 19% shown when compared to the 2019 value. Note that direct comparisons with the previous figure of 19% (1994-2019) are not possible due to the way the data are calculated.

The Scottish Government supports the work being done by Working for Waders initiative which was started in 2017 to tackle the decline of wading birds across Scotland. The project is open to anyone with an interest in waders and is currently co-chaired by SRUC and NatureScot, which includes public bodies, and is supported by conservation organisations, research organisations, individual farmers, gamekeepers and birdwatchers. The Working for Waders Action Groups are focusing on collaborative on-the-ground work, predator control, habitat management and developing best practice with a view to addressing the decline in our waders.

The Scottish Government also provides support to farmers, crofters and land managers through its Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS). The scheme encourages land management practices which can directly/indirectly benefit water birds, as well as other wildlife.

The Species on the Edge project, which is a partnership of NatureScot and seven conservation charities, is dedicated to improving habitats for 37 priority species. This includes enhancing habitat quality and availability; sowing and growing vital host and food plants for vulnerable species; excluding predators from sensitive sites; and removing invasive non-native species which will also benefit other wildlife including water birds. https://www.nature.scot/scotlands-biodiversity/species-edge-sote/species-edge-about-project

The Scottish Government has also made a commitment to invest at least £65m in multi-year funding available through the Nature Restoration Fund which specifically funds the restoration of habitats across Scotland, including coastal habitats, thereby helping to address declines in water birds. Since its launch in 2021, we have started over 100 projects, putting Scotland’s species, habitats and seas back on the road to recovery.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS do not currently hold this type of report and is not aware of any structural issues affecting these accommodation halls.

The agriculture bill will reaffirm our commitment to the highest production standards which are underpinned by Animal Health and Welfare standards, environmental stewardship conditions, and fair working conditions. As such high quality food production is a broad term encompassing a range of requirements individually defined through regulation and guidance such as the cross compliance regime.

In 2022-23, we distributed £32m across all Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs). The purpose of this funding was to build local service capacity for transformation and to support the local scaling of existing transformational practice of holistic whole family support. This is being provided on a recurring, multi-year basis to 2025-26.

A package of activity aimed at supporting local transformation has commenced, including establishing collaborative partnerships between 3 CSPPs and a dedicated, multi-disciplinary national support team for transformation. A Learning into Action network is also being established. The aim is to ensure that all CSPPs are supported to come together to share learning and approaches, facilitate peer support, collaborate, and have solution focused discussions around the barriers and opportunities around whole system change in holistic family support.

Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) is being used to support the resource and staffing requirements of this work; as well as the commissioning of external evaluation. This will evaluate the implementation and initial impacts of the programme to help shape and develop activity across WFWF going forward. Additionally, research has been commissioned to support continuous improvement of the transformation support provided to the CSPPs as well as to generate learning about how transformational capability is built. The final costs associated for this work in 2022-23 will be confirmed following the end of the financial year.

Multi-year funding allocations are also being finalised which will support wider transformational activity across Scottish Government portfolios which will support the preventative, person-centred ambitions and outcomes of the WFWF.

The Independent Review is seeking views from across the education landscape on how a system of qualifications and assessment can uphold the rights of all learners, including those with additional support needs, to have their achievements recognised. I understand that Professor Hayward has met Angela Morgan, Chair of the Review of Additional Support for Learning Implementation, and is in the process of visiting a range of schools where this issue will also be discussed. Ensuring our system of qualifications and assessment meets the needs of all learners has also been discussed within the Independent Review Group and the various community groups the Review is supporting.

I know Professor Hayward remains open to new ideas in this and in other areas. The Review’s public consultation closes on 13 January 2023 and I look forward to receiving a final report before the end of May 2023.

The Scottish Government published our second progress report and updated Additional Support for Learning action plan on November 30 2022. The action plan and governance arrangements for this work are available from: https://www.gov.scot/publications/additional-support-learning-review-action-plan-update-november-2022/

Part of this work includes further development of the National Measurement Framework. This aims to meaningfully support improvement of outcomes and celebrate the wide ranging achievements of children with additional support needs, and support a culture of improvement in the delivery of additional support for learning. A draft framework was considered by the Additional Support for Learning Network at their first formal meeting on 30 November.

An updated draft will be considered by the Additional Support for Learning Project Board in early 2023. The project board will also agree the next steps in the development and publication of the National Measurement Framework in due course.

A 50% relief for district heating networks was introduced in April 2017 and is available until 31 March 2032.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13151 on 6 January 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 Enhanced Psychology Practice (EPP) training course was established by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in 2021, with the first round of training commencing in October of that year. Training numbers so far as follows;

• 14 learners from the Adult EPP Cohort 1 have completed training. 5 learners from Cohort 1 are still to complete due to extensions. Cohort 2 commenced in April 2022, with 22 learners currently in training.
• The Children and Young People (CYP) EPP pilot cohort commenced in April 2022 with 10 learners currently in training.
• Interviews concluded for the November 2022 cohorts of EPP-A and EPP-CYP learners in August. NES HAS issued offers for 32 places across both programmes.
• When at full capacity, an annual intake of approximately 100 learners will be possible. This will form a rolling programme of recruitment over several intake cycles.