Chamber and committees

Following the final report from the independent Fireworks Review Group recommending a fundamental shift in how fireworks are accessed and used in Scotland, the Scottish Government intends to implement the recommendations from the Group as a matter of urgency to ensure positive change is in place for communities going forward.

This includes a recommendation that mandatory conditions are introduced before the general public are able to purchase fireworks. Mandatory conditions may include, for example, the successful completion of an online safety test and payment of a fee, to ensure that fireworks are used safely and appropriately.

The Scottish Government recently sought views through a public consultation which included a proposal that mandatory conditions of sale could be implemented through a fireworks licensing system. The consultation closed on 15 August and received over 1700 responses from members of the public and stakeholder organisations. The responses are being independently analysed and the results will inform next steps and development of legislation relating to fireworks and pyrotechnics.

The exact information is not available, as National Records of Scotland only began collecting this data from 2017 onwards. The latest report, ‘Deaths of People Experiencing Homelessness in Scotland’, can be found here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/homeless-deaths/19/homeless-deaths-19-report.pdf .

Please note that these are experimental statistics and remain under development. Users should refer to the limitations section of each report before interpreting these statistics.

Earlier reports can be found here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/homeless-deaths/2017-and-2018 .

Supplementary data tables can be found here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/homeless-deaths/19/homeless-deaths-19-data.xlsx .

Homeless Deaths 2017 and 2018 | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk) .

This Government has a strong track record in encouraging and supporting more and new people into crofting. In 2019-20 there were over 830 new entrants into crofting - 44% were women, and 32% were under 40 years of age. We have now appointed the islands-based Crofting Development Officers who will work with crofting communities and strengthen links between the Commission and the communities it serves, building constructive local relations and a greater understanding of the Commission’s role within the crofting community.

The Commission has also expanded its Residency and Land Use Team, to enable it to increase its work in addressing absenteeism and bringing crofts back into productive use. We will monitor this activity closely and consider what more might need to be done in this regard during the lifetime of this Parliament.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented and continues to present unprecedented challenges for businesses across Scotland. Uncertainty in the labour market has led to many employers delaying and pausing recruitment decisions, which is impacting on apprenticeship starts.

Prior to the pandemic, we consistently exceeded annual Apprenticeship targets and were on track to meet our target of 30,000 Modern and Graduate Apprenticeships starts by 2020-21.

The Scottish Government will continue to work collaboratively with Skills Development Scotland to maximise apprentice uptake. As set out in our manifesto, we will build back up to 30,000 starts and assess demand to see how much further we can go, supporting the long-term future of work-based learning and our economy.

Official statistics published by Skills Development Scotland on 10 August 2021 show a positive increase in Modern Apprenticeship (MA) starts compared to the same time last year. There were 3,402 Modern Apprenticeship starts from 01 April to end of June this year – 3.7 times the number of MA starts at the same time last year. MA starts this quarter are still 21.5% lower than pre-pandemic levels in Q1 2019-20, reflecting continuing challenges from COVID-19 as many employers make difficult business decisions.

The proposals contained in the National Care Service consultation paper are based on the findings of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC), which engaged extensively with people and organisations who have lived experience of using social care, including unpaid carers as well as trade unions, providers in the third sector and charitable organisations, and staff from local authorities. The IRASC met with over 1,000 people in total.

Prior to the election, Scottish Government and COSLA published a Joint Statement of Intent outlining how we would work together to deliver a number of areas in the IRASC. This covered topics including fair work, non-residential charging, overhaul of eligibility criteria and support for unpaid carers. There has been ongoing engagement with COSLA to take forward the Joint Statement.

We regularly meet and engage with stakeholders and partners, including trade unions, carers organisations, third sector organisations and professional bodies as part of our work to improve social care. A programme of formal engagement with relevant stakeholders is taking place during the consultation period, and engagement will continue after the consultation has closed.

The Scottish Government received a total of £9.7 billion in Barnett consequentials from the UK Government for 2020-21, with £8.6 billion allocated throughout 2020-21 and £1.1 billion deferred into 2021-22. The Scottish Government set out details of the allocation of the £8.6 billion in the Summer, Autumn and Spring Budget Revisions for that year.

A total of £4.7 billion of Covid-19 consequentials are available for 2021-22, including the £1.1 billion deferred from 2020-21. The allocation of £3.7 billion of this is set out in the Budget Act for 2021-22, as amended and approved by Parliament. Details of the allocation of the remaining £1 billion of further Barnett consequentials, allocated to the Scottish Government at the UK Main Estimates in May, will be included in the Autumn Budget Revision in September, in line with the information on allocations provided by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy in her letter to the Finance and Public Administration Committee in June.

I provided details of the provisional outturn position for 2020-21 to the Parliament on 17 June. Final outturn on all Scottish Government spending for 2020-21 is still being finalised and will be set out in the Scottish Government Accounts, to be published in December.

Tracking of actual spending during the year is managed in different ways depending on the nature of the funding. For areas such as Business Support, where grant funding is clearly identified as Covid-19, expenditure to date has been tracked and details are regularly published externally;

See Scottish Government statistics publication site: Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support funding statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

For other areas were funding has been provided to a sector, the additional payments relating to Covid allocations are included in the standard monthly payments out to individual bodies. For example payments to Health Boards are often paid as one monthly amount with subsequent reporting from Boards on how that funding has been allocated across different priorities. In some instances its is not always possible to distinguish the application of Covid funding from the wider day to day activities of the organisation as they work through the recovery.

The Scottish Government Covid-19 Advisory Group met on
‎ 5 August 2021 and is due to meet again on 9 September. Papers and minutes are published following meetings, providing time for appropriate permissions to be sought.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reforming crofting law and we will set out how we intend to do that in due course. A consultation was held in the last Parliament on what changes were required to the current legislative framework and the outcome of that consultation will form the starting point for this work.

The Crofting Consultation 2017 received 122 responses, and provided the Scottish Government with detailed and varied feedback on the options for a new crofting Bill, current legislative issues and how they might be addressed and other aspects of crofting. The consultation analysis and responses are available at: Crofting Consultation 2017 - Scottish Government - Citizen Space .

I am grateful to my colleague, Mr Cameron MSP, for raising this matter relating to the £500 thank you payment for social care staff. The bonus payment recognises the particular debt we all owe to health and care staff, who have been – and continue to be – on the very front line of this crisis, helping to save lives and to protect us all.

Policy colleagues worked extensively with sector representatives in establishing eligibility criteria and guidance for social care provider staff. These representative organisations included Scottish Care and the Coalition for Care and Support Providers (CCPS) in Scotland; trade unions including Unison, Unite and GMB; and colleagues in CoSLA representing local authorities. The former Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Jeane Freeman, previously wrote to CCPS on 29 March 2021 regarding the eligibility of third sector staff who are not registered with the Care Inspectorate.

In this letter, she confirmed the Scottish Government's position that the £500 payment relates to staff directly covered by NHS payment and remuneration arrangements or staff in organisations delivering adult social care or children’s residential care registered with the Care Inspectorate. In Scotland certain care services by law must register with the Care Inspectorate, and it is only these services that are eligible. Unfortunately, if an organisation is not already registered to provide these services their staff will not be eligible for the £500 payment. For other staff, it would be for their employers to determine their remuneration and any additions to existing pay which may be appropriate.

Scottish Government collaborates with a range of partners to ensure that schools have the information, advice and support to engage with both COP26 specifically, and climate change issues and climate change education more broadly.

Education Scotland, as the national inspection and improvement agency for education, is taking steps to help schools to engage with the themes of the COP26 summit, and to consider how and in what ways they could further improve their approach to climate education and Learning for Sustainability (LfS) at school level.

Highlights and resources include the following:

'Countdown to COP' will be an online initiative aimed at early years and primary to support engagement with COP26 and its five themes (nature, energy transition, finance, clean transport, adaptation and resilience). Countdown to COP will begin on 13 September and run to 29 October, although resources are not time-sensitive and can therefore be used beyond these dates. Countdown to COP will be promoted through Education Scotland's communications channels and its Local Authorities Network.

Scotland's Assembly , delivered by Education Scotland in partnership with the e-Sgoil initiative and available via the Glow system, will be focusing on COP and hearing from people working in the thematic areas across Scotland.

Education Scotland is working closely with Sustainability Partnerships (a teacher group based in Edinburgh and the Lothians) to develop a template resource pack that can be used by schools, education authorities and others to run their own COP26-style summits both locally and regionally.

The Learning for Sustainability Awards 2021 are being held in partnership with The Daily Record and will help to gather good practice examples of Learning for Sustainability across Scotland. Award categories are: Youth; Practitioner; Leadership; Learning Community; Educational Supporter; and Community Learning and Development.

Local authorities, funded by Scottish Government, also provide a key role in providing their own information resources to schools. A COP26/Learning for Sustainability Local Authority Forum is being run by Education Scotland and enables all 32 local authorities to share and plan activity around COP26 and Learning for Sustainability. Members of this forum are also planning a professional learning programme for post-COP26. One example of information and education resources and activities provided via local authorities is Glasgow City Council's 'Our Dear Green Place' initiative, launched on 12 May 2021. The local authority has put in place a range of resources to ensure access and engagement with both COP26 and Our Dear Green Place resources and professional learning. The resources will be continually updated as practitioner and partner engagement progresses.

An Education Scotland COP26 Partner Forum (jointly chaired with YouthLink Scotland) is providing a means for more than 50 Third Sector partners to co-ordinate their various offers for young people leading up to, during and post-COP26. Partner resources and offers are being shared with schools through a 'Wakelet'.

In addition to the above, Scottish Government funds Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) to provide the Eco-Schools and Climate Ready Classrooms programmes. As part of the lead up to COP26 KSB will be offering three new interactive teaching and training sessions: a week of workshops for upper primary classes; a Continuing Professional Development session for primary and secondary educators; and a climate action workshop for high school pupils and Eco-Committees.