A table containing the average daily traffic flows on the A96 in each year since 2017 has been lodged with SPICe, BIB number 63000.

The Scottish Government has received the following amounts in (a) health and social care related Barnett consequentials; and (b) Covid-19 Barnett consequentials related to health and social care spend:-

The detailed information requested is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib number 63053).

Routine inspections of early learning and childcare settings and schools have been paused since March 2020 as a result of the impact of COVID-19. HM Inspectors of Education are aware of the ongoing challenges faced by local authority staff, education staff, learners and communities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Scottish Ministers requested HM Inspectors conduct an inspection of Spark of Genius Harbour Point School in accordance with section 66 (1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. This inspection was carried out in May 2021.

Between January and March 2021, to support and improve the delivery of high-quality and effective remote learning, HM Inspectors of Education developed a national overview of practice of remote learning. During this period HM Inspectors of Education engaged with all 32 local authorities and 474 schools. They also reached 12,105 parents and 2,667 learners through surveys. This resulted in 12 weekly National Overview of Practice Reports publishing between January and April 2021.

In March to April 2021 HM Inspectors of Education undertook a national review of local authority approaches to quality assurance as part of the Alternative Certification Model. This review was to ensure that the range of measures being undertaken by local authorities ensured that the approach to certification delivered for young people across Scotland. As part of this review, HM Inspectors of Education engaged with all 32 local authorities, headteachers, SQA co-ordinators, teachers and representatives of professional associations. This national review was published on the Education Scotland website.

On 3 December 2021, the HM Chief Inspector of Education announced that taking stakeholder views into account, along with the ongoing challenges settings and schools face dealing with COVID-19, HM Inspectors of Education will not resume routine early learning and childcare and school inspections in January 2022 as originally planned.

Between September and December 2021, HM Inspectors of Education visited over 200 schools and services. This included visits to establishments and services that were due to have a further inspection or as part of national thematic inspections.

For visits, HM Inspectors of Education will follow public health and local authority guidance complying with the COVID-19 mitigations for each establishment. Plans are continually reviewed and are linked with public health guidance and local circumstances.

From February 2022, if COVID-19 conditions have improved, HM Inspectors of Education will carry out ‘recovery focus’ visits to engage with a selection of early learning and childcare settings and schools to support the education sector as it continues to respond to the impact of the current pandemic. HM Inspectors of Education will continue to keep plans under review to changing circumstances linked to the pandemic.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually in the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) local authority tables.

The latest published set of tables for 2017-2019 is available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Local Authority figures are based on a 3-year pooled sample to allow sufficient sample sizes to produce results on each local authority. The figures in the table show number of fuel poor households, and the fuel poverty rate, based on the last 10 years for South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, and Falkirk.

We do not hold this data. However, Ofcom provides breakdowns at Local Authority and UK parliamentary constituency level as part of the interactive report they produce alongside their Connected Nations updates. Their latest published information can be found at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/infrastructure-research/connected-nations-update-summer-2021/interactive-report . Please also note that Ofcom breaks down this data into different speed categories than those you have requested.

When existing Disability Living Allowance for Children (DLA Child) clients have their awards transferred to Child Disability Payment (CDP) they will receive the same payment rate for CDP as they received for DLA Child at the point of transfer. They will continue to receive this amount until their CDP needs to be reviewed. The value of each component of CDP is the same as DLA Child so that we do not create a two-tier system with varying rules whilst Scottish disability benefit clients are transferred to Social Security Scotland.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission is responsible for forecasting spending on DLA Child and CDP. The Commission has not reported a breakdown of the proportion of the CDP clients in receipt of greater, the same, or lesser amount of financial assistance under CDP compared with what they receive from the Department for Work and Pensions.

In forecasting CDP, the Scottish Fiscal Commission assumed that when award reviews occur the proportion of clients that would have had their award increased, maintained, and decreased under DLA Child will be the same as under CDP. While they recognise that the less frequent award reviews for CDP may increase the proportion of awards staying at their existing level for longer, the Commission’s judgement is that the effect on the overall outcome of award reviews on award levels may be cancelled out by an increase in the average initial award length and light-touch award reviews.

A list of the NatureScot Better Places Fund recipients can be found on its website using the link below. It includes both recipients of the first round of the Better Places Fund in 2020-21, a NatureScot initiative, and a second round of funding in 2021-22.

Better Places Green Recovery Fund - Closed for applications | NatureScot

This second round of funding was provided by the Scottish Government specifically to support communities, local authorities and public bodies as they prepared for the 2021 season.

In total the £3.2m fund has supported 125 projects including 75 ranger posts, 54 visitor operatives and infrastructure such as advisory signage, recycling litter bins, temporary toilets, over-flow parking areas, car park upgrades and other developments.

Projects have covered a variety of locations across the majority of the country.

Table 1 shows the number of secondary teachers in each Local Authority at the time of the census and who did not hold a post in the following year's census. Some teachers may be double counted if they are recorded as working in two different local authorities.

Table 2 shows the number of secondary teachers by their main subject at the time of the census and who did not hold a post in the following year's census. Some teachers may be double counted if they have a post at more than one schools and are recorded as having a different main subject at different schools.

In both tables teachers who were not teaching at the time because they were either on leave or seconded from their post (e.g. on maternity leave) are counted as holding a post. The total figure in table 1 and table 2 are different as some teachers may be double counted.

There are a number of reasons why a teacher would not hold a post in the following year's census, these include resignation, retiring, end of contract, moving to independent schools etc.

Table 1

The Scottish Government supports the development of new electricity power stations with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) such as the proposal for a new station at Peterhead. This has the potential to ensure that a net zero electricity system in Scottish remains resilient and secure.

The Scottish Government is supportive of CCUS, an industrial scale decarbonisation system with the potential to make a big impact on achieving Scotland’s emissions targets. The advice from the Climate Change Committee describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net zero emissions.