Chamber and committees

The support provided to young disabled people during their transition to adulthood should be person-centred and tailored to the young person and their specific needs and goals.

Young disabled people are entitled to support in planning for transitions through The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 and associated Regulations and through the non-statutory Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) Child’s Plan. They may also be entitled to wider support – for example, financial support through the child disability payment and adult disability payment.

The National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy was published on 30 June 2025. Through this Strategy, the Scottish Government has committed to:

• continuing to invest in the Independent Living Fund Scotland’s Transition Fund to support young disabled people to make a smoother transition from childhood into adulthood by promoting independence, community participation, social inclusion and confidence, including referring applicants for grant funded person-led planning support where it is needed;
• funding the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) in 2025-26 to build on their Time to Talk Next Steps Scotland Pilot to:
  • promote and support person-led and relationship-based approaches to planning amongst practitioners; and
  • support the wider use of Promoting a More Inclusive Society (PAMIS)’ digital passport in person-led communication and transitions planning to empower young people with complex needs to have their voices heard; and
• working with the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland to promote the use of Compass for young people as a tool to support person-led planning within existing planning mechanisms.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39324 on 31 July 2025. 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.

ARC Scotland’s third Principle of Good Transitions states that Planning should start early and continue up to age 25. ARC Scotland also provide the descriptors to this principle which are:

• Planning should be available from age 14 and be proportionate to need.
• Children’s plans and assessments should be adopted by adult services.
• Transitions planning and support should continue to age 25.

The priorities within the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy build on the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland’s Principles of Good Transitions, and as such, it sets out the standards expected in delivery of transitions support for young disabled people across Scotland.

In Priority 1- Choice, Control and Empowerment of the strategy it sets out what is already happening and what else the Scottish Government will do to support and strengthen existing planning mechanisms, including continuing to promote early transitions planning and person-led planning resources and practices.

The Scottish Government monitors the numbers of empty homes annually when it publishes the statistical bulletin on empty properties, unoccupied exemptions and second homes. The data is sourced from council tax base returns collected from local authorities and includes stock of all tenures i.e. social housing, private rented housing, and owner-occupied homes. Further information is available from the Scottish Government website at: Second homes and empty properties in September 2024 - gov.scot.

Short term empty homes are a natural feature of the housing market. However when homes in private ownership lay empty for longer than 6 months the reasons can be complex and building relationships with owners is often the key to unlocking them. That is why we continue to invest in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and our network of empty homes officers. Our investment of £3.7 million has helped to bring more than 11,000 privately owned empty homes to active use since 2010. Building on this success we are investing a further £2 million in 2025-26 that will enhance the support local authorities receive from the Partnership, increase the numbers of empty homes officers and fund a range of initiatives aimed at overcoming common barriers. This record level of investment seeks to increase the scale of work taking place and enable better targeting of resources to help return more homes to active use in places where they have the most impact. On enforcement we are taking forward a compulsory purchase reform programme which aims to make the process clearer, fairer and faster. In the meantime, the Partnership are working with local authorities to increase the use of the existing system through the development of a new hub project which aims to provide support to help identify suitable cases and bring them forward.

For homes in the social sector we have placed a specific focus on bringing voids back in to use and are already seeing the impacts of this work with numbers reducing significantly. In Edinburgh, for example, the Council’s management information shows that void levels have been cut by over 50% since June 2023. This progress is down to work of local authorities together with the £40m acquisition and social voids funding which Scottish Government has provided. We are now taking this learning to other areas.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38853 on 27 June 2025. The National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group has now met to discuss Baroness Casey's audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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 group noted ongoing Scottish Government and Police Scotland activity to consider the audit’s findings and recommendations and the linkages with a number of areas already identified in the group’s workplan, including data development, supporting multi-agency information sharing and improving practitioner training and education on identifying and responding to child sexual abuse and exploitation. The group will discuss the audit again at its next meeting on 8th October.

The current system requires a fundamental review to ensure equity, transparency and efficiency. Piloting, testing and evaluating possible new resourcing models will be essential. To gather evidence as to what would work best to deliver a reliable, high quality range of services within, and related to, secure care, the Scottish Government will consult in 2025-26 to assess viability and effectiveness of some of the proposed options.

Page 18 of the recently-published response to reimagining secure care confirms that position: The Scottish Government will work in partnership with Scotland Excel, secure providers and commissioning authorities to consult on and co-design a new national commissioning model that reflects our shared aspirations for the future of secure care. This process will consider potential changes in funding and commissioning arrangements to better serve the needs of children across Scotland.

The guidance on the education of children and young people unable to attend school due to ill health was published in June 2015 and remains current.

Ministers have committed to ensuring the national guidance remains up to date and will review, if appropriate, whether or not amendments require to be made. The overall decision making, in relation to charging however, is ultimately a matter for Local Authorities and Health Boards.

It is not normally the case that Parliament is informed of determinations on consenting applications. However, given that Parliament is in recess and that the Berwick Bank offshore windfarm consenting application of significant interest and of strategic importance, I considered it appropriate and helpful to proactively inform Parliament of the decision made in relation to this application.

I can therefore advise that Scottish Ministers have today granted consent to the application for the Berwick Bank Offshore Windfarm which will be located in the North Sea in the outer Firth of Forth. It will be one of the world’s largest windfarms and will have an estimated capacity of 4.1GW. This decision has been taken after careful and lengthy consideration of the project’s potential environmental impact and its potential impacts on other users of the sea.

This decision is a major step in Scotland’s progress towards achieving net zero and tackling the climate crisis, as well as supporting national energy security and growing our green economy. Increasing renewable energy generation is critical to meeting our climate change targets, with climate change being one of the biggest threats to Scotland’s biodiversity and health of its marine ecosystems.

We are requiring that the developer must deliver environmental compensation to address the environmental impacts of this windfarm, alongside measures which will mitigate and minimise impacts to other sea users. The Scottish Government will work with SSE Renewables and stakeholders on proposed environmental compensatory measures required to address the impacts of the project.

Offshore wind is already one of Scotland’s greatest modern success stories – we now have the opportunity to deliver a potential offshore wind pipeline of over 40 GW putting us at the forefront of offshore wind development globally. This is the right decision for Scotland’s interests and will help to deliver significant benefits for our nation.

The determination paperwork can be found here: Section 36 Consent - Construction and Operation of Generating Station - Berwick Bank Wind Farm - Firth of Forth | marine.gov.scot.

The community transport sector provides many of our most vulnerable groups with access to essential goods and services and to social or leisure activities.

These services assist those who can’t or don’t use conventional public transport, providing ways to help them connect better with their local areas and wider communities. I recognise that these organisations may not be able to access finance afforded to commercial entities so I am pleased to announce that we will be launching a further round of our successful Plugged-in-Communities fund with a current budget of £4 million in 2025-26 which will be administered again by Energy Saving Trust.

The Scottish Government supports the fishing industry to transition to low-impact or sustainable fishing methods through the £14m Marine Fund Scotland (MFS).

Details of support awarded to date is available at www.gov.scot/publications/marine-fund-scotland-grants-awarded/

Examples include £126,000 to Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability in 2024-25 for the Smarttrawl project to improve selectivity, and £299,000 to KIMO to help fishers responsibly dispose of and recycle waste, including nets.