Chamber and committees

The aim of the four-day working week public sector pilot is to assess the environmental, health and wellbeing benefits, and efficiency gains, that a four-day working week could bring.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes statistics related to the No One Left Behind strategic approach including the number of participants supported into employment.

The most recent statistics for Scottish Government funded employability support are available at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services statistics - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes statistics related to the No One Left Behind strategic approach as a totality of all funding. Therefore, no breakdowns for Parental Employability Support, including a cost per person, are available.

The most recent statistics for Scottish Government funded employability support by all parents are available at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services statistics - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government’s Adoption Vision Statement, published in November 2024, highlights the need for continued and lifelong support for all those affected by adoption.

Adoption support should include a range of multi-disciplinary universal and specialist services. Under the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, local authorities have a duty to assess someone’s needs for adoption support services and then provide that support.

In 2024-25, the Scottish Government provided £790,000 to organisations delivering support to those affected by adoption, including adopted children and young people and their families, adult adoptees and those working in the adoption sector. This funding has supported: a national helpline and support for adoptive families; national good practice guides on permanence; support for professionals and practitioners working in the adoption sector, as well as delivery of the Adoption Contact Register. The Adoption Vision Statement makes clear our commitment to work in collaboration with stakeholders to improve the availability and consistency of post-adoption support in Scotland.

There are a range of resources available to support teachers to teach about the Holocaust. For example, the Holocaust Educational Trust, which receives funding from Scottish Government, have a range of age-appropriate resources, a link can be found at https://www.het.org.uk/teaching-resources. In addition, Vision Schools Scotland, also funded by Scottish Government aims to promote excellence in Holocaust teaching with the key education resources available here. As part of this aim, Vision Schools Scotland provides in person and online Continued Professional Learning in Holocaust education to teachers, helping them develop confidence and proficiency in Holocaust teaching. In addition, Education Scotland has published a specific resource in relation to the Kindertransport. Educators can use across the broad general education and into senior phase and it can also be used in History National 4 Added Value Units.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling inequalities and equality is the thread running through our homelessness strategy, Ending Homelessness Together.

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is not a duty to achieve any particular results, but a duty to have ‘due regard’ to the need to achieve the three goals of:

• eliminating discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the 2010 Act;
• advancing equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
• fostering good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

The Scottish Government expects all public bodies in Scotland which are subject to the PSED to pay due regard to the duty as they carry out their functions The duty applies to local authorities in their role as housing and homelessness support providers. The duty also applies to bodies who are not public authorities but who ‘exercise public functions’.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has a statutory duty set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 to secure the coherent provision by the post-16 education bodies (as a whole) of a high quality of fundable further education and fundable higher education.

The extension of Free Personal Care to people under the age of 65, also known as Frank's Law, came into effect in April 2019.

The Scottish Government do not hold data on how many adults aged 18-64 were paying for or receiving personal care prior to 2019.

The Scottish Government began collecting data on the number of adults receiving Free Personal Care in each local authority from late 2018-19 (prior to the introduction of Frank’s Law). This information is published annually on the Scottish Government website.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37192 on 9 May 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37192 on 9 May 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