Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers and Transport Scotland officials meet regularly with David MacBrayne Ltd & CalMac Ferries Ltd. This includes Ministerial meetings with the Board and Senior Management Team as well as Transport Scotland participation in a range of DML led working groups.

The Cabinet Secretary for Transport last met the DML Board Chair (Erik Østergaard) in person on, 17 September 2024, and remotely on, 16 November 2023.

The member raised the issue of setting up such a forum in the Chamber during general questions on 28 November 2024.

I confirmed at the time I would be happy to meet to discuss such a group, noting that I would be keen to extend any such forum to look at apprenticeships as well.

Notifications of awards of DSA to assessors are being provided as part of the new DSA online service that Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) released in October 2024.

The service is in a pilot stage where it is being trialled by 3 universities to submit new DSA applications. It is anticipated that the online service will be rolled out by SAAS to every Higher Education Institution during 2025. In the interim, there is an exceptions handling process in place for assessors who require a copy of a DSA award notice from SAAS.

Data shows that we have a record number of new students at university with a recorded disability or additional support need (6,765, an increase of 14.9% over the year). Additionally, the support provided to students via the Disabled Students’ Allowance totalled £14.1 million in 2023-24, an 18.4% increase over the year.

Against that backdrop, the 2025-26 budget, published on Wednesday 4th December, emphasises the First Minister’s priorities and champions programmes that have a far-reaching impact in addressing child poverty and improving outcomes for families and learners across Scotland.

As part of the budget announcement, Ministers expect the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to prioritise the additional investment, to support widening access and to protect and enhance the learner experience. In addition, by protecting the right to free tuition, the Scottish Government is driving forward our commitment to widening access.

As part of the annual funding allocations process, the SFC reviews demand and supply of funded places, to reflect the dynamic changes to learner needs.

SFC and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are currently working together to enhance the SFC’s leadership and oversight role in tackling persistent inequalities in the tertiary system.

Through this, SFC and EHRC have established a set of National Equality Outcomes (NEOs) for the tertiary education sector through their Persistent Inequalities work, including three NEOs specific to disabled students.

The SFC asks colleges and universities to be mindful of the Equality Act (2010), under which disabled students are protected, and supports them to meet the requirements and achieve the aspirations of the Public Sector Equality Duty. This includes through the statutory requirement for Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments of new and revised strategies and policies.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact that child poverty has on families with a baby, and that some of these families may use baby banks.

Anyone supporting a family in desperate need should refer them to their local authority or a health professional, such as a health visitor, midwife or family nurse, in order to make sure they are getting the holistic support they need, including financial advice and a referral to cash-first crisis supports such as the Scottish Welfare Fund. To support this work, the Scottish Government has published a toolkit to help local areas to respond to and prevent food insecurity.

Our five family payments aim to give children the best start in life and could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns six. These include the Scottish Child Payment, which is only available in Scotland, Best Start Foods and three Best Start Grants. They offer financial support to families who are on a low income, both in and out of work. There are no limits to the number of children in a family who can receive these benefits.

Scotland’s universal Baby Box is also offered to all parents in Scotland. It provides essential items worth around £400 for the first 6 months of a baby’s life.

The Scottish Government is developing a new digital strategy which is due for publication in early 2025, for school education in Scotland. This is being developed in partnership with COSLA and key education stakeholders and will help support the use of technology in our schools.

In November 2024, we published an updated Additional Support for Learning Action Plan and a third progress report. The next update is due to be published in 2026. Officials continue to work with local government partners on the ASL Project Board to deliver the remaining actions to improve the experience of children and young people with additional support needs at school, including those who benefit from digital learning and assistive technology.

The Scottish Government also grant fund CALL Scotland £367,177 per year to have a positive and enabling impact on the provision of support to children and young people who can benefit from assistive technology or augmentative and alternative communication.

I recognise that domestic abuse can have significant physical, social, and emotional impacts on children. While one child experiencing domestic abuse is one too many, it is positive that children are reaching out to Childline to seek support. I welcome the NSPCC Christmas campaign to highlight to children and young people that there is a dedicated service, Childline, to provide support over the festive period and beyond.

Through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities third sector funds, the Scottish Government provides £726,600 in funding, across 5 organisations to deliver outcomes supporting child protection. This includes £312,900 in funding to the NSPCC, allocating £207,900 specifically to its Childline services.

We are also investing £19 million a year in specialist services and projects through the Delivering Equally Safe (DES) Fund to support 83 projects to undertake work with children and young people who have experienced violence and abuse.

Our National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021, updated 2023, includes detailed advice on domestic abuse considerations in safety planning.

Through our Equally Safe Delivery Plan, we are also progressing work to strengthen the links between domestic abuse and Child Protection systems, and to ensure that staff are trained and confident to identify and deal sensitively with the issue.

We are committed to tackling all forms of violence against women and girls, including financial abuse, which, as a tactic of coercive control and abuse, can have lifelong impacts on victims.

Through our Delivering Equally Safe fund, we are providing approximately £600,000 over three-and-a-half years to GEMAP for their Financially Included project. This focuses on improving responses to economic abuse across the money advice and gender-based violence sectors through development and delivery of training and toolkit resources and provision of financial advice.

Alongside this, in 2024-25, the Scottish Government has allocated over £12 million for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice. We fund a range of mainly national advice providers including Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange Debt Charity and Advice Direct Scotland.

We recognise that a variety of solutions and delivery mechanisms are needed to effectively respond to the many different and sometimes distressing circumstances that people find themselves in.

We have responded to this need by continuing to support a multichannel funding programme providing face-to-face, online and telephone advice, ensuring that all individuals or households, whatever their situation, can access support in the way that best suits their needs.

At this time, therefore, we are do not plan to establish a new programme of specialist services but would urge anyone needing support, whatever their situation, to contact a free advice provider as soon as possible.

Delivery of healthcare and the NHS is devolved and therefore work on the safety of and continuous improvement in maternity services in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government. The National Maternity Safety Ambition was launched in 2015 by the Department of Health and Social Care and applies to maternity services in England only. Officials and professional advisors meet regularly with colleagues across the UK, including from the Department of Health and Social Care in England, to discuss priorities across the UK, such as the Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) and to better understand work underway across each of the four nations.