Chamber and committees

We continue to fund the Managed Alcohol Programme pilot in Glasgow being run by Simon Community Scotland. We await the evaluation of the pilot being undertaken by the University of Stirling before reaching a position on future expansion.

The MAP pilot itself does not contribute directly to work being done to address alcohol-related brain damage, as those impacted by ARBD are referred elsewhere. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde does offer ARBD supported accommodation through Penumbra.

The Scottish Government has committed in our Cross Government Plan for tackling substance use harms to developing standards for alcohol and drug treatment and recovery.

In the development of those standards, ARBD is a particular condition that will be a focus of attention given the significant number of people it has affected. The standards will bring together a range of guidance, principles and other relevant standards to help ensure services are working together, which is particularly important for conditions such as ARBD which requires a range of support to be offered in one package.

Legislation does not currently allow for variations to section 37 consents. Therefore, it has not been possible for the Scottish Government to receive such requests.

The proposed reforms mirror section 36C of the Electricity Act 1989 which makes provision for the Scottish Ministers to vary section 36 consents for construction, operation and extension of generating stations.

It is not possible to determine the internal Scottish Government costs attributed to staff time spent on the Heat in Buildings Bill proposals or the Heat in Buildings Strategy. Scottish Government officials operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of their work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on different matters.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

As with all Scottish Government grants, a rigorous process of grant management procedures is in place to ensure accountability of public funds. These procedures ensure the delivery of policy outcomes, continuous improvement, and achieving best value for money. Regular monitoring takes place throughout the lifecycle of the grant.

The Scottish Government finance procedures align with the guidance provided by the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). The SPFM is issued by the Scottish Ministers to provide guidance on the proper handling and reporting of public funds. It sets out the main principles for dealing with resources in public sector organisations in Scotland.

As part of Scottish Government’s grant conditions, we ask all funded organisations to monitor and report their progress towards delivery of their funding outcomes to ensure appropriate use of public funds and value for money. The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) follows the same procedures as all other grant funded organisations.

SYP are a registered company (SC227548), so their audited accounts are publicly available on Companies House. As a registered charity, SC032662, SYP submits annual return to OSCR, which includes their accounts.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that children and young people are at the heart of decisions which affect them. The Scottish Government engage with a variety of stakeholders, one being the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP), to ensure there are numerous mechanisms and channels that support the voices of children and young people being considered in decision making processes. SYP is an important stakeholder as they ensure young people are actively engaged in policy-making.

SYP is also one of nine organisations to be appointed to the Children and Young People Participation Framework Agreement. The Framework Agreement was developed, through a robust procurement process that required organisations to demonstrate their experience and expertise in meaningful engagement with young people including the scope, reach, and impact of their work, to ensure policy teams could engage more effectively and meaningfully with children and young people in their decision making.

SYP receive core funding from the Scottish Government via the Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) which is administered by the independent grant making charity, Corra Foundation. The annual feedback from Corra indicates the work being delivered by SYP to be of a high standard and that they are achieving their outcomes, one of which is: to provide a national platform for young people to discuss the issues that are important to them, and campaign for changes to the nation that they live in. Corra have robust grant management and evaluation measures in place. Funding is provided based on positive evaluations and assessment.

No businesses have been reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

The Scottish Government is not involved in increasing the number of young people engaged with the Scottish Youth Parliament. That is a matter for the organisation.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

The purpose of the annual Cabinet Takeover meeting with children and young people, is for decision makers at the highest level of government to listen to the voices of children and young people and hear issues that matter most to them.

The meetings are an opportunity to demonstrate Scottish Government’s commitment to meaningfully engage with children and young people with the aim of improving the development and implementation of policy and legislation to help make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up for children and young people.

Since 2017, the Children’s Parliament (CP) and Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) have been involved in the co-design of an annual meeting of Cabinet Ministers with children and young people.

At each meeting the children and young people bring their Calls to Action which become tangible commitments to be taken forward by the Scottish Government.

This work supports the need for Scottish Ministers to consider the views of Children and Young People to inform plans and, from 2024 under the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, to ensure that they comply with the section 6 compatibility duty and to secure better or further effect of the rights of children.

Progress reports from previous Cabinet Takeover Meetings can be accessed via the links below:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/children-young-peoples-voices-matter-progress-report-march-2023/.

Children and Young People’s Voices Matter: Progress Report - March 2022.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/annual-cabinet-meeting-with-children-and-young-people-fifth-meeting-16-march-2021/.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) supports the Scottish Government, local authorities and other public bodies to fulfil their legal obligations to promote and protect the human rights of children and young people. The SYP is the democratic voice of Scotland’s young people. Their vision for Scotland is of a nation that actively listens to and values the meaningful participation of its young people. Their goal is to make this vision a reality, in order to ensure young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe and respected, and able to realise their full potential.

This PQ was submitted along with another 10 all regarding the SYP.

The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) have their annual accounts published on the Companies House website. These provide a breakdown of money received from the Scottish Government from 2020 – 24.

SCOTTISH YOUTH PARLIAMENT filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

The 2024-25 annual accounts will be available on the Companies House website in due course, following the end of the financial year. However, as these are currently not available, the Scottish Government currently expects to provide SYP with funding totalling £430,339.68 in 2024-25 (subject to relevant financial controls).

As part of Scottish Government’s grant conditions, all funded organisations are required to monitor and report their progress towards delivery of their funding outcomes to ensure appropriate use of public funds and value for money.

Since the Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) third sector fund was launched in 2016, the Scottish Government has provided SYP with £1.7 million in core funding. The breakdown of this funding over the last five years is as follows: 2020-21 - £324,188; 2021-22 - £324,188; 2022-23 - £341,250; 2023-24 - £341,250; 2024-25 - £341,250 (included in the total above).

Most recent information suggests SYP is on track to meet the agreed outcomes by the end of 2024-25. The CYPFEI & ALEC fund is administered by the Corra Foundation. Corra has indicated, through their annual formal grant review processes and monitoring, that SYP has demonstrated good progress towards their agreed objectives on an annual basis. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35662 on 2 April 2025 for further information on Corra’s feedback. 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.