Chamber and committees

The management of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), including assessing its condition and any decision for removal, is a matter for building owners. Information on buildings identified as having RAAC, including its management, can be found in the Scottish Government report available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/raac-in-the-public-sector/ and also from individual building owners and authorities. The Scottish Government has not provided specific funding for RAAC remediation as it is primarily a building maintenance issue.

We can currently only provide information on mitigations or remediation works that we have funded for entries to the pilot phase of the Cladding Remediation Programme. Developers or other organisations may have carried out such works on other buildings without informing us.

We have funded work to remediate the external wall cladding system of one pilot entry. We have recently commissioned a Single Building Assessment to confirm that all works have been identified and completed.

Works to mitigate or remediate risks have also started for another five pilot entries. In this context, ‘work’ refers to any action taken to address known cladding related risks. This includes what are described as ‘Urgent Interim Measures’.

We have also commissioned Single Building Assessments for 13 pilot entries. This is made up of 12 recently commissioned following an Invitation To Tender (including the one noted above), and another that has now reached the reporting stage. We are fully funding these assessments at no cost to homeowners or residents.

At times of peak demand callers may have to wait longer for their call to be answered. Because of this, the Scottish Ambulance Service utilises the Intelligent Routing Platform (IRP) where, after waiting for 180 seconds, a caller is transferred to the next available call handler at another UK ambulance service.

The IRP is utilised by all other UK ambulance services.

The call is then sent back through a digital gateway to the appropriate regional Scottish Ambulance Service Ambulance Control Centre, who have local knowledge, and will dispatch the most appropriate resource.

Below is the number of calls between November 2023 and October 2024 that were transferred to another UK ambulance service from Scotland. It is important to note that over the last 12 months the Scottish Ambulance Service has answered 1,066,121 calls so the number of patients whose calls are answered by an ambulance service outwith Scotland is incredibly low.

November 2023 – 137

December - 28

January 2024 - 10

February - 6

March - 10

April - 4

May - 16

June - 13

July - 27

August - 12

September - 84

October - 183

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Reducing food waste in schools is important and we therefore continue to develop tools to prevent it. This includes the work undertaken by Zero Waste Scotland to provide a Food Waste Monitoring Tool Kit for schools (https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/food-waste-monitoring-toolkit-schools) and the Education Scotland Food for Thought Programme (Food for Thought support resources | Resources | National Improvement Hub (education.gov.scot)) – which is a whole school teaching resource for primary and secondary schools.

Data on underemployment and its causes is collected for Scotland by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS).

The Scottish Government publishes its own analysis on underemployment in Scotland based on the ONS LFS and APS data. The most recent publication including this data is Scotland’s Labour Market Insights: July 2024 publication. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-labour-market-insights-july-2024/pages/people-in-work. The report highlights that an estimated 5.9 per cent of those in employment in Scotland were underemployed, the joint lowest in the series.

The Scottish Government is working with Welsh and Northern Irish Governments and our colleagues in ONS to better understand and to guide improvements in the collection of this data.

Data on economic inactivity and its causes is collected for Scotland by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS).

The Scottish Government publishes its own analysis on economic inactivity in Scotland based on the ONS LFS and APS data. The most recent publication including this data is the Labour Market Trends: November 2024 publication. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/labour-market-trends-november-2024/

The Scottish Government also recently published an evidence review on Economic Inactivity in Scotland: Supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active. The report can be found here: Economic inactivity in Scotland: supporting those with longer-term health conditions and disabilities to remain economically active - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government are working with Welsh and Northern Irish Governments and our colleagues in ONS to better understand and to guide improvements in the collection of this data.

No One Left Behind, our shared approach with Local Government to delivering devolved employability services, has a key role to play in meeting our commitment to halving the Disability Employment Gap by 2038. Whilst we have seen positive progress to date in the number of people with learning disabilities accessing support, we are committed to going further. That is why our Programme for Government sets out that we will have Specialist Employability Support in place across all 32 local authority areas by Summer of 2025.

Additionally, as outlined in the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan, we are working with partners to develop a central resource hub for employers. Feedback from surveys of a range of employers and engagement with key stakeholders is being used to inform the design of the resource in an accessible way to help ensure that organisations of all sizes and sectors across Scotland can access advice and support to better implement Fair Work.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31439 on 22 November 2024. 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 Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 requires Scottish Ministers to publish a five-year Rural Support Plan. The plan will build upon for the Vision for Scottish Agriculture and the Agricultural Reform Route Map and outline the phased transition from legacy EU CAP schemes to the new four-tier framework. The 2024 Act sets out the requirements for the plan including for engagement. Meeting these requirements is integral to the operation of the Agricultural Reform Programme, including through the co-development of future support with our rural partners and in the developing secondary legislation that will introduce changes. The Rural Support Plan will collate this information into a single strategic and coherent package, provide programme level input and ensure that the totality of measures is considered. Once the 2024 Act is commenced, the initial plan is intended to be drafted through 2025 and laid in Winter 2025, to reflect the published Route Map. The 2024 Act requires that the plan is laid before the Scottish Parliament, and published.

The Scottish Government holds or has access to multiple datasets relating to land use. However, these datasets are not exhaustive and are not held in a compatible format that would enable us to provide the information requested.