Chamber and committees

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) produces Claimant Count estimates at Local Authority and Ward level, and model-based unemployment at Local Authority level based on the Annual Population Survey and Claimant Count.

The claimant count rate for Dundee City local authority and 2021 electoral wards within Dundee City are shown in Table 1 for June 2021 to June 2024.

The model based unemployment rate for Dundee City local authority are shown in Table 2 for July 2021 to June 2022 through to July 2023 to June 2024. The ONS model based estimates of unemployment are the official source for unemployment rates by local authority. Unemployment rates by electoral ward are not available from this source.

Table 1: Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 years

The following table provides the number of recorded injury road collisions where a police officer attended the scene and ‘poor or defective road surface’ was recorded as a contributory factor.

As this is recorded as a single contributory factor, it is not possible to distinguish between collisions involving defective road surfaces and collisions involving poor road surfaces.

ScotRail will partner with Clarus in a project taken forward on behalf of Scottish Government digital, Scottish Futures Trust, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which will use ScotRail trains to test satellite connectivity in rural areas where existing 4/5G mobile connectivity is poor or does not exist. The trial will last 6 months and, amongst other benefits, offers an opportunity to provide reliable connection to passengers where digital gaps currently exist.

Separately from that, ScotRail currently utilises Starlink to fill in any gaps where internet connection is not strong enough to support its day to day activities, including maintaining safety and security. This is an operational matter for ScotRail.

The level of information requested in relation to participation in PE is not held centrally. For information on the schools which meet the PE target, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31840 on 12 December 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.

Inspections of care homes for adults and older people completed 2021-22 to 2024-25 (to date)

Responsibility for funding school libraries and the provision of school librarians is devolved to local authorities, who have a statutory duty to ensure there is adequate provision of library services. Scottish Government does not hold data on the specific funding allocated to school libraries and librarians by individual authorities.

The independent Accounts Commission have recently confirmed that the Scottish Government has provided a real-terms increase to Local Government in this year, 2023-24 and 2022-23. The 2025-26 Local Government Settlement will provide over £15 billion to local authorities, a further real terms increase of 4.7%.

At a national level, £220,000 has been provided to the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) this financial year (2024-25) with £150,000 assigned to the School Library Improvement Fund to support creative and innovative projects within the school library sector in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has provided a total of £1.85 million to the School Library Improvement Fund since the fund was created in 2017.

This is a matter for individual schools and local authorities. This level of information is not held centrally.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31840 on 12 December 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.

This is a matter for individual schools and local authorities. This level of information is not held centrally.

A key aim of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act) is to ensure the child’s best interests are at the centre of contact and residence cases.

The 2020 Act will reform the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act) which is the key legislation in relation to child contact and residence. In deciding whether to make a contact order under section 11 of the 1995 Act, the welfare of the child must be the court’s paramount consideration.

The court must – taking into account the child's age and maturity – have regard to any views the child wishes to express. The court is also required to have regard to the need to protect the child from any abuse, or the risk of any abuse, which affects or might affect the child.

In advance of full implementation of the 2020 Act, the Scottish Government has convened a working group on child welfare reporters. These may be appointed in contact cases to seek the child’s views and report on their best interests. The working group will look back at changes made in the past in this area. It will also consider if further action can be taken in advance of the register of child welfare reporters envisaged by the 2020 Act being set up.

Information on the schools which meet the PE target is available from the school contact details dataset.

The percentage of primary schools meeting the target of providing at least two hours of PE per week as of July 2024 is 99.6%