Chamber and committees

As part of discussions around the development of a fiscal framework, and in direct response to specific requests to explore a general power of competence, both officials and Ministers have held numerous meetings with COSLA, SOLACE and Local Government representatives to clarify what additional powers Local Government would wish to use and to better understand the restrictions of the wide latitude of existing legislative provisions, which include a power for local authorities ‘to do anything to advance well-being’ in their local area. Regular discussions are ongoing, with the most recent meeting held on 14 October, and further meetings planned to develop robust proposals for such a power to ensure that any legislative amendments will be effective in delivering the greater freedoms local authorities wish to have while providing assurance over potential increased financial risk.

The Co-Production Group had their final meeting in June 2024. The group provided advice on the functions of the Centre and the principles that will underpin its operation.

The host of the Centre will be determined through a competitive grant process which will be assessed in two stages. The first stage of applications for interested Scottish education institutions to apply for funding to set up and host the Centre for Teaching Excellence opened on 9th September 2024 and closed on 7th October 2024. Applicants successful at that first stage will be invited to provide more information at stage two which opens in November 2024.

The intention is to appoint and announce a host of the Centre by the end of 2024.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Practices must apply to their Health Boards to close their lists and agree the conditions and timelines for reopening them.

Circumstances will arise where GP practices experience capacity issues and are unable to routinely accept new patients onto their lists. We expect Health Boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to help manage these situations and ensure that all patients have access to GP services.

The review of the community rights to buy will look at legislative and procedural changes that can help make those rights more accessible to communities. How, and for what purposes, communities choose to exercise those rights to buy, is a matter for each community to decide. The review will make sure that those rights can be exercised more easily when communities need them.

The following public bodies are currently considered to be government advisory groups, in line with the National Public Bodies Directory:

• Boundaries Scotland
• Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland
• Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland
• National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB)
• Poverty and Inequality Commission for Scotland
• Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards
• Scottish Commission on Social Security
• Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel
• Scottish Law Commission
• Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee

Information regarding advisory groups that previously existed is not held centrally, and this response is restricted to those advisory bodies currently in place.

Information regarding expenditure for several of these bodies can be found on their own websites:

Boundaries Scotland

https://boundaries.scot/corporate-documents

Judicial Appointments Board

https://www.judicialappointments.scot/publications

Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland

https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/accessible-transport/mobility-and-access-committee-for-scotland-macs/#42413

Poverty and Inequality Commission for Scotland

The Poverty and Inequality Commission for Scotland was established from 1 July 2019. Links to their accounts since this date are as follows:

2019-20 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Annual-Report-Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-2019-20.pdf

2020-21 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-Annual-Report-2020-21.pdf

2021-22 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Annual-Report-Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-2021-2022.pdf

2022-23 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-Annual-Report-2022-23-.pdf

2023-24 https://povertyinequality.scot/publication/the-poverty-and-inequality-commission-annual-report-2023-2024/

Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS)

https://socialsecuritycommission.scot/publications/corporate-documents/

Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel

https://fuelpovertypanel.scot/our-publications/the-scottish-fuel-poverty-advisory-panel-annual-report/

Scottish Law Commission

https://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/publications/annual-report/

The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board was established in November 2023 and had incurred no expenditure up to 31 March 2024.

The Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards was provided Secretariat provision by the Common Services Agency, which is now known as NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). Information on expenditure for this public body is not held centrally.

The Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee was reconvened in April 2013 after it had previously been stepped down in 2013. Spend on this committee for the financial year 2023-24 was £90,985. Financial information on spend prior to 2013 is not available due to the age of this data and the changes in the finance system since this date.

Scotland is the only part of the UK that already offers 30 hours per week, in term time, of funded ELC to all 3 and 4-year-olds regardless of whether their parents are working or not. We also make 1140 hours available to around a quarter of 2 year olds and to all children whose entry to primary school is deferred.

It is far from clear that a universal system of government funded childcare would deliver either value for money for the Scottish taxpayer or the best outcomes for our children and young people.

Before turning to the detail, I think it is important to recognise the financial context that the Scottish Government is currently having to work within. As the Cabinet Secretary for Finance outlined in the fiscal statement on 3 September, we cannot shy away from the fact that Scotland continues to face one of the most difficult public spending environments that this devolved Parliament has ever seen.

That is why we have committed in this year’s Programme for Government to work with local authorities to maximise uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds, with a particular focus on families most at risk of poverty and areas with some of the lowest uptake rates.

Over the next two years we are also investing £16 million within six early adopter communities to continue our work to understand what it takes to design and deliver local childcare systems that support those families most at risk of living in poverty.

The engagement and targeted delivery that takes place for younger children in our six EACs will be a key element of our developing evidence base to inform future delivery.

We are continuing to support the ‘Extra Time’ Programme, investing £4 million in a partnership with the Scottish Football Association to deliver before, after school and breakfast clubs, providing 3,000 targeted free places each week for children and their families. We have also invested close to £1 million to deliver free or subsidised school age childcare services through our Access to Childcare projects. These projects consider specific challenges for families, including remote and rural childcare provision, and specialist provision for children with disabilities or complex additional support needs.

We remain committed to expanding funded ELC to reach more young children and to building a system of School Age Childcare, and we are going as far and as fast as budgets allow to deliver that.

Scottish Government welcomes the mid-year 2023 population estimates, which show inward migration driving the biggest single-year increase in Scotland’s population since the 1940s. Scotland continues to be an attractive and welcoming country which people from across the UK and internationally are choosing to call home.

With deaths continuing to outnumber births, these statistics underline the importance of delivering our Population Strategy’s ambition to make Scotland as family friendly as possible, and for collaboration between the Scottish and UK Governments to deliver tailored migration approaches which meet Scotland’s needs, including our Rural Visa Pilot proposal.

Allowing sufficient time to support the meaningful engagement and participation of those the Strategy will affect, including robust analysis of their views, and ensuring that it can be published alongside a range of accessible formats to meet the needs of those it aims to support has remained of central importance to the Scottish Government throughout the Strategy’s development.

This was reiterated during a recent meeting of the External Strategic Working Group who reviewed the aim of publishing the Strategy by the end of 2024 and concluded that publication in Spring 2025 presents a more favourable timeline to achieving this.

Our commitment relating to inclusive communication was part of our work considering improvements to the operation of the Public Sector Equality Duty (“PSED”) in Scotland, which is contained in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government has limited competence to legislate in relation to equal opportunities including the PSED.

In relation to supporting public authorities to better comply with the PSED, the only available legislation making power Scottish Ministers have is to impose specific duties under the Equality Act 2010, therefore no other alternative legislative route is available.

I routinely discuss the development of education policy, including in respect of qualifications and assessment, with young people through frequent visits to schools and a range of other events and meetings. The Scottish Government does not intend to publish details of this range of engagements.

I also met with representatives of the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) on the 19th of September, prior to the statement, to provide an overview of the Scottish Government response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment ahead of its publication.

The views of young people have, and continue to be, vital to informing our approach to evolving the qualifications and assessment system and I remain committed to meaningfully engaging with young people (including the SYP) as we take this work forward.