Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme offers funding for a range of zero direct emissions heating systems, energy efficiency measures and additional measures, including solar PV and energy storage systems in some circumstances.

The Scottish Government has not closed this scheme, but has changed the conditions for funding of solar PV and energy storage systems.

For the reason behind this decision, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19607 on 28 July 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website .

Scottish Government Officials have been working with representatives from the higher education sector over the summer to develop a Scottish Education Exchange Programme Test and Learn project. This working group includes representatives from individual universities and colleges in addition to the national bodies who represent these sectors.

Codebase, the operator of Scotland's Techscaler network, has acquired CodeClan’s training materials and other assets. The Scottish Government has agreed to provide financial support to Codebase for the explicit purpose of allowing students who have paid for courses to complete their studies.

We look forward to working Codebase and other partners to ensure the provision of quality, modular skills training is continued and enhanced.

In the meantime, Scotland’s tech sector is served by a world class post-16 education system which each year generates thousands of skilled graduates in key technological disciplines.

Codeclan was a private sector enterprise and its financial stability was the sole responsibility of its management and board of directors.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise worked intensively with CodeClan to explore every possible option to secure a sustainable future, including commissioning the support of private sector consultants.

Ministers are legally bound by subsidy control rules which set clear thresholds on the level of public funding that can be injected into private businesses. In this case the sum required to place the business on a stable footing significantly exceeded these thresholds, with no guarantee of future viability.

The Scottish Education Exchange Programme Test and Learn project group, which includes representatives from universities and colleges, is expected to continue to meet regularly over the next six months.

Decisions on the future arrangements for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax will be taken in the context of the Scottish Budget.

I will lead the summit on behaviour and relationships in our schools, with the first stage of the taking place on 5 September. The views and experiences of school staff will be central to the summit process, which is focusing on practical support at classroom, school and local level to make a difference on this issue.

A multi-stage approach to the summit is planned to ensure the issues are considered in detail and to allow the later stages of the summit to benefit from the latest data following the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools research. This research will provide a robust national picture in relation to behaviour in Scotland’s schools when it publishes in Autumn this year.

As well as our plans for the summit, I convened a Headteacher taskforce which includes representatives from across the education sector. The taskforce met in June and we considered the issue of school exclusions and consequences. We will use these discussions to inform our approach to the summit.

I will continue to update Cabinet colleagues in the usual manner.

The Scottish Government have invested £16m per year in order to ensure that children and young people have quick and effective access to support for their mental health and wellbeing through counsellors in schools. Local authorities provide six-monthly reports to the Scottish Government on this commitment. The reports confirm that the overall picture on improving children and young people’s outcomes is positive.

A summary of the reports can be found here: Access to counsellors in secondary schools and children and young people’s community mental health services – summary reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . We will publish a summary of the 2022 reports in the coming weeks, which will include the number of counsellors local authorities reported were in post.

The Scottish Government collects information on the condition, suitability and capacity of all local authority schools in the annual School Estates Core Facts Survey. Information is also collected on schools that were built or substantially refurbished during the previous year. The latest School Estate Statistics were published on 5 September and are available on the Scottish Government website .

The Scottish Government’s School Estates Core Facts Survey show that we have a record number of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition in Scotland. Moreover, the proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition has increased from 61% in April 2007 to 90.7% in April 2023.