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The Scottish Government recognises the serious educational disruption that Scotland’s children and young people encountered during the pandemic. We have worked with partners to provide the following support:

• The provision of a National e-Learning Offer, was introduced in 2020, developed throughout the pandemic, and continues to support learners across Scotland, providing live, recorded and interactive online resources across the entire curriculum and age ranges including early years, primary and secondary. We continue to fund this innovative and empowering service, created and led by Scottish educators, with £1.5m support for 2023-24
• In 2020-21, we provided £25m for the procurement of over 70,000 digital devices and 14,000 connectivity packages to allow children to access learning when school buildings closed.
• Significant investment of £500 million over 2020-21 and 2021-22 to support in education recovery efforts including support for education authorities to recruit additional staff to provide additional support for learning and teaching. In addition a further £145.5m has been added permanently to the local government settlement from April 2022. This will allow local authorities to offer sustained employment of additional teachers and support staff.

In addition, our investment of £1 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge during this parliamentary term includes more than £520 million of Pupil Equity Funding that is issued directly to schools. Headteachers are empowered to use this funding to put in place evidence-based approaches to meet the needs of the children and young people in their schools who are impacted by poverty, including where appropriate provision of mentoring and tutoring.

We published “Education Recovery: Key Actions and Next Steps” on 5 October 2021, outlining the range of actions we are taking to support Scotland’s education system and young people to recover from the pandemic.

Every part of the education system, including Scottish Government, has sought to support children and young people through the unprecedented challenges they have faced during the pandemic. Teachers have done, and continue to do, a remarkable job and the quality of teaching during the pandemic remained strong. We know there is more still to do and will continue to prioritise and support education recovery.

The recruitment and employment of teachers and all other support staff in local authority schools are matters for individual councils, as they have the statutory duty for education expenditure and to deliver education. This includes providing a complement of teachers and headteachers which meet the needs of each of their schools and its pupils in light of their local needs and circumstances.

Dependent on the development, there are processes in place that require consideration to be given to the impact on the surrounding water environment during planning stages. Information about the type and location of private water supplies should be considered by local authorities at this point.

It is important that owners of private supplies undertake their own routine monitoring of the quality and quantity of drinking water together with risk assessments. This ensures they understand the factors that are likely to affect their water supplies. Regulated supplies must be sampled once every year by local authorities. At the request of owners, local authorities can arrange for samples to be taken at Exempt supplies

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff. This includes providing a complement of teachers which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

While teachers are employed by local authorities, the Scottish Government is taking strong action to protect increased teacher numbers – supporting councils with an additional £145.5 million in this year’s budget, which assures funding for local authorities and removes this as a barrier to employing staff on permanent contracts.

Over the past 10 years the number of teachers in permanent posts has remained stable at over 80%.

The Scottish Government notes the findings of the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index ranking on exports and would like to draw the member’s attention to response to S6W-20781 on 4 September 2023.

A Trading Nation (ATN) is our national export growth strategy, which takes an evidence-based approach to maximising our efforts in priority markets and sectors that can yield the greatest opportunities for trade and help us achieve our target of an increase in Scotland’s GDP from 20% to 25% over ten years. As well as targeting the economic benefits of export growth, ATN aligns with the key guiding principles of our Vision for Trade strategy. The Vision for Trade focuses on specific actions we are taking to achieve broader economic, social, and environmental ambitions by ensuring that the decisions we make in terms of where, how, and who we trade with align with those key principles and will enhance our global trade reputation.

The Scottish Government notes the findings of the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index ranking on "contribution to innovation and science", and would like to draw the members attention to response to S6W-20781 on 4 September 2023.

Scotland’s world-class university research and its key outputs of new knowledge and insights are fundamental to green economic recovery and growth. The most recent Research Excellence Framework found that there is world-leading (4*) research in every one of our universities in Scotland, and almost 90% of its impact was judged as outstanding or very considerable.

Scotland's National Innovation Strategy sets out a vision for Scotland to become one of the most innovative small countries in the world over the next decade.

Scotland’s research sector is highly regarded in the international community, with publications related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals research being cited twice as often as the global average and over half of this research carried out with international partners.

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

It is not appropriate for Scottish Government to be involved in contractual decisions or discussions between grant applicants and firms constructing the homes. Any inflationary claims from construction firms should be submitted to their client whose role it is to assess such claims. It is for the client to decide if they want to support a claim.

No penalties have been paid by Cunninghame Housing Association in relation to the delayed handover of the 60 social rented properties at Windermere Park Annan.

Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) is supported, with local authorities receiving £9.1m through the General Revenue Grant in 2023-24, and Dumfries & Galloway receiving £702k. This funding is not ring fenced, allowing local authorities flexibility in allocating resources as they see fit, including use of digital platforms. In addition, DRT is eligible for the same support as standard bus services through the Network Support Grant and the National Concessionary Travel Scheme.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving connectivity in the south west of Scotland and the second Strategic Transport Projects Review recommends that pilot schemes, involving demand responsive transport and Mobility as a Service, draw on innovative solutions, international best practice, and smart technologies. Digital DRT has been incorporated within the HITRANS, Tactran and SEStran MaaS Investment Fund pilots and, as such, we envisage that MaaS would be able to play a pivotal role in the future operation of digital DRT across Scotland.

Funds are available now. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20374 on 16 August 2023. 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