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The Regional Early Years Speech and Language Leads will work alongside the Regional Improvement Collaboratives and across local services and agencies to encourage the development of a sustainable whole systems approach to improving children’s speech, language and communication outcomes from pre-birth to school entry. They will work together to connect partners, develop and share resources and expertise, and maximise opportunities to support children’s speech, language and communication development.

Orders for Lifelong Restriction (OLRs) are a long-standing valuable sentencing option for courts to use for the most dangerous offenders. The OLR is an exceptional risk based sentence which is only used by the most senior judges in Scotland in the High Court following a risk assessment process carried out by accredited experts.

In order for the High Court to impose an OLR, they must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the nature of, or the circumstances of the commission of, the offence of which the convicted person has been found guilty - either in the circumstances themselves or as part of a pattern of behaviour - are such as to demonstrate that there is a likelihood that he or she, if at liberty, will seriously endanger the lives, or physical or psychological well-being, of members of the public at large.

Decisions on the release of OLR prisoners are taken by the Parole Board for Scotland. New rules were introduced last year which require that the latest Risk Management Plan (RMP) or the Risk Assessment Report is available to the Board when consideration is made for the release of a person subject to an OLR. The Board will only direct release when they are satisfied that imprisonment is no longer necessary for the protection of the public but in circumstances where their decision differs from the recommendations in the RMP, they must provide a reason for that decision.

The Risk Management Authority (RMA) have a legislative responsibility around the evaluation and approval of RMPs and can make recommendations around the role of social work and psychologists involved in those cases. The RMA have produced evidence-based Standards and Guidelines for Risk Assessment and Management to support criminal justice partners in consistent risk practice. Last year, they also published extensive research into the Order for Lifelong Restriction sentence, a report which is available on their website, and the Scottish Government continues to reflect on these findings.

Professional standards bodies such as the Scottish Social Services Council sets out national standards of conduct and practice that apply to all social service workers and their employers.

Over the last few years, there have been changes to pilot delivery of two new national offender programmes, an expanded Self-Change programme to address intimate partner violence and sexual offending and a redesigned Moving Forward to Change (MF2C) sex offender programme. It is expected that MF2C will support a greater throughput of prisoners through the programme, optimising access to it.

Future funding for the for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults will be subject to the annual budget process and approval by the Scottish Parliament. We expect to confirm funding as soon as possible thereafter.

The Scottish Government provides annual funding towards the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF), administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), to enable libraries to undertake a wide range of pioneering initiatives within communities.

The following table provides a breakdown of the PLIF funding allocated to libraries since 2013-14.

We are in the initial stages of scoping the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Culture Partnership Agreement, which will require extensive collaboration with COSLA.

We will be able to share more information on this work in the months following the Cultural Value Summit, which will take place in 2024.

The Cultural Value Summit will take place in 2024. We expect to announce the date shortly.

The Scottish Government has not provided funding to the Rhoda Nina Scott Trust since 2019.

As outlined in the recently published ‘Culture Strategy for Scotland: Action Plan’, we will continue to work with Creative Scotland, and stakeholders from across the sector, to scope the youth arts strategy which will follow ‘Time to Shine’.

This strategy will be centred on embedding children and young people’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) principles, including the voices of children and young people at its core.

We are currently in the early stages of establishing a Fair Work Task Force for the creative and cultural sector. The first date will be agreed in due course.

We recognise the important role that the Grangemouth refinery plays in meeting current fuel demand in Scotland and we know the wider cluster will be key to meeting fuel demand in the future.

It is our preference that refining should continue for as long as possible and Ministers are considering every realistic option to extend the life of the asset. This would provide the critical time and space for the refinery business to expedite transition opportunities at Grangemouth and protect as many existing jobs as possible.

The Scottish Government has committed to working with operators across the Grangemouth cluster to bring forward new low carbon projects at Grangemouth, in technologies such as CCUS, hydrogen and bio-refining. These projects will take time to be brought forward, however they do offer an opportunity to transition the site and cement the cluster’s role long into the future.