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During our regular engagement with the heat networks sector, the costs of planning applications has not been cited as a major barrier to new developments. The Scottish Government has therefore not undertaken any analysis into the effect that these costs have on the profit margin for district heating projects.

The fee for submitting a planning application is to be calculated in accordance with the provisions of The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 and it is for the relevant planning authority to calculate the appropriate fee based on the nature and scale of any individual development.

Meanwhile, all local authorities are developing Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES) that will identify potential district heating opportunities. Local authorities can receive support in developing potential projects from Heat Network Support Unit which can help to commercialise such opportunities.

Our non domestic rates reliefs can also support the viability of district heating projects, and we continue to work to implement the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act which will provide new powers to some operators and developers that are designed to make it quicker and less costly to construct and maintain these systems.

The emergency, temporary measures within the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 are expected to remain in place until 31 March 2024. To support a transition away from those measures, the Act contains a regulation-making power to temporarily reform the rent adjudication process, this is to mitigate the risk of unintended steep rent increases that could occur if the temporary rent cap ended without modification to rent adjudication to ease the transition.

This regulation-making power is subject to the affirmative procedure, ensuring that appropriate Parliamentary scrutiny is given to the necessity for any temporary changes proposed. Therefore, to ensure that the regulations have gone through the appropriate scrutiny and are in place from 1 April, they will be laid before Parliament no later than 25 January 2024.

Prior to that, the Scottish Government will undertake a short, targeted consultation period with key rental sector stakeholders - including tenant, landlord and investor representatives - on the temporary rent adjudication measures being proposed. The consultation period commenced on 15 December.

Prison population levels change on a daily basis as people move in and out of custody. On the morning of 11 December 2023 the prison population was 7,926.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the findings of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research and outputs from the relationships and behaviour summits, which will inform the actions that are included in the national action plan. This will include consideration of what further support local authorities may require. The national action plan will be developed in collaboration with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools and we expect it to be published early in the new year.

Education Scotland have already published a suite of practical materials to support schools and authorities, developed with teachers, on areas such as expectations and consequences, available at: Promoting positive relationships and behaviour in educational settings | Resources | Education Scotland

Education Scotland engaged with a wide variety of stakeholders including teachers to develop the practical materials which form part of the behaviours and relationships theme of its professional learning framework. Engagement and evaluation with our teacher networks and partners as well as previous participants in Education Scotland’s professional learning programmes have shaped the current offer over a two to three year period. The resources will undergo further evaluation from now until March 2024.

Education Scotland will continue to develop practical materials to support teachers’ professional learning needs and practice, including those which form part of the behaviours and relationships theme of its professional learning framework. These resources have been developed using the core funding received from the Scottish Government for the functions of Education Scotland.

The Scottish Government has published guidance for local authorities and schools, Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: Promoting and Managing School Attendance , as well as guidance for parents which reinforces the message that they should support children to attend school.

The guidance sets out how to promote engagement and motivation, including among those who may be at risk of poor attendance.

It also sets out action schools should take in response to a child’s or young person’s absence from school.

Earlier this year I asked Education Scotland to undertake work to better understand the current barriers and challenges experienced by schools, children and young people and their families which influence school attendance. Education Scotland published this report on 28 November.

We are currently reviewing the findings of this report and will consider the recommendations for any future work on addressing attendance in schools.

We are also considering the findings from our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, also published in November, which provides evidence-based information on the extent to which pupils are disengaging from learning. We are currently considering the findings of BISSR and plan to publish an action plan early in the new year.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes a range of data on school leaver achievement.

Summary statistics for attainment and initial leaver destinations’ reports annually on the percentage of school leavers in positive destinations and other destinations three months after the end of the school year. The report also provides information on school leaver total attainment in terms of numbers of National Qualifications gained at SCQF Level 3 or above and the highest levels achieved in literacy and numeracy.

The latest report, published this year, showed that the total percentage of 2021-22 school leavers in a positive initial destination, such as work, training or further study, was 95.7% - the highest figure on record.

The 2023 Annual Participation Measure, published by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), shows that 94.3% of 16-19 year olds were participating in employment, education or training over the past year. This is also the highest rate recorded since this measure was introduced in 2016.

The estates of independent schools are for those building owners to manage, however, the Registrar for Independent Schools wrote to all independent schools on 15 September 2023 to receive assurances that managers were aware if and where RAAC was present in their schools and, where present, to confirm that the appropriate mitigations were in place. The Scottish Government continues to monitor the numbers of independent schools who have completed surveys of their estates via engagement with the Registrar.

The national action plan will be developed in collaboration with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools. This is next scheduled to meet on 12 December. We will publish the plan as soon as possible in the new year.