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A review of ferry fares policy is being undertaken as part of the Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP), the successor to the current Ferries Plan (2013-22). This will consider issues such as seasonality and inform future ferry service contracts.

Ministers have not discussed the outcomes of the Island Communities Impact Assessment on HIAL’s Air Traffic Management 2030 Strategy with HIAL. Officials attended the HIAL Board meeting on 25 February 2021 where the issue was discussed. The minutes of the meeting are available on the HIAL web site at https://www.hial.co.uk/downloads/file/295/hial-board-minutes-february-2021 .

We remain committed to finalising the Fuel Poverty Strategy later this year and an update on the resumption of work to produce it was sent to the Convener of the Local Government and Communities Committee on 22 March 2021. Further information on the work to develop the draft strategy and also on the appointment of the statutory Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel will be provided in due course.

The National Imaging Equipment Group, National Procurement and Health Facilities Scotland support our NHS Boards with expert knowledge relating to the imaging equipment lifecycle. This helps to ensure that risks are mitigated and pulls in various experts from across the country to support bespoke projects, such as the MRI Scanner at the Gilbert Bain, to ensure project completion.

These groups have been providing support to NHS Shetland on planning, procurement, installation and commissioning. In addition, NHS National Services Scotland is assisting the Board with the development of the clinical specification and the procurement process. The Board expects procurement and implementation to be completed in 2022.

As stated in the answer to question S5W-35078, the Scottish Government National Co-ordination Team has been in regular communication with the OECD throughout the Review. Meetings have typically taken place once a week although, subject to the point in the review and work required, some weeks there have been more than one meeting and some weeks there have been none. In total, since September 2019, there have been 45 scheduled meetings with the National Co-ordination Team and the OECD Review Team. In addition the OECD Team have met with me three times to provide updates.

The meetings between the OECD Review Team and the Co-ordination Team were not routinely minuted as they were focused on the practicalities of delivering the Review.

The meetings between myself and the OECD Review Team were for the OECD Review Team to update me on progress with the Review. There were no actions from these meetings so no minutes were produced.

In response to the COVID pandemic and the impact on children and young people’s mental health, our local authority partners made excellent progress in the provision of mental health support for young people, including the programme to provide access to counsellors in secondary schools.

We will publish material outlining the returns from local authorities in April 2021.

Transport Scotland officials meet regularly with officers from Shetland Island Council and Zetrans, the Regional Transport Partnership, to discuss a range of transport issues.

As part of our engagement on the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) we have regular meetings with the Shetland Islands Regional Transport Working Group, the last being held on the 15 February 2021. Fixed links, alongside a number of other potential options to address transport problems and opportunities in the Islands, have been discussed in broad terms through this engagement, in the context of the publication of the STPR2 Phase 1 recommendations and updated Case for Change reports that were published on the 3 February.

Further details on proposed list of transport options for the Shetland Islands that are to be taken forward for more detailed appraisal are contained in the following report: Initial appraisal: Case for Change - Shetland Islands - STPR2 (transport.gov.scot)

I have met with SQA on 8 occasions since 11 June 2020 on the following dates:

03-07-2020

30-07-2020

04-08-2020

10-08-2020

01-12-2020

10-12-2020

12-01-2020

25-01-2021

Minutes are not routinely taken of these meetings.

Officials meet regularly with SQA on a range of matters relating to the delivery of SQA’s functions.

The Scottish Government is committed to the continuation of the Air Discount Scheme in order to make travel for residents of the Highlands and Islands more affordable. I am happy to announce that the scheme will continue until 31 March 2026. The discount rate in 2021-22 will be maintained at 50%. The discount rate in subsequent years will be subject to Parliament’s consideration of the Budget in each of those years.

The Scottish Government does not have access to the full UK Government administrative data required to provide a definitive figure for the number of eligible two year olds in Scotland.

Using October 2016 data from HMRC, it was estimated that there were around 14,500 eligible 2 year olds in Scotland.

Take up of the offer is reported in 2 main sources. Both of these are snapshots of data taken at a point in time:

Schools in Scotland, Summary Statistics reports on number of registrations for funded ELC (regardless of number of hours) during ‘census week’.

The latest publication, from December 2020 ( Schools in Scotland - summary statistics: 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , showed there were 4,863 registrations for 2 year olds during the week 14-18 September 2020.

Delivery Progress Reports published by the Improvement Service, provide information on the numbers of children accessing more than 600 hours of funded ELC a year at the time of reporting. The last Delivery Progress Report was published in September 2020 ( Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report, Sept 2020 (improvementservice.org.uk) . It showed:

• The number of 2-year-olds reported to be receiving funded ELC in August 2020 was 4,866 children.
• 4,172 of these children (86%) were reported to be accessing more than the statutory 600 funded hours, and 2,865 children (59%) were reported to be accessing 1140 funded hours.

Previous reports have considered uptake against local authority forecasts for the relevant period. However, due to the impact of the pandemic these forecasts are no longer relevant, and refreshed forecasts are being developed. These will reflect the change to local delivery circumstance due to the pandemic, and the reintroduction of the statutory duty to secure 1140 hours of ELC for eligible children in August 2021.

Refreshed forecasts, and progress against these, will be published as part of regular reporting on delivery by the Improvement Service.