Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am delighted to say the first report on Corporate Parenting activity in Scotland ‘Turning Legislation into Practice Together’ has been published today at www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781788519311

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 encourages preventative measures, rather than reactive responses whenever a care experienced child, young person or their family needs help. The duties in Part 9 of the Act require Corporate Parents to be alert to matters which, or which might, adversely affect the wellbeing of looked after children and care leavers, to assess their needs, promote their interests, provide opportunities to promote wellbeing and take action to help children and young people access these opportunities as well as to improve the way the Corporate Parent exercises its functions. In addition, each Corporate Parent must prepare, keep under review, and publish a corporate parenting Plan and, report as required, on how corporate parenting responsibilities have been exercised.

This Report is based on information drawn from approximately 124 corporate parenting plans prepared by the 24 individuals and organisations named in Schedule 4 of 2014 Act. It offers an account of how corporate parenting has been embraced by the many different representative public sector individuals and organisations throughout Scotland and sets out to illustrate some of the different approaches to reflect the different statutory roles and unique circumstances of such a diverse group of organisations. Crucially, it reflects the views of children and young people on the different ways corporate parents have made a difference to them.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

Based on the current rate of inflation, the estimated unitary charge cost for the total of the 25 year contract period for HMP Addiewell is £955m. This projection is subject to any variation in respect of future rates of inflation.

In response to the recommendations made by the independent review of student support, the Scottish Government announced that over £21 million will be invested per year by the end of this parliament to improve the financial support available to students at college and university.

As part of that, in 2018-19, we will invest over £5 million to increase the bursary for care-experienced students in Further (FE) and Higher Education (HE) to £8,100. This brings care-experienced bursary support in line with the Living Wage as recommended by the independent review. The FE care-experienced bursary will increase from £4,185 to £8,100 and the HE care-experienced bursary will rise from £7,625 to £8,100 per year.

In 2019-20, we will invest £16 million to increase and expand access to FE and HE bursaries for students from the lowest income families.

This investment in student support is in addition to the Scottish Government existing policy on free tuition which benefits over 120,000 undergraduates each year studying in Scotland.

I am delighted to confirm that Scotland will host the UK Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC). The Centre, which has received tripartite funding from Scottish Enterprise (£15m) Innovate UK (£13m) and industry (£14m) will not only be a highly influential centre of excellence in medicines manufacturing but will also have a positive impact on the economy of both Scotland and the UK and will help to further cement Scotland’s reputation for excellence in research and development, life sciences and manufacturing.

Following detailed consideration of a range of potential sites in Scotland the operator of the Centre and industry partners chose Inchinnan in Renfrewshire as the best location for the Centre.

Whilst the Centre will be located within the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation District in Renfrewshire, a key priority for the Scottish Government will be to ensure that the sector across the whole of Scotland is able to benefit from the project.

On 14 June at 00.01, I will announce the publication of Scotland’s Place in Europe: Security, Judicial Co-operation and Law Enforcement. The Paper can be accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781787810068

This Paper aims to improve the understanding about why maintaining a close relationship with the EU in the area of security, judicial and law enforcement is vital for Scotland. It set outs the key benefits this arrangement brings to our law enforcement agencies in fighting crime and keeping pace with developments.

In negotiating a future security relationship, it is essential to take account of the fact that Scotland has a separate criminal justice system and that our law enforcement agencies should maintain direct links with their EU counterparts. It also explains why data sharing arrangements and the role of the Court of Justice EU are potential barriers to having a close relationship with the EU in the justice and security area.

The people of Scotland voted decisively to remain within the European Union, and it is the role of the Scottish Government to continue making sure that their safety and security are protected.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is publishing official statistics “Hate Crime in Scotland” on 15 June at 09:30. This provides information on the number of charges reported to them across all hate crime categories (race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, transgender) and charges under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act (OBFTC Act).

At the same time, the Scottish Government is publishing “Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland 2017-18”. This report provides further details about religiously aggravated charges reported to the COPFS in 2017-18.

Since 2012-13, the Scottish Government had published an analysis of charges reported to the COPFS under the OBFTC Act. The OBFTC Act was repealed earlier this year. There is therefore not a complete set of charges to analyse for 2017-18 meaning that any analysis would not be comparable with previous years. Therefore, the Scottish Government will not be publishing an analysis of these charges.

The Scottish Government is also planning to publish information based on hate crime incidents recorded by Police Scotland later this year.

Through Zero Waste Scotland we continue to engage with Scottish local authorities, businesses and the public, providing advice, guidance and funding to support recycling.

Data released last week by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for 2016, clearly indicates the significant progress that is being made in Scotland. Over 61% of the total waste produced in Scotland was recycled, composted or prepared for re-use, an increase of over half a million tonnes from 2015, There was 10% less waste generated in Scotland in 2016 compared to 5 years before, indicating that our waste prevention strategy is being effective. I would also draw attention to the fact that 32.7% of all waste produced in Scotland was sent to landfill, the lowest ever figure.

These improved statistics have been driven by Scottish waste legislation which is amongst the most ambitious in Europe.

I know the cost of a school uniform can be considerable for families and I am delighted that Scottish Government has now secured agreement with CoSLA and Scottish local authorities to introduce a new national minimum school clothing grant.

The minimum grant has been set at £100 and it will be made available to eligible families in time for the start of the 2018-19 academic year. To support the introduction of the national minimum the Scottish Government is contributing an additional £6 million funding to local authorities. The additional funding is intended to assist local authorities in meeting the national minimum grant level of £100. Furthermore, the minimum grant will be reviewed every two years to ensure that the amount available remains in line with the cost of living.