Seòmar agus comataidhean

As recently set out in answer to question S5O-04966 on 27 January 2021, I have previously met representatives of the Teach the Future Scotland campaign who told me of their experiences of climate education. We are supporting education around the twin global climate and ecological crises through the implementation of our Learning for Sustainability Action Plan which provides a positive context to address climate education. We are always looking to strengthen and improve practice. With this in mind the Scottish Government is currently considering its detailed response to all demands of the Teach the Future Scotland campaign and we will respond to the campaign’s representatives as soon as possible. I have also committed to another meeting with the representatives in due course.

All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=13081&i=118371

As recently set out in answer to question S5O-04966 on 27 January 2021, we are supporting education around the twin global climate and ecological crises through the implementation of our Learning for Sustainability Action Plan, which provides a very positive context to address climate education. We are always looking to strengthen and improve practice. With this in mind, the Scottish Government is currently considering its detailed response to all asks of the Teach the Future Scotland campaign and we will respond to the campaign representatives as soon as possible.

All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=13081&i=118371

Recruitment of police officers and police staff is a matter for the Chief Constable and the Scottish Police Authority.

Scottish Government is not aware of an announcement of new civilian roles in Police Scotland. However Police Scotland’s Strategic Workforce Plan was presented at the Scottish Police Authority Board meeting on 22 January 2021. This plan has been developed to ensure that the service is best placed to meet changing demands, to best serve Scotland’s communities, and it makes reference to potential changes to the workforce skills mix.

This work will be subject to further discussion with staff associations, unions and partners as progress is made. Police Scotland will take steps to implement, monitor and regularly review the plan, with ongoing appropriate scrutiny from the Authority.

As the recruitment and deployment of police staff and officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, you may wish to contact him directly for further information.

The Single Use Carrier Bags Charge (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 came into force on 29 January 2021 and exempt charges for single use carrier bags for deliveries, grocery collections and take-aways. It re-instates the previous temporary exemption from the single use carrier bag charge which we implemented in April 2020 and which expired in October 2020. The decision to reintroduce this exemption was made on public health advice that we should adopt mitigations to reduce the chance of surface or interpersonal transmission.

Because of the concern about litter and other negative effects arising from single use carrier bags, we do not want the exemption to be in force longer than is necessary. The temporary exemption ends on 31 May and this will be kept under review.

The Public Health Scotland report can be accessed via the link here PHS weekly report which includes the number of healthcare workers vaccinated (Table 2) and the numbers vaccinated in each NHS Board (Table 4). The breakdowns of healthcare workers by Board will be published in future.

Public Health Scotland plans to launch a new section on their public facing dashboard in early February providing daily vaccinations data, including data disaggregated by JCVI priority group, NHS health board and age. This dashboard release will develop over time and include additional breakdowns as the vaccination programme progresses.

We recognise the difficulties and challenges that new parents, particularly mothers, face during this pandemic. Measures have been put in place to ensure that families continue to get access to the support they need. For households with caring responsibilities (for a person of any age) there are exemptions to restrictions on household visiting and travel to provide care or support to a vulnerable person. Informal childcare rules also apply, where there is an essential childcare need. Further guidance on this is on the ParentClub website.

For social support, up to two people from two separate households can meet outdoors for social interaction. Children under the age of twelve from these households do not count towards the total number of people permitted to gather outdoors so a parent can still meet another parent with their babies, and any other children under 12.

New parents will continue to have access to universal services, such as maternity services and health visiting, to further aid access to community local supports. The health visiting service remains a particularly key source of support for families with young children; it remains available to support all families with preschool children by providing information, advice and help to access other services and supports. In keeping with the latest route map advice and in line with the Universal Health Visiting Pathway, where a home visit is not suitable, contacts over the phone or using video through services like Near Me or Attend Anywhere might be offered. The health visitor can be contacted directly by parents with any concerns about their child’s development or wider wellbeing.

The Family Nurse Partnership is an intensive, two and a half year home visiting programme available for first-time mothers aged 19 and under, and eligible 20-24 year olds. Family nurses support first-time mothers to give their baby the best start in life, and with their mental health, confidence and self-efficacy, education and employment. The three main aims of the programme are to improve pregnancy and birth outcomes, improve child health and development outcomes, and improve economic self-sufficiency of the family.

In recognising the particular needs of babies and young children, the Coronavirus (COVID-19): organised activities for children supplementary guidance was updated on 5 January 2021 for the safe running of organised activities for children and young people during lockdown. The guidance sets out the maximum number of adults who can attend parent/baby or toddler groups (under 5s) and associated organised activities at any one time, to provide more flexibility in this age group.

Parents can also access the new national Family Support Directory , available on ParentClub, for direct support and information on a broad range of issues, such as support on childcare, mental health and wellbeing and family relationships.

The Scottish Government recognises the important contribution that podiatrists make to the health and wellbeing of the population of Scotland. Podiatrists can continue to provide urgent or essential treatment under current restrictions but we are asking them to be considerate of their professional obligations around protecting the interests of service users and managing risk when determining which treatments and services they provide. They are eligible for support through the UK Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme. This has been extended until April 2021 in response to calls from the Scottish Government and other devolved administrations.

Driving instructors will be offered support through the £15 million mobile close contact fund that was announced as part of the £185 million sector support in December. More information on the Mobile Close Contact Services Support Fund and how to apply will be made available next week.

Since the Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill passed its final Stage in the Scottish Parliament on 23 June last year, we have been progressing the various tasks required to make mixed sex civil partnership available in Scotland, including:

• A package of secondary legislation in the Scottish Parliament
• Training and guidance for registrars
• Public-facing guidance
• Changes to IT systems

The effect of these regulations is that mixed sex civil partnerships that have been formed outside Scotland will be recognised in Scotland, initially in accordance with the interim scheme of recognition provided for in the Act, from 1 February 2021, and that couples will be able to submit notices of intention to enter a mixed sex civil partnership in Scotland from 1 June 2021.

However, this is subject to Parliament's approval of the matters covered in the secondary legislation. In addition, it is critical that we give priority to work to tackle COVID-19. This could mean that resources within the Scottish Government, National Records of Scotland (which is responsible for registering life events including civil partnership) and local authority registration departments may have to be diverted at short notice to work relating to the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is aware that some couples are waiting for mixed sex civil partnership registration to begin in Scotland. We are committed to achieving that as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government published guidance outlining the action that local authorities and Registered Social Landlords should be taking to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on delivering grant funded affordable housing projects which were contractually awarded prior to lockdown. While the guidance notes that the firm aim of local authority/ Registered Social Landlord engagement with their contractors should be to reach agreement which negates the need for additional funding support, it also sets out the circumstances under which applications for additional grant funding will be considered if a contract cannot be made to work and no other negotiated solution is achievable. Once we receive an application from Cunninghame Housing Association for projects in Dumfries and Galloway, we will review this in line with our published guidance.