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During the period where Troon will temporarily be used to support the Arran service, LNG bunkering will be carried out by HGV tankers directly to the vessel. It is to be noted that an LNG facility is included as a permanent solution as part of the Ardrossan Harbour project, and that costs and technical requirements for permanent works should they require to be undertaken at Troon would be expected to be comparable to this.

Local authorities have a statutory obligation to comply with the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (Nutritional Regulations).

The nutritional quality of local authority school catering provision is evaluated as part of Education Scotland’s school inspection programme.

Specialist Health and Nutrition Inspectors (HNI) join some school inspection teams to evaluate compliance with the Nutritional Regulations, including the nutritional quality of school meals. This involves engaging with staff and reviewing documentation. In academic year 2023/24 HNI visited 100 schools.

If a school or local authority does not meet the expected standards, HNI provides clear advice on the improvements needed. Local authorities are required to provide evidence to HNI showing how they have addressed any areas of non-compliance

National Standardised Assessments produce data at: classroom, school, local authority and national levels.

The primary purpose of NSA is to provide teachers with indicative, diagnostic information about learner strengths and development needs. They provide information directly to teachers on what individual learners can and cannot do in aspects of literacy and numeracy, at a particular moment in time. Data is broken down by curriculum content, for example in literacy, data includes information on “tools for reading” and “finding and using information”.

At school level, assessment data shows how well learners perform in relation to a number of characteristics, for example free school meal entitlement, and provides information about how learners progress over time.

NSA produces aggregated data that can help local authorities by providing information to inform conversations about school improvement. It can also help identify effective practice to disseminate, as well as areas for authority wide professional learning.

At national level, anonymised data is broken down by both curriculum content and learner characteristics, e.g. gender and ethnicity. It allows the Scottish Government to identify trends, strengths, and areas for improvement in literacy and numeracy. This informs national policy, improvement priorities, and the type and level of support provided.

The Scottish Government is clear that NSA and the data they produce represent good value for money. NSA data is also valued by school staff – our 2023-24 survey of school staff who use the assessments found that over 72% agree that NSA data informs teaching and learning in their school.

As part of the Scottish Government's response to the Education, Children and Young People Committee's Inquiry on Additional Support for Learning, I committed to engage with our partners to consider this issue further.

My officials engage with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists as well as our wider partners on a regular basis and I will provide an update to the Committee on the outcome of these considerations in due course.

The Royal College will be invited to attend the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools to ensure they can contribute to the delivery of our Relationships and Behaviour in Schools National Action Plan.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) provides funding to College Employers Scotland (CES) to support a fair and sustainable implementation of National Pay Bargaining through a shared partnership agenda and work plan with the trade unions.

In terms of objectives of CES, these are outlined in their business case to SFC for funding as follows:

1.Put in place a clear and visible strategy for the employers;

2.Engage positively and proactively with our key stakeholders;

3.Create a clear identity, brand and voice for the Employers’ Association which differentiates it from Colleges Scotland, and be effective in our communications, both internally within the sector and externally, promoting its value and achievements;

4.Ensure the employment services team can deliver the workload expected of them to service the Employers’ Association and National Joint Negotiating Committee (NJNC).

Information on the proportion of eligible children accessing funded ELC, both nationally and by local authority, is published each year in the ELC census. This includes uptake rates for all 3-4 year olds, and deferred registrations. The census does not record the proportion of their 1140 hours entitlement that each child is utilising.

The most recent publication includes the most recent uptake data by local authority area within Figure 26 at the following page:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-schools-in-scotland-2023/pages/early-learning-and-childcare-elc/

A breakdown for previous years can be accessed within the appropriate years publication, which are listed at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/early-learning-and-childcare-statistics/#earlylearningandchildcarecensus.

The Improvement Service also provide information on the number of eligible children accessing their full 1140 entitlement nationally. The most recent service delivery report is available at:

https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/52618/ELC-Delivery-Progress-Report-Apr-24.pdf

All local authority and grant aided schools in Scotland are under a statutory duty to comply with the standards set out in the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. The standards in the Regulations are based in scientific evidence and dietary advice designed to provide children and young people with an appropriate amount of energy and nutrients to support their healthy growth and development. The standards specify the maximum amount of saturated fat that can be contained in school meals and other food provided across the school day. Education Scotland Health and Nutrition Inspectors evaluate evidence of compliance by local authorities with the standards in the Regulations. This includes assessing saturated fat content of menus and other foods across the school day.

The National Care Service is an ongoing programme of work with funding allocated as set out in last year’s Budget.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Following the introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, SPS took the decision to not seek to amend its mandatory drug testing policy to include testing for psychoactive substances. This was due to the continual changing compounds used within psychoactive substances and remains the position to date.

By working closely with partners such as Police Scotland, SPS must and does remain vigilant to the continuously evolving nature of drug use to ensure our use of technology and tactical measures remain current, adaptable, and capable of detecting and preventing drugs from entering our prisons; and we continue to consider what testing options may be most effective for the SPS to use.

SPS will continue to work with partners to prevent the introduction of contraband and seek convictions where appropriate.

In accordance with the Reimbursement of Members’ Expenses Scheme the SPCB is responsible for setting and maintaining minimum terms and conditions for the employment of staff by MSPs and for the terms and conditions of parliamentary service staff. I can confirm that the SPCB plans to review the terms and conditions of staff employed by MSPs early in the New Year. The SPCB regularly benchmarks its terms and conditions with other employers to ensure that they continue to support the objective of attracting and retaining staff.