Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28663 on 15 August 2024.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA) and other Disabled People’s Organisations to develop and implement a disability equality plan that is informed by the lived experience of disabled people and will deliver actions to help with the significant challenges they are currently facing.

Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer 1,140 hours a year of funded ELC to all 3 and 4-year-olds and eligible 2-year-olds regardless of their parents’ working status. This offer has been in place since 2021 and, if families paid for this themselves, it would cost them more than £5,500 per eligible child per year.

National eligibility for 2-year-olds covers: children with care experience; children of parents in receipt of a ‘qualifying benefit’, and; children of parents with care experience. We already offer up to 1140 hours of high quality ELC to around a quarter of families with a 2-year-old who experience the most disadvantage and we will continue to work with local authorities and our partners in the sector to support and improve up-take of the existing 2-year-old offer as well as planning for an expansion.

In addition to the inclusive early years offer to families, the Scottish Government has also committed to building a system of school age childcare that better meets the needs of all families and children. We recognise that the availability of accessible school age childcare is a key factor in supporting disabled parents to overcome their specific challenges allowing them to enter and sustain training and employment, or to benefit from much-needed respite.

The five Scottish family payments (Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Foods and the three Best Start Grants) also aim to give children the best start in life. Families with a parent who is disabled can access this financial support if they receive certain benefits and tax credits. Eligible families can be both in and out of work.

The Scottish Budget 2024-25 outlined plans to invest up to £90 million in devolved employability services in 2024-25, with services targeted at supporting those facing structural barriers to entering employment, including parents and those with disabilities. As we recognise disabled parents as one of the priority family groups who are most likely to experience poverty, Parental Employability Support is in place to ensure this cohort receives person-centred support, helping them move towards, into and to sustain employment as well as increasing their incomes. We recognise that employability stands the best chance of supporting people into fair and sustainable work at the right time for them with wrap-around support from other key public services providing additional help including childcare and money advice.

Children’s Services Plans are key to the delivery of Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) at a strategic, operational, and frontline practice level, and are the legislative, strategic planning and delivery context in which Holistic Whole Family Support and action to Tackle Child Poverty and Keep The Promise is set. Children’s Services Planning partners have a key role embedding GIRFEC at a local level, to ensure joined up support for families so they get the right help at the right time across services.

The GIRFEC approach lies at the heart of all our policies and services which support the wellbeing of children and young people. It provides a framework for the delivery of high-quality universal and targeted support across public services, the third sector and community partners. At a local level, Children’s Services Plans set out how services, supports and improvement activities will be delivered to meet the national and local priorities which aim to improve wellbeing outcomes for children, young people and families.

The Scottish Government’s Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme was established with the purpose of driving the system change required at local level, principally through Children’s Service Planning Partnerships (CSPPs), to deliver holistic family support so that families get the right support, at the right time, for as long as they need. Recognising the varying circumstances in local areas, the Programme does not seek to mandate a specific delivery model – an approach which has been welcomed by delivery partners. Instead, CSPPs are asked to assess their current delivery system and consider what the gaps and opportunities were for them in delivering holistic support for families.

Since 2022 we have invested over £110m in a programme of activity aimed at responding to what the sector told us was required to support local areas to deliver whole system change, including £96m provided directly to Children's Services Planning Partnerships to build local service capacity for change and transform family support services.

In addition, the Scottish Government has allocated over £12 million for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice in 2024-25. This vital funding ensures that people who are struggling the most can access the support they need in a way that works for them – be it face to face, online or over the phone. Building on the success of the Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships, the Scottish Government also established the Advice in Accessible Settings Fund last year. This fund supports the delivery of advice services in a range of community, health and education settings to further increase the availability and accessibility of advice.

We remain committed to supporting advice services as they continue to provide much needed support to households across Scotland.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce a HGV overtaking ban on either of the two lane sections of the M8 motorway.

In January 2023, we launched a consultation for the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), seeking feedback on our draft vision for marine energy, and including a question on whether the Scottish Government should set a deployment target for marine energy. The forthcoming finalised ESJTP will take into account the wide range of consultation responses received. As we develop Scotland’s ambitions for both wave and tidal energy, we will continue to engage with the industry to explore and support solutions to address long-term needs.

The Scottish Government does not undertake assessment of the accessibility of streets nationally.

National Performance Framework (NPF) 4 policy 14, highlights the six qualities of successful places which development proposals should demonstrate. The qualities of safety, attractiveness, connectedness and adaptability can improve the accessibility of a place to all users. NPF4 is part of the development plan, which means that planning decisions should be made in line with NPF4 policy unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Designing Streets is a policy statement that promotes the consideration of street design towards placemaking and away from the system focus upon the dominance of motor vehicles. It emphasises the need to consider accessibility and inclusive design for people over vehicular movements. It is not a standards based guidance but promotes a balanced decision making on designing for place and movement, and relates to both planning and transport policies.

NPF4 policy 13 is clear that development proposals will be supported where they have taken into account, at the earliest stages of design, the transport needs of diverse groups including users with protected characteristics to ensure the safety, ease and needs of all users.

I fully appreciate the need to get bookings released in good time so that businesses and individuals can plan ahead. Bookings for dates beyond 31 December 2024 will be opened as soon as possible.

I am advised that while it is too early to say how Clyde Metro will impact on the rail network, the Clyde Metro project team, led by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, has been engaging with ScotRail and Network Rail as part of the early work on the on-going Case for Investment stage. This engagement will continue throughout this key stage, which will define the Clyde Metro network.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing a voluntary code of practice on dismissing and replacing land-owning land maintenance companies (“the Code”).

Whilst work on the development of the Code continues, other work pressures have impacted the rate of progress.

In November 2022 the Ministerial Population Taskforce published the research report ‘Attitudes to Family Formation in Scotland’ to update the evidence base about fertility, family planning, and ideal family size in Scotland.

Building on international engagement with other countries experiencing low birth rates, the Scottish Government is taking forward comparative work about family friendly policies in other European countries, to establish if successful interventions elsewhere could be applicable in Scotland.

The outputs of this work will be considered alongside recent Census data in order to develop next steps which reflect Scottish Ministers’ ambition for Scotland to be the best possible place for all families.