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This is a matter for each territorial NHS Board. The information requested is not held centrally.

We are currently prioritising work across the Scottish Government in light of increased pressures on the Scottish budget.

On 16 March 2023, the then Minister for Community Safety provided a submission to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in relation to Petition PE1968 , which outlined our position on full implementation of the 2020 Act and included a section-by-section breakdown of the Act’s commencement status.

I can provide some further updates.

For the provision on the views of the child in proceedings under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, the recent ‘ Hearings for Children ’ report reviewing the children’s hearings system included a recommendation to commence section 3 of the 2020 Act. The Scottish Government has accepted that recommendation and is taking forward relevant work in that regard.

For the provisions on special measures (sections 4 to 8 of the 2020 Act), Part 3 of the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill currently before the Parliament will, if enacted, extend the provisions which relate to proceedings under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to civil proceedings generally.

In relation to a register for Child Welfare Reporters (section 9 of the 2020 Act), we will be establishing a short-life working group of key stakeholders later this year that will inform the development of policy around the register. It will also consider whether changes made in the past in this area, following a previous working group, are working as intended.

On child contact centres (sections 10 to 12 of the 2020 Act), the Scottish Government continues to prepare Scottish Statutory Instruments on the regulation of these centres.

For the provision placing a duty on Scottish Ministers to ensure the availability of child advocacy services in court proceedings under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (section 21 of the 2020 Act), the Scottish Government is considering further whether or not to carry out a consultation.

For the provisions on funding for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and the ADR information pilot (sections 23 and 24 of the 2020 Act), the Scottish Government provides update reports to Parliament on the progress of this work. The latest report, covering the period 1 October 2022 to 1 April 2023, is available on the Scottish Government website .

Table 1 presents the estimated gross cost of setting the Higher Property Rate equal to the Standard Multiplier in England. In England, in all three years, the Standard Multiplier was 51.2p, or 1.3p above the Small Business Multiplier of 49.9p. In Scotland, the Higher Property Rate in all three years was 2.6p above the poundage, which was 49p in 2021-2022 (having been temporarily reduced from 49.8p in 2020-2021 in response to the ongoing impact of COVID-19), and 49.8p in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The costs therefore represent the impact of setting the Higher Property Rate at 51.2p instead of 51.6p in 2021-2022, and 52.4p in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

The figure for 2023-2024 is presented after General Revaluation Transitional Relief is applied. The figures are gross estimates, and are not adjusted for any other relief. Figures are broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 1 October 2021, 1 October 2022, and 1 October 2023, with figures from 30 March 2023 and 1 April 2023 used to calculate General Revaluation Transitional Relief.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross cost of reducing the Higher Property Rate to the level of the English Standard Multiplier (51.2p) (£), broken down by property class.

The updated MPA Monitoring Strategy Annexes will be published on the Marine Directorate website by the end of March 2024.

This will include:

a) The plan for surveys undertaken in 2023 and proposals for upcoming surveys in 2024. The planned surveys for 2024 are indicative and can be subject to change due to survey logistics and programme focus.

b) Information on the recent surveys in 2021 & 2022.

The information on surveys conducted in 2023 will be published later in 2024.

The updated MPA Monitoring Strategy Annexes, which will include lists of all sites that have been monitored over the period, will be published on the Marine Directorate website by the end of March 2024.

Data from the Scottish Health Survey did not inform the development of ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scotland's Long Covid service’, published on 30 September 2021. This is because the results of the Scottish Health Survey 2021, which included questions on long COVID for the first time, were published on 8 November 2022.

Responsibility for service delivery rests locally with NHS Boards who configure services taking into account local circumstances and the reasonable needs of their patient populations.

SPS has always been clear it is taking an open and transparent approach to the introduction of this policy which is evident in all they have put in the public domain. The SPS policy for the management of transgender people in custody was published on 5 December 2023, with operational guidance and an evidence paper published on 26 February. As these additional documents were intended for publication, they did not need to be released prior to that under freedom of information requests.

The SPS Chief Executive made this clear at the Criminal Justice Committee on 11 January, where she said: “Implementation will therefore commence from 26 February this year. In addition, at that time, we will publish our operational policy guidance, our gender diversity guidance and an evidence review document, which will all underpin the policy that was published last year”.

The Scottish Government remains committed to co-designing a National Care Service (NCS) which fits the needs of our unique communities and considers the needs of people who face additional barriers to engaging with us.

We’ve heard from thousands of people already and our focus remains on ensuring that those with lived experience and stakeholders will continue to be at the heart of developing the National Care Service. A new Expert Legislative Advisory Group will be established to supplement, rather than replace, the extensive engagement which is underway.

We are engaging with people with lived experience of accessing and delivering social care support through the Social Covenant Steering Group, which advises on how we can engage people in co-design in a more accessible and inclusive way.

We also continue to work closely with stakeholder groups, organisations with close ties to ‘seldom heard’ communities who have had less opportunity to engage in the co-design work to date, and with people through last year’s regional forums, the National Forum and opportunities offered by the Lived Experience Experts Panel.

Designation of Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (ncMPAs) is underpinned by the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 in inshore waters (0-12 nautical miles) and the UK Marine Coastal Act 2009 in offshore waters (12-200 nautical miles).

Classification of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are governed by provisions within the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended) in Scotland.

Criteria differs for each site however, the overarching principles remain the same. Site selection for MPAs undertakes a science-based approach that is set out in separate site selection guidelines for ncMPAs , SACs and SPAs .

The estimated value in the invitation to tender was £10 million over 5 years. This was not a detailed estimate but a guide price to inform potential bidders – standard practice when issuing an Invitation To Tender of this sort. The contract was extended for a further year due to the impact of Covid and the restrictions it placed on effective public procurement.

The completion cost of the 6-year contract with ACER UK was £17m. This figure includes the initial start-up costs, for the technical development of the assessment platform, annual running costs, and continuous improvement work to ensure that the assessment platform remains engaging for learners and continues to meet teachers’ needs.