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The Scottish Government is developing a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Childcare Profession that will explore a range of issues under key themes with partners, including recruitment and retention of professionals across all parts of the sector. The Framework will be published in the New Year.

We have taken a number of actions to support recruitment and retention in the childcare workforce, including:

• Providing funding to local authorities to enable them to set local sustainable rates that reflects the payment of the real Living Wage to all childcare workers delivering the funded entitlement;
• Providing resources to support recruitment to all parts of the sector; and
• Working with partners on childminder specific recruitment programmes.

Further to the answers to questions S6W-12054 and S6W-12392 we would reiterate that we are currently considering the most appropriate approach for continuity of these services and will provide further advice once our plans have been finalised.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own parking charges on the basis of local needs and priorities. Parking charges and restrictions can have many objectives, including managing both demand for space and the time that space is occupied, to ensure parking is available for those who need it most. The Scottish Government does not have a national policy on parking charges for public places however we are committed to finding ways to shift the balance towards sustainable travel, away from private car use. We are equally committed to tackling inequality and increasing opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to interact in improved areas of civic space. Reducing our reliance on private car use can significantly improve the places we live in and have great benefits for local high streets.

There is research on the topic, for example the Living Street’s Pedestrian Pound Report from Sustrans (2018) evidenced that local shops can benefit from their customers travelling car-free. https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/media/3890/pedestrian-pound-2018.pdf

Additionally, Transport Scotland has recently commissioned research through ClimateXChange to better understand the environmental, social and economic benefits of sustainable travel to local highstreets and town centres. The findings will be particularly valuable to local policy makers, local businesses and individuals and will support the Scottish Government policy to reduce car km in Scotland by 20% by 2030.

The routemap to achieving the reduction in car km was published in January 2022 and aligns with the ‘ Town Centre Action Plan Review – Joint response from Scottish Government and COSLA’ that sets out a new vision for town centres and outlines actions directed to better embed a ‘Town Centre First approach’ to ensure the economic, social and environmental health of town centres is at the heart of investment decision making. Further to this, the draft NPF4 recognises that our cities and towns are a national asset and strengthens support for development in town centres.

The primary Scottish Government funds which enable local authorities to support town centre regeneration are the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) which includes the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and the Town Centre Fund which pre-dated the PBIP. I have placed a copy of tables in SPICe bib number 63928 which set out the information we have available to date on what the South Scotland region has received in each year since 2007, broken down by Town and Local Authority.

In addition, though not included in the table, the Scottish Government has provided offers of other financial and non-financial support which has benefited high streets. This is not limited to:

• funding to agencies and partnerships such as South of Scotland Enterprise Agency, Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Business Improvement Districts, VisitScotland, Historic Environment Scotland;
• funds and funding such as Regional growth deals, the Climate Challenge fund, Active Travel funding. and Covid funds such as the £80m Local authority covid economic recovery funding;
• programmes such as the Scotland Loves Local, Empowering Communities, and Vacant and Derelict Land; and Climate Action Towns.

Restricting alcohol advertising and promotion is one of the World Health Organization’s three ‘best buys’ to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harms.

That is why we have launched a public consultation setting out potential restrictions on a variety of methods of alcohol advertising, including on sports sponsorship. The consultation closes on 9 March 2023 and we would encourage everyone to respond to this, including those involved in elite and grassroots sport.

The function of consulting at this stage, before any proposals are finalised, is to give organisations and individuals the chance to feedback on these proposals, and potential impacts. Following the consultation, we will analyse the responses and then further consider possible restrictions.

I will meet with key stakeholders, including sporting bodies, during the consultation period to directly hear their views on the proposals and better understand any potential impacts they may have.

In 2023-24 the Local Government finance settlement will provide over £13.2 billion to local authorities with a real terms increase in funding of £160.6 million or (1.3%).

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) commits to providing all children, young people and their families with the right support at the right time, and where extra help is needed this can include a personalised child’s plan, which might contain therapeutic support, depending on the circumstances.

This year, we have also initiated a Whole Family Wellbeing programme of activity to help transform the delivery of holistic family support. This includes investing £32 million through Children’s Services Planning Partnerships and supporting them in driving this work at the local level. This is to ensure that all families, including adoptive and foster care families, can access support based on their needs, where and when they need it.

All local authorities have a legal duty to provide support to meet the needs of people who have been adopted and their families. We provided £128,000 this year for specific therapeutic support, namely to Adoption UK Scotland for the TESSA programme which provides therapeutic input for adoptive families, and to Health in Mind to run a Trauma Support Service for people affected by historical adoption practices, as well as implementing peer support for both groups and individuals.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13098 on 9 January 2023. 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 .

A wide range of academic evidence is referenced in the consultation paper, available at: https://consult.gov.scot/alcohol-policy/alcohol-advertising-and-promotion/ .

The consultation set out that alcohol advertising and promotion is seen by, and appealing to, large volumes of children and young people in Scotland. International evidence shows that seeing alcohol marketing is associated with an increased likelihood that children and young people will start to drink alcohol or, if they already drink alcohol, drink more. This is harmful to them in both the short and long term.

The consultation cites evidence that those who drink heavily have increased susceptibility to alcohol marketing and that this can translate into drinking behaviours. For those in recovery, alcohol marketing can be a trigger which threatens their recovery and can be responsible for relapse.

Although there is limited research on the impact alcohol marketing has on adults in the general population, it is likely that alcohol marketing also makes alcohol more attractive to adults generally and influences consumption.

In addition to the academic evidence cited, young people in Scotland, as well as people in recovery and their families, have told us directly that they see a lot of alcohol marketing and want us to take action to tackle this.

Scottish Water has completed some works to the front facia elevation of the building and the dome structure as well as some minor roof repairs and replacement of downpipe and guttering. There have also been repairs made to replace vandalised windows. Scottish Water is now progressing work to replace the railings in line with the pumping station’s listed status and this is planned for early 2023 once the required traffic management on Argyle Street/Dumbarton Road is agreed with Glasgow City Council Roads Department.

In addition to this, Scottish Water is in the early design stages for improvements to the roof. This work is likely to be carried out towards the middle to end of 2024 following listed building consent being secured from the relevant authorities. Scottish Water is also planning some maintenance work on equipment integral to the operation and effective running of the pumping station.