Seòmar agus comataidhean

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%).

Official Statistics on Scottish Child Payment are published every quarter. The last publication was on 29 November 2022 and provided information on processing times up to 30 September 2022: Scottish Child Payment: high level statistics to 30 September 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The next release of Official Statistics, covering the period to the end of December 2022, is due to be published on 28 February 2023.

Social Security Scotland received a high volume of applications for Scottish Child Payment when it extended to under 16 year olds on 14 November. Initial management information indicates that from Monday 14 November 2022 to Sunday 11 December 2022, the total number of applications received was 123,000.

Social Security Scotland are working hard to process payments as quickly as possible and tens of thousands of eligible of clients will receive their payment before Christmas. The remaining eligible clients will receive payment in early 2023 and have been contacted to make them aware of this so they are able to plan accordingly.

If eligible, all payments will be calculated from the day that the client applied or submitted a change of circumstances to add an extra child, so nobody should lose out financially.

The phasing of the PDR review programme is kept under review to ensure that it reflects – and helps to promote – wider Scottish Government objectives. The stakeholder update which I issued with the Chief Planner in October 2022 confirmed that, in light of the current cost and climate crises, Phase 3 of the review will focus on PDR for domestic and non-domestic renewable energy equipment – and that a consultation will be published early in 2023.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on the content of our consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion.

Officials in the Alcohol Harm Prevention Team have met with the ASA at regular intervals to discuss alcohol marketing and ASA research.

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

As noted in the 2022-23 Programme for Government, we are continuing our preparatory work to ensure every school-aged child has access to a digital device by the end of this parliament in 2026.

As Mr Marra is now aware, there was no announcement on class sizes in my statement to Parliament on 8 December. Mr Marra has now confirmed that his question is about the reduction in class contact time.

We are continuing to discuss the Programme for Government commitment to reduce class contact time by one-and-a-half hours per week for teachers through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). The SNCT is responsible for teachers’ terms and conditions, and as such it will be for the SNCT to agree the implementation of this change.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all school aged children have access to a device to support their learning by the end of this parliament.

In 2020-21, we provided £25 million of funding to local authorities across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device to support their learning. The following table shows the number of devices distributed via that funding, as reported by individual local authorities, as well as the number of pupils currently on the school roll in those council areas.

The role of the Education Reform Strategic Programme Board is to provide advice and support to the programme, ensuring its successful and safe delivery.

The strategic board and three delivery boards have been established to lead, design and deliver work to establish three new national education bodies to replace the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland. The arrangements for education reform governance include a wide range of external stakeholders to provide a broad and diverse range of views and to put critical challenge at the centre of this work. Minutes of the Education Reform Strategic Programme Board, including attendance, can be found at www.gov.scot/groups/education-reform/.

Engagement with education reform stakeholders and users will continue to be a core part of the education reform programme whose delivery this board oversees. This engagement will provide all those with a stake and interest in the success of education reform with opportunities to provide further input and challenge to inform the design and delivery of the three new national education bodies and the wider education reform programme.

The £32 million Local Bridge Maintenance Fund broken down by local authority and successful applications is set out in a document that has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib number 63925.

The Scottish Government is aware of the decline of wading birds in Scotland. Wading bird ecology is complicated and varies between species. However, it appears wader declines in Scotland are linked to low breeding success which could be due a range of reasons. The changes in the Scottish countryside in recent decades has resulted in many wader habitats being lost. Some of this loss is the result of land management changes designed to increase agricultural efficiency. Increased afforestation also appears to adversely affect waders which naturally prefer landscapes with fewer trees. Higher numbers of generalist predators in the countryside may also leading to the waders that do nest from successfully producing young.

The Terrestrial Breeding Birds Official Statistic 1994-2021 was recently published by NatureScot https://www.nature.scot/doc/official-statistic-terrestrial-breeding-birds-2022

The latest figures (1994-2021) show that the decline in wetland birds is 17% rather than the 19% shown when compared to the 2019 value. Note that direct comparisons with the previous figure of 19% (1994-2019) are not possible due to the way the data are calculated.

The Scottish Government supports the work being done by Working for Waders initiative which was started in 2017 to tackle the decline of wading birds across Scotland. The project is open to anyone with an interest in waders and is currently co-chaired by SRUC and NatureScot, which includes public bodies, and is supported by conservation organisations, research organisations, individual farmers, gamekeepers and birdwatchers. The Working for Waders Action Groups are focusing on collaborative on-the-ground work, predator control, habitat management and developing best practice with a view to addressing the decline in our waders.

The Scottish Government also provides support to farmers, crofters and land managers through its Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS). The scheme encourages land management practices which can directly/indirectly benefit water birds, as well as other wildlife.

The Species on the Edge project, which is a partnership of NatureScot and seven conservation charities, is dedicated to improving habitats for 37 priority species. This includes enhancing habitat quality and availability; sowing and growing vital host and food plants for vulnerable species; excluding predators from sensitive sites; and removing invasive non-native species which will also benefit other wildlife including water birds. https://www.nature.scot/scotlands-biodiversity/species-edge-sote/species-edge-about-project

The Scottish Government has also made a commitment to invest at least £65m in multi-year funding available through the Nature Restoration Fund which specifically funds the restoration of habitats across Scotland, including coastal habitats, thereby helping to address declines in water birds. Since its launch in 2021, we have started over 100 projects, putting Scotland’s species, habitats and seas back on the road to recovery.