Seòmar agus comataidhean

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

We are committed to working with people with lived experience as we progress our first phase of work to design an investment programme that ensures that the Changing Places Toilets which are built are fit for purpose. We work closely with PAMIS (Promoting A More Inclusive Society) and will engage further with people with lived experience as we develop our Changing Places Toilets investment programme. On 2 November, I also attended a meeting of the Cross-Party Group on Changing Places Toilets to provide an update on progress.

Engaging with people with lived experience is at the heart of policy-making in the Scottish Government. We believe that people have the right to contribute to, and to influence, the decisions that affect their lives, choices and life chances, and that involving the people likely to be affected by the decision in the process results in better decision making.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Keeping The Promise by 2030, working in partnership with all partners including Local Authorities, the third sector and importantly the care community.

Through our commitment to lead from the front, the Scottish Government is working closely with Local Authorities and the third sector to create the conditions for change at a national and local level.

To support Whole Family Wellbeing we have committed to provide £32m per annum directly to local areas to build local service capacity and transform delivery of holistic family support services. Children’s Services Planning Partnerships have received their allocation for 2022-23, and are collectively responsible for deciding how to deploy this in a way which best drives change in their areas.

In addition, we are also providing up to £6m to support the work of CSPPs, including collaborative partnerships East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Glasgow City to accelerate plans and provide local learning that can be shared nationally. As well as provision of our Learning into Action Network.

The Scottish Government is committed to funding The Promise Partnership Fund of £4m per annum to support local services and organisations to Keep The Promise. Local Authorities and third sector partners are eligible to bid for this fund through the Corra Foundation.

The Scottish Government continues to support a wide range of projects and initiatives across communities in Scotland that improve outcomes for children, young people, adults and families who are care experienced and those on the edges of care.

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

The Prisoner Records system (PR2) does not allow data to be gathered retrospectively. On Wednesday 23 November the number of cells out of use were:

Surveyors cost incurred with the purchase of Glenprosen amount to £6,802.

This is an operational matter for Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Limited.

Termination of the previous employment was undertaken by the seller, when they wound down their business and FLS has no knowledge of the costs incurred.

The fact that Forestry and Land Scotland have purchased Glenprosen, along with the price paid, are already in the public domain.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12059 on 30 November 2022. 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

Since 2014 we have undertaken one of the most significant reforms to public services in a generation by almost doubling the entitlement to high quality, funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 to 1140 hours per year, for all eligible children.

The early level of the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) purposely spans early learning and childcare (ELC) and primary schooling. It is designed to support the implementation of a responsive, continuous, play-based curriculum for children from age three until the end of P1 (for most children). Key messages on the use of child-centred play pedagogy across the early level and beyond have most recently been confirmed and strengthened in 'Realising the Ambition: Being Me' (2020), the evidence-based and internationally recognised national practice guidance for the early years in Scotland.

Education Scotland is taking forward a range of activity to support the consistent and effective implementation of the ‘Realising the Ambition’ guidance, including through hosting webinars and supporting practice at regional and local levels tailored to local needs. We are aware that many Scottish Local Authorities have, or have immediate plans to implement, programmes of professional learning on play pedagogy for practitioners working in the early years of primary school.

From August 2023, all children who defer will automatically be entitled to an additional year of funded ELC.

Raising the school starting age and introducing a ‘kindergarten stage’ would represent a fundamental change in the scope of early years’ education in Scotland and a significant structural change to the provision of education, and was not part of the Scottish National Party’s manifesto for this current Parliamentary term.

The priority for this parliamentary term must be to fulfil the commitments on which this Scottish Government was elected, including building a system of school age childcare and a new early learning and childcare offer for one- and two-year olds, starting with those who need it most. These priorities are outlined in ‘Best Start: Strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland, 2022-26’, published on 6 October 2022.

While the Scottish Government does not have plans to change the age at which children start school in Scotland in this Parliament, we welcome an active debate on these issues as part of our ongoing National Discussion on Education.