Seòmar agus comataidhean

Details of the grant allocations and outturns for each council as part of our Area Based Schemes programme since 2013 are published on the Scottish Government website:

Area-based schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information about the previous Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) and the Universal Home Insulation Scheme (UHIS) from 2008 to 2013 is available from the Energy Saving Trust website.

Home+Energy+Programmes+Summary+Report+20092013.pdf (energysavingtrust.org.uk)

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%).

The Scottish Government recognises the value and importance of providers in the private, third and childminding sectors in delivering 1140 hours of high quality funded Early Learning and Childcare.

That is why we have made the payment of sustainable rates - that reflect the cost of delivery and enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to those workers delivering funded ELC - by local authorities to services in the private, third and childminding sectors a central to our policy on Funding Follows the Child.

We also provide resources to support recruitment and retention to all parts of the sector. For example, we have invested over £11 million in creating over 1400 additional places on degree-level qualifications since 2017-18, offering opportunities for practitioners to train to fill manager-level positions.

However, it is important to recognise that the childcare market is a mixed economy and employers in the private and third sectors are responsible for making their own decisions about pay and conditions.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13013 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 .

The Scottish Government announced on 21 December an agreement with the social housing sector meaning restrictions on rent-setting will no longer apply to the sector from 1 April. Social landlords have instead committed to average increases that will ensure rents remain affordable, while allowing them to continue investing in essential services such as home improvements and maintenance.

We have been clear since we introduced the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 that we would work with the social rented sector to agree a way forward for after 31 March, and social landlords have been consulting with their tenants on possible rent rises for after that date. The agreements are based on the options being tested through those consultations, aiming to keep rents affordable while ensuring landlords have the resources to continue providing essential services for tenants and to deliver more affordable homes.

COSLA has committed to keeping local authority rent increases for 2023-24 to an average of no more than £5 a week. The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations has committed to increases averaging 6.1%.

The agreement of average figures, rather than a fixed cap, allows for the flexibility to honour the outcomes of the statutory tenant consultations social landlords must undertake each year on rent setting.

No social landlord is consulting on a rent increase at or above CPI inflation, which was 11.1% at the time of the data being collected.

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.

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.

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.

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.