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The Parliament takes an inclusive approach to providing its staff with appropriate childcare support.  Staff are supported by a range of policies to enable them to manage their work, family and home life circumstances. This has been particularly helpful during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK Government operates a tax free childcare scheme which offers up to £2000 per year for each child to assist with childcare costs.  As an employer there are limitations on the benefits that can be offered following changes to UK legislation in 2018 which prohibited employers from operating a childcare voucher scheme other than for parents who were already members of the scheme prior to its closure.  Prior to the closing of all employer funded childcare schemes the SPCB operated a voucher scheme for Members, their staff and SPCB staff.   The scheme was introduced to promote fairness and inclusion for all individuals in place of a childcare facility which would primarily benefit employees across the central belt of Scotland and within easy access of the childcare facility. 

The employer childcare voucher scheme which remains in operation for employees who were members of the scheme prior to its closure in 2018 has experienced a reduction in use during the Covid-19 pandemic where staff had the ability to work in a more flexible manner and from a flexible location, reducing the requirement for paid childcare provisions. 

The following table provides reconviction rates for individuals aged 16 or over, who were released from custody in the stated year and then subsequently reconvicted by a court at least once during the specific follow up period. Reconvictions can be for similar or different types of crimes and offences, compared to the initial conviction.

With this type of cohort-based analysis, sufficient time is required to have passed before reconvictions can be measured. For example, in the latest cohort year available, 2018-19, the number presented in the table represents the proportion of individuals who were reconvicted at least once in 2019-20. Given this time lag, the table presents reconvictions for the four to five year period instead of over four years. When examining a reconviction rate at the four to five year period, the latest cohort year where this analysis can be conducted is 2014-15.

Table 1. Reconviction rates for individuals aged 16 or over released from custody, 2007-08 to 2018-19 cohorts .

All children and young people have an entitlement to a learning journey which they experience as a coherent whole, with smooth and well-paced progression to best support their individual experience and outcomes. There is no national guidance which states the pace or time at which a child should transition through the stages of their ELC journey, and it is for individual settings to determine arrangements for moving children between stages depending on the needs of each individual child and their setting’s circumstances.

The Care Inspectorate’s new draft inspection framework includes guidance on how transition experiences will be inspected and states that where possible children should be supported to transition when it is appropriate for them to do so, rather than based upon their age.

The national practice guidance for the ELC workforce, ‘ Realising the Ambition: Being Me’, has a full chapter on transitions which highlights the importance of positive well managed transitions for children’s development. It helps practitioners to plan and support child centred transitions with children and their families at the heart of all decision making.

Since the start of Session 6, the Chamber Desk has seen an upturn in the number of questions and motions submitted. In particular, the number of Urgent Questions being lodged has increased significantly. These factors have had an impact on the previous pattern of work undertaken by the Chamber Desk and have resulted in a longer turnaround time than Members will previously have been used to. When Urgent Questions are lodged, they are given priority due to the timeframe for such questions to be taken if selected and only selected questions are published. To respond to these changes in demand and pattern of work, additional staffing resources have been deployed to the Chamber Desk. Due to the specialist nature of the services provided by the Chamber Desk, the impact of these additional resources will not be immediately realised as staff require to undertake training and familiarisation with the role. Where any Members have lodged motions that are particularly time-sensitive and that they wish to be prioritised they should indicate this by email to the Chamber Desk and, where possible, early attention can be given to processing those items.

Citizens Advice Scotland is the membership organisation for independent Citizens Advice Bureaux. At the time of writing, the Scottish Government is aware that there are 59 Bureaux, operating from 76 separate locations across Scotland. Information about historical Citizens Advice Bureaux can be obtained from Citizens Advice Scotland.

The following table outlines the funding provided directly by the Scottish Government to Citizens Advice Scotland between 2016-17 and 2021-22 (so far). It should be noted that the majority of this funding is granted to Citizens Advice Scotland for onward distribution to its member Bureaux.

The years 2016-17 and 2017-18 include funding provided to Citizens Advice Direct, which from 2018-19 ceased to be a member of Citizens Advice Scotland. It is now known as Advice Direct Scotland and is not funded via Citizens Advice Scotland.

The list of companies set out in the privacy notice relate to the Vaccine Programme and the Covid Certification service as a whole, and not just the Covid Status App. So for example, Royal Mail are involved in posting printed certificates to individuals – they have no connection to the Covid Status App.

The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland take privacy and data security seriously. Robust measures have been put in place to ensure all systems and processes within the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination Programme have been designed with these in mind.

As with most technology of this nature, it is necessary to share some very limited data to ensure services operate effectively. However, NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government have control of this data at all times, and service providers do not have access to the data they process.

The published privacy notice explains:

• the key organisations responsible for the data;
• how those organisations process personal information in relation to coronavirus vaccinations, exemptions and certificates;
• the rights in relation to privacy and personal data; and
• what data is shared with our trusted parties and the reason as per their role in the vaccination programme.

We will only share personal information when the law allows us to do so and to the minimum extent possible.

No. If, and when, any additional functions are added to the NHS Scotland Covid Status App then the privacy information will be updated accordingly. For more detail on the current privacy information, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-04212 and S6W-04213 on 25 November 2021. 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

Public Heath Scotland publish a weekly COVID-19 statistical report every Wednesday which includes this information.

As at 15 November 2021 the:

• COVID Status app had been downloaded over 1.5 million; and separately
• vaccination status letter has been requested in paper copies 478,014 times; and
• downloaded in PDF format over 1.2 million times.

A single user may choose to download the App or PDF on multiple devices, and may request a replacement of paper copies so it is not currently possible to identify the total number of people who have obtained proof overall.

There is a range of digital and non-digital routes available to access COVID-19 Status Certificates, and currently the choice to obtain a certificate is voluntary.

The data processing complies with data protection principles of lawfulness, fairness and transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, security and accountability as per the Data Protection Act 2018. As the processing of data is necessary for the purposes indicated in the privacy notice , an opt out is not applicable.

The Scottish Government has announced investment of £580m in ports and vessels to support and improve Scotland’s ferry services over the next five years, as part of our wider Infrastructure Investment Plan, unveiled in February 2021. This builds on this Government’s commitment to our island and remote communities which, since 2007, has seen us invest more than £2bn in the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service, the Northern Isles Ferry Service and the supporting vessel and harbour infrastructure.

As part of these investment plans, the MV Utne arrived in Scotland last week from Norway and transferred to CMAL on Monday 22 November. MV Utne will undergo modification works and is expected to enter service during the summer 2022 timetable. The announcement (14 September) of the extension of the Islay vessel invitation to tender for a second vessel is welcome and these major additions to the fleet and the resulting cascade effects will bring real benefits across our island and remote communities and businesses in the coming years.