Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government are undertaking a range of measures to support disabled young people to access positive post-school destinations, including introducing Scotland’s first National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy in this Parliamentary Term. The Strategy is jointly led by the Minister for Equalities & Older People and the Minister for Children and Young People, to focus on supporting our disabled young people. As part of our commitment to improving transitions for young people, the Scottish Government has been working in partnership with ARC (Association for Real Change) Scotland to develop and deliver the Principles into Practice trial programme, a trial of ARC’s transitions framework.

In addition, we are implementing the independent Morgan Review recommendations for Additional Support for Learning, to ensure improvements are being made to effectively implement legislation and policy across Scotland. On 1 November we launched the Getting It Right For Every Child guidance refresh consultation, which includes the role of the Lead Professional. This refresh will include developing practice guidance on planning for children.

The Young Person’s Guarantee also has an important role in supporting young disabled people into education, training and employment, including supported employment. Since the Guarantee’s launch in November 2020 we have provided additional funding of up to £130 million, with the aim of supporting at least 24,000 new and enhanced opportunities. This includes over 11,000 employability and training opportunities for young people through Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs).

LEPs are prioritising support for disabled young people through employer recruitment incentives and specialist programmes, with some offering targeted support for those with complex additional support needs. Many partnerships are working with specialist organisations such as Project Search and Penumbra.

Through Developing the Young Workforce and Enable Works, Young Person’s Guarantee funding is also connecting over 1,000 disabled young people to fair work, education and opportunities designed to ensure a successful transition into adult life and work.

The Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland recognise that disabled people can face additional challenges in their career journeys, therefore enhanced contribution rates are available for Modern Apprentices up to the age of 29 who self-identify as disabled. SAAS administer the Disabled Students’ Allowance to support disabled students and those with additional learning needs and may have extra costs because of their impairment. Furthermore, many colleges and universities provide support to disabled young people while they are studying.

The Young Person’s Guarantee is part of a basket of interventions designed to support disabled young people that will contribute to the refresh of A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People – Employment Action Plan , due for publication next Spring.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the educational experiences of young people with complex additional support needs.

Students with disabilities or additional support needs can access a variety of support to assist their access to Further Education and Higher Education. The Additional Support Needs for Learners Allowance in Further Education and the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) in Higher Education, provide financial assistance which can be used to facilitate support which is individual to the student’s needs.

Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) are currently leading a project on behalf of the Scottish Government, reviewing the disability related student support element, encompassing both Further Education and Higher Education.

The project aims to deliver a suite of recommendations which will seek to improve the provision of support and increase parity across the sector. This will include improvements to the Higher Education Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) administered by SAAS and the Additional Support Needs for Learners Allowance which is available to students in Further Education.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) Outcome Agreement Guidance for 2021-22 sets out that SFC expect institutions to comply with their legal duties including setting and delivering equality outcomes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04204 on 19 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

Monitoring has found previous flooding incidents in Newcastleton to be due to recurring blockages in the network which Scottish Water’s Sewer Response Team duly attended and cleared. Scottish Water is also aware that more recent incidents have arisen from severe wet weather events leading to surface and river flooding.

The primary flooding issue in Newcastleton is associated with the Liddell Water breaking its banks and I refer the member to the answer to S6W-04149 on 17 November 2021 for further information.

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 information requested is available at:

General Practice - GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2010 - 2020 - General Practice - GP workforce and practice list sizes - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Table 2 shows the number of GPs in each board.

Table 4 shows the registered number of patients in each board.

The Scottish Government provides loans with cashback grants to enable households in all parts of Scotland to install renewables and energy efficiency measures. Funding is delivered through Home Energy Scotland and managed, on behalf of Scottish Government, by the Energy Saving Trust,

To further support households in understanding the application process, Home Energy Scotland provides:

• free, impartial, bespoke advice through Home Energy Scotland, including specialist home renewables advice;
• the Green Homes Network which allows households to find out about the experience of others who have already installed renewables measures; and
• the Renewable Installer Finder Tool which helps households find installers and suppliers in their area.

Going forward, and following the recent publication of the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we are developing a bespoke public engagement strategy for heat in buildings. This builds on the objectives and guiding principles of our Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change, as well as our existing support and advice programmes.

We are investing in growing our advice services so that they continue to meet people's needs and this includes improving our digital presence and continuing to provide in-depth support for installing zero emissions heating systems.

The Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, committed to establishing a Green Heat Finance Taskforce by the end of 2021. The purpose of the Taskforce is to develop a portfolio of innovative financial solutions involving the private, public and third sectors for building owners in Scotland to ensure that by 2045, our homes and buildings no longer contribute to climate change, as part of the wider just transition to net zero.

The Taskforce will forge a new partnership approach between the Scottish public sector, heat decarbonisation experts and the financial sector to explore potential new and value for money innovative financing mechanisms for individual and community level investment in zero emissions heat. The Taskforce has a crucial role in shaping how the transition to zero emissions heat in Scotland’s buildings is financed, therefore the membership of the Taskforce will be drawn from expertise including green finance, the heat and energy efficiency sector and consumer groups. Further details of the composition of the Taskforce will be provided by the end of 2021.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a requirement for evacuation alert systems to be installed in new buildings between 11 and 18 metres in height. See answer to S6W-04133 on 19 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 .

On 1 October 2019, the Scottish Government introduced evacuation alert systems in new high rise domestic buildings with a floor over 18m. The government also published Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing High Rise Domestic Buildings. The guidance promotes using a risk based approach to determine the fire safety measures required. Therefore, upgrading existing high rise domestic buildings with evacuation alert systems may be implemented where the level of fire risk is justified, taking into account the time, cost and disruption to building occupants involved.

We are not aware of any recommendation from the Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 report relating to evacuation alert systems to be installed in new and existing high rise buildings over 11 metres in height.

The data about the efficacy of the Hawick flood defences is not held by the Scottish Government. The scheme is being taken forward and constructed by Scottish Borders Council and they will be able to provide the relevant data.