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Scottish Government does not have a role in the sale or transfer of sites between owners. Under the terms of residential mobile home site licencing, anyone who applies for a site licence as the result of the sale or transfer of a site will need to meet the license conditions set by the local authority. This includes completing a 'fit and proper person test' to make sure the person holding the site licence (and the person who manages the site, if it's someone else) is an appropriate person to have one.

The electricity generated by solar panels on core Scottish Government owned buildings is

2023-24 – 227,433 kWh

2022-23 – 506,430 kWh

2021-22 – 269,187 kWh

2020-21 – 177,409 kWh

2019-20 – 81,246 kWh

The solar panels installed on core Scottish Government buildings have an output warranty of 25 years. The panels will continue to operate past 25 years, however their output will be lower than new panels. Maintenance costs are included in the overall building maintenance costs and cannot be disaggregated. The cost of replacing the panels at the end of their life cannot be estimated due to the timescales involved.

The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 requires employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel to ensure their employees receive immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work. This includes for staff who are employed within schools and other educational establishments.

Whilst the 1981 Regulations do not require employers to provide first aid for anyone other than their own employees, it is strongly recommended that, in the case of schools, they should also consider the needs of non-employees such as pupils and other visitors when making provisions for first aid.

Under the provisions of the 1981 Regulations, the minimum level of first aid coverage for schools is to have an appointed person or designated first aider to take charge of first aid arrangements. In addition, they should have a suitable first aid container stocked in accordance with at least the minimum requirements set out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This information is available on the HSE website through the following link: First aid at work - your questions answered.

Local authorities have the statutory responsibility for delivering education so the Scottish Government does not hold information about the numbers of teachers or school staff that have completed first aid training.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to establish an independent body to oversee and regulate residential mobile home sites.

Our priority at present is to work to change the basis of pitch fee uprating from the Retail Prices Index to the Consumer Prices Index under the Mobile Homes Act 1983. Once this is complete, we will work towards undertaking a post implementation review of the Residential Mobile Homes Site Licensing scheme.

The Mobile Homes Act 1983 controls the consumer rights of mobile home owners in relation to their pitch. The terms of the Written Statement, set out under the Mobile Homes Act 1983, include a number of provisions to ensure the transparency of fees and charges.

There is a requirement for site owners to provide documentary evidence in support and explanation of pitch fees, charges for gas, electricity, water or sewerage and other charges, costs or expenses. There is also a process set out for annual review of pitch fees which requires the site owner to issue a written notice setting out the proposed increase in pitch fees 28 days in advance of the review date. The notice must set out the services which are included in the pitch fee. The Written Statement also sets out what should be taken in to account in determining a new pitch fee, for example any sums expended on improvements since the last review date, and sets a presumption that the pitch fee does not increase or decrease by more than the rate of the retail prices index, unless this would be unreasonable.

Scottish Government officials have continued to engage with the Scottish Council of Independent Schools and Local Authorities on the impact of the removal of the VAT exemption for independent school fees on independent schools, their pupils, families and the state sector in Scotland.

Data on how much each local authority spends on supply teachers is not held or collected by central government.

Data on local authority expenditure on teachers is available from the Local Government Financial statistics data collection. The latest figures are available from LFR01 at Scottish local government finance statistics 2023-24.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing teacher numbers to deliver improved outcomes for children and young people.

The number of teachers in permanent posts has remained stable at more than 80% over the past 10 years. In addition, the number of teachers in Scotland's classrooms has increased by more than 2,500 over the past decade, as a result of investment by the Scottish Government. While we cannot direct teachers where to work, it is important to note that teacher vacancies arise across Scotland throughout the year.

We recently agreed with local government a commitment to working together to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels in 2025-2026, freeze learning hours and make meaningful progress towards reducing class contact time for teachers.

In order to support each of these measures, the Scottish Government is increasing the funding available to local government to £186.5 million in 2025-2026, and will issue £145.5 million to local government in full this financial year.

Local government will also receive additional funding of £28 million from 2025-2026 to develop the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) education workforce with further funding of £1 million being made available to support national initiatives which will help to recruit and train more ASL teachers.