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In November 2022 the Ministerial Population Taskforce published the research report ‘Attitudes to Family Formation in Scotland’ to update the evidence base about fertility, family planning, and ideal family size in Scotland.

Building on international engagement with other countries experiencing low birth rates, the Scottish Government is taking forward comparative work about family friendly policies in other European countries, to establish if successful interventions elsewhere could be applicable in Scotland.

The outputs of this work will be considered alongside recent Census data in order to develop next steps which reflect Scottish Ministers’ ambition for Scotland to be the best possible place for all families.

The Scottish Government has provided consistent support for the marine energy sector for more than a decade, for example through our work with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), based in Orkney, which is the world’s only fully accredited test and research centre for wave and tidal energy. However, the main levers for enabling the commercialisation of these emerging technologies lie with the UK Government. The UK Government’s Contracts for Difference Allocation Rounds 4 and 5 highlight Scotland’s pioneering role in the tidal stream energy and its potential in our future net zero energy system. We welcome the recently announced £15 million ring-fenced support for tidal steam projects and look forward to working with the UK Government to ensure these technologies are supported through the scheme.

ScotRail has been recruiting more staff to minimise reliance on staff working on rest days or overtime. ScotRail now employs 250 more train drivers than it did prior to public sector ownership. In addition, 160 Train Drivers are currently being recruited, the highest number ever, and ScotRail plans to continue its recruitment for Train Drivers in the coming years.

All ScotRail staffing costs including the funding for the planned recruitment are reflected in the current Transport Scotland rail budget for the financial year‎ 2024-2025.

I fully appreciate the need to get bookings released in good time so that businesses and individuals can plan ahead. Bookings for dates beyond 31 December 2024 will be opened as soon as possible.

Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer 1,140 hours a year of funded ELC to all 3 and 4-year-olds and eligible 2-year-olds regardless of their parents’ working status. This offer has been in place since 2021 and, if families paid for this themselves, it would cost them more than £5,500 per eligible child per year.

National eligibility for 2-year-olds covers: children with care experience; children of parents in receipt of a ‘qualifying benefit’, and; children of parents with care experience. We already offer up to 1140 hours of high quality ELC to around a quarter of families with a 2-year-old who experience the most disadvantage and we will continue to work with local authorities and our partners in the sector to support and improve up-take of the existing 2-year-old offer as well as planning for an expansion.

In addition to the inclusive early years offer to families, the Scottish Government has also committed to building a system of school age childcare that better meets the needs of all families and children. We recognise that the availability of accessible school age childcare is a key factor in supporting disabled parents to overcome their specific challenges allowing them to enter and sustain training and employment, or to benefit from much-needed respite.

The five Scottish family payments (Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Foods and the three Best Start Grants) also aim to give children the best start in life. Families with a parent who is disabled can access this financial support if they receive certain benefits and tax credits. Eligible families can be both in and out of work.

The Scottish Budget 2024-25 outlined plans to invest up to £90 million in devolved employability services in 2024-25, with services targeted at supporting those facing structural barriers to entering employment, including parents and those with disabilities. As we recognise disabled parents as one of the priority family groups who are most likely to experience poverty, Parental Employability Support is in place to ensure this cohort receives person-centred support, helping them move towards, into and to sustain employment as well as increasing their incomes. We recognise that employability stands the best chance of supporting people into fair and sustainable work at the right time for them with wrap-around support from other key public services providing additional help including childcare and money advice.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28663 on 15 August 2024.

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 continues to work closely with the Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA) and other Disabled People’s Organisations to develop and implement a disability equality plan that is informed by the lived experience of disabled people and will deliver actions to help with the significant challenges they are currently facing.

Children’s Services Plans are key to the delivery of Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) at a strategic, operational, and frontline practice level, and are the legislative, strategic planning and delivery context in which Holistic Whole Family Support and action to Tackle Child Poverty and Keep The Promise is set. Children’s Services Planning partners have a key role embedding GIRFEC at a local level, to ensure joined up support for families so they get the right help at the right time across services.

The GIRFEC approach lies at the heart of all our policies and services which support the wellbeing of children and young people. It provides a framework for the delivery of high-quality universal and targeted support across public services, the third sector and community partners. At a local level, Children’s Services Plans set out how services, supports and improvement activities will be delivered to meet the national and local priorities which aim to improve wellbeing outcomes for children, young people and families.

The Scottish Government’s Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme was established with the purpose of driving the system change required at local level, principally through Children’s Service Planning Partnerships (CSPPs), to deliver holistic family support so that families get the right support, at the right time, for as long as they need. Recognising the varying circumstances in local areas, the Programme does not seek to mandate a specific delivery model – an approach which has been welcomed by delivery partners. Instead, CSPPs are asked to assess their current delivery system and consider what the gaps and opportunities were for them in delivering holistic support for families.

Since 2022 we have invested over £110m in a programme of activity aimed at responding to what the sector told us was required to support local areas to deliver whole system change, including £96m provided directly to Children's Services Planning Partnerships to build local service capacity for change and transform family support services.

In addition, the Scottish Government has allocated over £12 million for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice in 2024-25. This vital funding ensures that people who are struggling the most can access the support they need in a way that works for them – be it face to face, online or over the phone. Building on the success of the Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships, the Scottish Government also established the Advice in Accessible Settings Fund last year. This fund supports the delivery of advice services in a range of community, health and education settings to further increase the availability and accessibility of advice.

We remain committed to supporting advice services as they continue to provide much needed support to households across Scotland.

The ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) approach lies at the heart of all Scotland’s services, including childcare services, to support children and young people. GIRFEC provides a universal and consistent framework for practitioners, together with families, to assess a child or young person’s needs, identify their strengths and any challenges they face, and consider the most appropriate offer of timely, coordinated support.

Education authorities have a duty under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their children, this includes supporting children and young people at key transition points, for example, when they transition from ELC into primary school. The Scottish Government provides funding to education authorities for additional support for learning as part of their block grant. It is for individual education authorities to manage their own budget and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Early learning and childcare (ELC) settings must provide appropriate support, including making any reasonable changes to the care and learning environment, to ensure that children's disabilities or additional support needs do not provide a barrier to them accessing a full range of experiences, and to ensure that provision meets their individual needs. The ‘Funding Follows the Child and the National Standard for Early Learning and Childcare Providers Operating Guidance’ is clear that local authorities and settings must work together to support children with additional support needs to access their funded ELC hours.

It is important that local funded ELC offers respond to parents’ and carers’ needs. Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult representative populations of parents and carers on how the statutory entitlement to ELC should be made available. It is also vital that local authorities provide clear and accessible information about funded ELC options, to help parents and carers make informed choices about the best setting for their child and family.

In respect of school age childcare, the Scottish Government has committed to building a system of school age childcare that better meets the needs of all children and their families. As set out in the ‘School Age Childcare Delivery Framework’, this includes reviewing inequalities in access, including for disabled children and families, and exploring how we can reduce barriers and support positive outcomes.

Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, education authorities have duties to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs (ASN) of their pupils.

The National Occupation Standards (NOS) form the basis of qualifications and training programmes required to work in social services in Scotland and to register with the Scottish Social Services Council. The NOS define the knowledge and skills needed for effective performance, and include that professionals must ‘know and understand legal and work setting requirements on equality, diversity, discrimination and rights.

Within the registerable qualifications, which all childcare staff must obtain, equalities, diversity and inclusion are woven into the mandatory units at all levels, as well as containing ASN specific optional units. The Next Generation Higher National Certificate in Childhood Practice, for example, now contains a mandatory stand-alone ASN unit - Additional Support Needs: Positive Support Strategies for Children and Young People.

The Scottish Social Services Council also recently launched a continuous professional learning (CPL) portal specifically for the childcare profession, funded by the Scottish Government. Within the CPL Directory of the portal are multiple training resources which help practitioners to support children with ASN, including a resource on ‘building confidence in identifying and responding to additional support needs.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce a HGV overtaking ban on either of the two lane sections of the M8 motorway.