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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.

I understand and share the Member's frustrations on the Ardrossan Harbour redevelopment, as do my Officials working on the project. The business case work and overall delivery of the project needs to be supported by the financial packages from each of the main funding partners. It is imperative therefore that these and the legal agreements are clearly defined, affordable and ensure value to the public purse.

During recent discussions with funding partners there have been some emerging issues in relation to the funding packages and costs to Government that require further investigation and to be concluded before the business case can be finalised.

Officials are progressing these matters as quickly as possible and will look to provide respective updates when notable progress is made.

I am advised that while it is too early to say how Clyde Metro will impact on the rail network, the Clyde Metro project team, led by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, has been engaging with ScotRail and Network Rail as part of the early work on the on-going Case for Investment stage. This engagement will continue throughout this key stage, which will define the Clyde Metro network.

The Scottish Government has had ongoing engagement with the wave and tidal energy sectors during the development of the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, including a Marine Energy Industry Roundtable event hosted by Scottish Renewables alongside key industry representatives. In addition, we received 346 responses from stakeholders to the consultation questions on marine energy in the draft ESJTP, which are being considered as we produce the final strategy.

Legislation sets out a wide range of permitted development rights. These allow certain types of development to be carried out without a planning application. In doing so, they help provide certainty and save the time and expense associated with applying for planning permission.

In the first phase of the Scottish Government’s review of permitted development rights, we introduced new PDR for the conversion of certain agricultural and forestry buildings to residential and flexible commercial uses (including shops, food and drink and business uses). We also increased the scale of agricultural buildings that may be built without a planning application. Rural businesses can also make use of and benefit from a range of other PDR.

In January 2023, we launched a consultation for the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP), seeking feedback on our draft vision for marine energy, and including a question on whether the Scottish Government should set a deployment target for marine energy. The forthcoming finalised ESJTP will take into account the wide range of consultation responses received. As we develop Scotland’s ambitions for both wave and tidal energy, we will continue to engage with the industry to explore and support solutions to address long-term needs.

The Scottish Government does not undertake assessment of the accessibility of streets nationally.

National Performance Framework (NPF) 4 policy 14, highlights the six qualities of successful places which development proposals should demonstrate. The qualities of safety, attractiveness, connectedness and adaptability can improve the accessibility of a place to all users. NPF4 is part of the development plan, which means that planning decisions should be made in line with NPF4 policy unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Designing Streets is a policy statement that promotes the consideration of street design towards placemaking and away from the system focus upon the dominance of motor vehicles. It emphasises the need to consider accessibility and inclusive design for people over vehicular movements. It is not a standards based guidance but promotes a balanced decision making on designing for place and movement, and relates to both planning and transport policies.

NPF4 policy 13 is clear that development proposals will be supported where they have taken into account, at the earliest stages of design, the transport needs of diverse groups including users with protected characteristics to ensure the safety, ease and needs of all users.

The Scottish Government publishes monthly reports on the Scottish economy at:

Economic briefs and bulletins - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

A report was not published in June 2024 due to the pre-election period for the UK General Election.