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The process of the implementation of job evaluation of college support staff has yet to complete.

The Scottish Government encourages both the employers and the trade unions to continue to engage in the process, to agree a suitable way forward and ensure the timely conclusion of the project.

At the 2024-25 Scottish Budget, the Scottish Government announced that it will work with our partners in COSLA and local government, and other stakeholders, during 2024-25 to examine how further policy measures – regulatory and fiscal – can support existing policies and interventions to improve a wide range of land management outcomes, including the restoration of peatlands and the creation of more woodlands. This will also include consideration of a proposal for a Carbon Emissions Land Tax, as has been suggested by the John Muir Trust.

The Scottish Government will provide an update on its progress against this commitment before the end of the 2024-25 financial year.

Consumer protection awards are not a matter for the Scottish Government. Consumer assurance in relation to food produced and packaged in Scotland comes from the comprehensive system of food law we have in Scotland that all food businesses must comply with, which covers food and feed safety, food standards and labelling, and any claims related to health or provenance. Compliance with food law is verified through food business inspections and routine sampling and monitoring of food products placed on the market.

Schools in Scotland have the flexibility to decide on the content of their physical education lessons. The Scottish Government does not specifically evaluate the extent to which swimming lessons form a part of those decisions.

We know that some local authorities offer swimming lessons as part of their physical education classes. In other cases, schools may take into account a range of factors, including the time that is required to travel to a swimming pool, in deciding against offering swimming lessons as part of PE.

However, the Scottish Government has been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland and other stakeholders to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, competent and safer swimmers.

There are currently 54 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) inpatient beds across Scotland for children and adolescents.

Forty eight of these beds are commissioned on a regional basis. These are split across:

• North of Scotland Region - Dudhope Young People’s Inpatient Unit - 12 beds;
• South and East Region - Melville Young People’s Mental Health Unit - 12 beds;
• West Region Skye House Adolescent Inpatient Unit - 24 beds.

These units admit children and young people from Health Boards in that region, with the flexibility to admit from other regions if the unit closest to a child or young person is full.

Additionally, the National Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit in the Glasgow Royal Hospital for Children has 6 beds for children under 12 years and admits children from across Scotland, based on clinical need. This includes one to two national beds for children with profound learning disabilities and mental health disorders.

The National Adolescent Secure Inpatient Unit, Foxgrove, is due to open later in 2024 and initially will provide 4 beds for young people who require care in an inpatient setting with medium levels of security.

The National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Young Persons provides free travel on local registered bus services and long distance bus services throughout Scotland. Dedicated school transport services do not fall within the definition of eligible services set out in the legislation as they are generally not registered as local bus services or available to members of the public. Local authorities receive funding via the local government block grant to enable them to meet their statutory obligations, including the provision of home to school transport.

The commitment to develop a new digital strategy for education was made in the 2023 Programme for Government and is expected to complete by Autumn 2024.

In December 2021, our Response to Scotland’s Climate Assembly: Recommendations for Action included the commitment to investigate opportunities for whole life emission reporting.

Following this commitment we engaged with Zero Waste Scotland and some of the UK’s leading embodied carbon experts to scope research which produced the report Regulating Embodied Carbon in Scotland’s Buildings .

National Planning Framework 4 makes clear that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a cross-cutting outcome of development and includes policy that requires a minimisation of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and the use of materials with the lowest forms of embodied emissions, such as recycled and natural construction materials.

We are currently engaging with key organisations and UK counterparts to understand the viability of such action and benefit that can be derived from a requirement to report on the broader environmental impact of new development, including the assertion that this could be addressed through building regulations.

Community youth work remains an important pillar of local authority provision. The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities. Transparency is ensured through annually-published breakdowns of spending on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities.

Examples of direct Scottish Government support include:

• £106m+ to 115 organisations, supporting children and families across Scotland from our Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Third Sector Fund (CYPFEI & ALEC) since its launch in 2016. £6m in core funding to 22 new organisations supporting children, families, young people and adult learners from our Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector Fund in 2023-24.
• £19m to support 72,000 young people through youth work from the CashBack for Communities Fund over the last three years.
• A further commitment of up to £20m from our CashBack for Communities Fund for 2023-26 to provide support to 29 youth work organisations to deliver a wide range of trauma-informed and person-centred services and activities for young people.
• £1m+ to YouthLink Scotland and Youth Scotland in 2023-24 to support core funding and provide high quality training with a focus on equality and inclusion for youth work staff and volunteers.
• £1m of capital investment in digital inclusion between 2022-24 for community learning providers, including youth work organisations.

Furthermore, an independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), encompassing youth work, was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland, providing valuable insights for the future.