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The Scottish Government will publish the International Communications Framework before the summer recess.

Scottish Government have committed to ensure that sportscotland’s Active Schools programme is free for all children and young people by the end of this Parliament. While there are still a small number of cases where charging remains, it is not currently possible to determine how many children this applies to.

The Active Schools Network consists of over 400 Active Schools managers and coordinators working with schools. This means that every state school in Scotland is supported by an Active Schools coordinator dedicated to developing and supporting the delivery of quality sporting opportunities for children and young people.

Data published by sportscotland in 2023 shows significantly increased participation levels across the past academic year (2022-23), with over 4.6 million visits (a rise of 34% on 2021-22) made to almost 247,000 Active Schools sessions. The number of Active Schools participants (over 269,000 children and young people), deliverers (over 17,900 with 90% of those being volunteers), and school/club links (over 2,500) also increased from the previous academic year as the recovery from the pandemic continued.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role Active Play has in providing children with the opportunity to develop physical skills in their early years and to encourage a long-term relationship with physical activity. The Active Play Development Project continues to have a positive impact for children, with the delivery of high quality Active Play experiences and resources across three local authority areas Glasgow, Highland and North Ayrshire.

Enjoyment in Active Play has been one of the biggest drivers for children’s participation, because of this fun and inclusive approach, children are more motivated and confident to be physically active. There are currently 1213 children directly participating in the programme in a range of settings and the reach continues to grow as learning from year one of the project is built upon.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), published in December 2022, recommended a series of active travel interventions to encourage and sustain a rise in active travel across Scotland. For the South West Scotland this built on earlier work done as part of the South West Scotland Transport Study, published in January 2020, that proposed the development of Strategic Active Travel Network in the South West of Scotland to better connect communities to key destinations with cycle paths parallel to trunk roads and improvements to the National Cycle Network (NCN).

Although the Scottish Government has had no direct involvement in any scheme to extend the NCN route 73 between Stranraer and Cairnryan, Transport Scotland has funded Sustrans with £18.4 million in 2023-24 to continue development of the National Cycle Network. The NCN in Scotland is managed by Sustrans who gave intentions to explore improvements to NCN 73 in the south west which are included within Sustrans’ 30 year National Cycle Network Plan.

The active travel budget is currently supporting infrastructure being delivered by Transport Scotland on the trunk road network to encourage modal shift and to improve active travel connectivity. As part of this, Transport Scotland is currently investigating the feasibility of a new shared use path along the A77 from the south of Cairnryan to the A77/ A751 junction.

Background information required for the design of this shared use path is currently being gathered. Transport Scotland’s operating company Amey requires to carry out vegetation clearance in advance of a topographic survey, subject to environmental investigations. Land purchase will also be required, and this can only commence once the design has identified the full land extent necessary.

Construction between the A751 and Cairnryan is currently programmed for the fourth quarter of FY24/25. This is however subject to available budgets and conclusion of the land purchase which may delay construction. Subject to available ongoing funding, Transport Scotland will investigate the upgrading of the existing path from Stranraer to the A751.

Police Scotland’s 2019 Estate Strategy outlined plans to replace outdated, underinvested and underused properties with a modern, fit-for-purpose estate. This will help develop modern premises, capable of delivering effective and efficient public services to meet the needs of people and the staff who use them.

For example, co-locations make the best use of the public sector estate and offer the opportunity for increased visibility, closer working and increased collaboration between partners. Police Scotland has over 60 examples of successful co-location, including at Marischal College with Aberdeen City Council.

It should also be noted that, under a single Scottish police service, police operate over three tiers – local, regional and national. This ensures that there is a core complement of officers dedicated to community and response policing. Local Area Commanders can also draw on specialist resources to further support local policing whenever they are needed.

Police Scotland is currently undertaking a national consultation on its estate plans. This forms part of its wider engagement activity to listen to feedback and views about the proposed estate change. I encourage anyone with an interest to engage with this conversation which is available on the Police Scotland National Conversation About Our Estate - Police Scotland - Citizen Space .

Matters concerning the police estate are operational issues for the Chief Constable, who is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority. I also have regular meetings with the Chief Constable, where a range of issues are discussed, including the police estate.

There could be a number of contributing factors relating to the differences of recorded Additional Support Needs (ASN) data between ELC and schools.

The 34% of learners who were recorded as requiring additional support in the 2022 pupil census represents a cohort of learners who have spent a longer period of time in primary, secondary and special school settings compared to ELC. The length of time children and young people spend in primary, secondary and special school settings combined with their individual stage of development, strengths, areas of need and circumstances provides increased opportunities to identify, understand and record their needs. It is therefore highly likely that there will be a higher incidence of reporting in school settings compared to ELC settings.

An additional support need can arise for any reason and may not be permanent. There is a wide spectrum of support that may be needed, from support to overcome barriers arising from health or disability, to support for social and emotional reasons. In addition, the factors which give rise to additional support are often interconnected. Children and young people may also have more than one type of additional need that has been identified over a period of time in primary and secondary settings. This means that the total percentage for ASN categories does not equal the sum of individual types of additional support needs.

Identifying additional support needs in young children should be a holistic and collaborative approach that is centred around the child. It usually takes place over a period of time, to take cognisance of the child’s individual stage of development, strengths, areas of need and circumstances. It should involve the gathering of information from varied sources in order to identify their needs and to suggest appropriate interventions, support and planning. This can include consultation which actively involves educators, parents/carers, the child and other agencies. This is often not achievable until primary or secondary school, and is another factor that is reflected in the differences in recorded statistics.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25506 on 28 February 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 and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) recognise the impact of illicit drugs in prisons and the importance of supporting prisoners on their recovery journey.

We are committed to ensuring that the prison population have access to healthcare that is, as a minimum, equal to that offered in the community. A recent example is the development of a prisoner Healthcare Target Operating Model to provide a framework for nationally consistent healthcare delivery including the future state of addictions services. The National Prison Care Network are visiting NHS Boards to support the implementation of this model.

There are already a range of innovative projects in prisons including recovery cafes, recovery walks, mutual aid groups and other positive diversionary activities. Partnership working is crucial and the SPS works with several third sector organisations to deliver consistent recovery pathways to help individuals reintegrate back into communities. The multi-disciplinary Recovery Network also provides the SPS with an opportunity to share and replicate best practice in the community.

Medication Assisted Treatment standards are a key component of our National Drugs Mission and the SPS have committed to embed these standards across the prison estate. It is working with NHS Partners to ensure healthcare choice aligns with community-based treatment services wherever possible. In addition, the Prison to Rehab Protocol supports individuals to access abstinence-based treatment on release and sets out the process for prison staff, service providers and individuals on accessing the pathway.

All this work directly links to the Scottish Government’s National Mission. However, enforcement is also important, and a variety of operational and technological responses are deployed to prevent substances entering the prison estate. These include body scanners and Rapiscan machines, which detect substances that may be concealed in items of mail and personal property.

As I said in my answer to question S6W-23651 on 7 December 2023, the Scottish Government is aiming to publish a consultation on a substantial range of family and succession law matters, including the minimum age of marriage, by summer 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

In the June response we committed to establishing a new Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme to co-ordinate and drive further change and improvement over time in line with the Scottish Mental Health Law Review ambitions. This Spring, we intend to publish an initial delivery plan setting out the key actions being taken forward against priorities identified under the Programme.