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The Scottish Government welcomes The UK Commission on Bereavement’s report and the focus it brings to improving the experience of people affected by grief and loss. Bereavement affects many aspects of our lives, and we recognise that getting the right care and support following a bereavement is crucial for our health and wellbeing.

We are already taking forward a broad programme of work to improve the practical support, care and advice that is available for people who have been bereaved.

The Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) Fund has provided funding to 115 organisations - including Child Bereavement UK, Richmond's Hope and APEX Scotland who provide support to children and young people who have suffered a loss through bereavement. £14.5m core funding is prioritised annually, which is equivalent to £100m to date from these funds’ inception.

Officials will continue to engage and listen to bereavement sector partners as they take forward bereavement work, drawing on the UK Commissions findings.

As reflected in the answer to question S6W-22365 on 8 November 2023, the Scottish Bereavement Summit’s final report was published on 28 June 2023. The Report suggests 10 recommendations that the Scottish Government is considering how best to implement. The programme of bereavement work currently spans many Ministerial portfolios, reflecting the wide range of impacts bereavement has on people’s lives. The Scottish Government Bereavement cross-policy network continues to engage and listen to bereavement sector partners as we take forward & draw on the UK Commission’s findings.

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

As set out in the Policy Memorandum, accompanying the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill, the policy intention is that a local authority can establish exemptions to a visitor levy scheme in its area as it believes are appropriate. The Bill therefore provides for a local authority to put such exemptions in place, which will be informed by advice in national guidance being developed by local government and business organisations in the Visitor Levy Expert Group.

We have undertaken the full suite of assessments required for the introduction of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill and these were published on the Scottish Government website on 14 June 2023. There is no requirement to assess the potential impact of Bills on developing countries. We are, however, committed to ensuring Scotland remains a global leader in equality, inclusion and human rights, and recently I met representatives of Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace Justice & Peace Scotland > Home (justiceandpeacescotland.org.uk) , from Malawi, who gave a very informative and moving presentation on Human Rights and Mining.

As set out in the Policy Memorandum, accompanying the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill, the policy intention is that a local authority can establish exemptions to a visitor levy scheme in its area as it believes are appropriate. The Bill therefore provides for a local authority to put such exemptions in place, which will be informed by advice in national guidance being developed by local government and business organisations in the Visitor Levy Expert Group.

The teaching standards set by the General Teaching Council for Scotland require teachers to be able to identify and respond appropriately to pupils with difficulties in or barriers to learning. Initial Teacher Educations supports student teachers to be able to support the child in question themselves or to seek specialised information and specialised support if necessary. Scottish Ministers have recently outlined in our Programme for Government 2023-24 our commitment to work with teachers to provide additional professional learning opportunities while seeking to build on the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan.

In 2022-23, the Scottish Government provided over £500,000 to voluntary sector organisations to support children and young people with additional support needs, including sensory loss. This includes funding to the Scottish Sensory Centre to support the training of school staff to provide effective support to Deaf children and young people.

The analysis of the Scottish Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) consultation and the Scottish Government response were published on the Scot.gov website on Tuesday 7 November. These documents can be accessed via the following links:

Consultation Analysis Report: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835214763

Scottish Government Response: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835214756

As set out in the Policy Memorandum, accompanying the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill, the policy intention is that a local authority can establish exemptions to a visitor levy scheme in its area as it believes are appropriate. The Bill therefore provides for a local authority to put such exemptions in place, which will be informed by advice in national guidance being developed by local government and business organisations in the Visitor Levy Expert Group.

As set out in the Policy Memorandum, accompanying the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill, the policy intention is that a local authority can establish exemptions to a visitor levy scheme in its area as it believes are appropriate. The Bill therefore provides for a local authority to put such exemptions in place, which will be informed by advice in national guidance being developed by local government and business organisations in the Visitor Levy Expert Group.

The Scottish Government funded a national Childhood Bereavement Coordinator project, that concluded in September 2022 with the publication of the final report ‘Growing Up Grieving’. The Co-ordinator’s report included 7 recommendations which span a number of portfolios across Scottish Government. The publication of the report coincided with that of the UK Commission on Bereavement published in October 2022 and the Scottish Bereavement Summit which took place on 13 October 2022, which included delegates from a wide range of bereavement sectors. The summit looked at and summarised the UK Commission report and other recent bereavement reports - including Growing up Grieving , and asked delegates to vote on their priority areas. The final report was published on 28 June 2023, summarising the summit’s findings and compiling recommendations from the 5 recent bereavement reports with the views of summit delegates into one set of recommendations.

As the Scottish Government programme of bereavement work spans a range of Ministerial portfolios, the bereavement cross-policy network is continuing to engage with, and listen to, bereavement sector partners. Future bereavement work will draw on the UK Commission’s findings.