Seòmar agus comataidhean

This is a matter for Local Authorities who are responsible for the delivery of School Meals and management of debt owed to them.

The management of meal debt is a matter for local authorities.

The most recent Programme for Government (2023-24) sets out the Scottish Government’s intention to introduce the Scottish Languages Bill in this current parliamentary year.

Finfish farm tenants pay rent to Crown Estate Scotland, who pass all revenue profits to the Scottish Government, via the Scottish Consolidated Fund. Under the current commitment, the proportion of this net revenue that is obtained from Scottish Crown Estate marine assets out to 12 nautical miles is distributed to coastal local authorities to spend on community benefit.

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland and local Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) have the responsibility for commissioning and managing the appropriate services for local needs. The Scottish Government are investing £1.7bn for social care and integration in 2023-24 to support the people who deliver, and rely, on these services.

The National Care Service Programme includes a ‘Market Shaping’ work stream. This project will deliver tools and techniques for securing services through contracts, grants, and alliances that are financially sustainable and that meet the needs of people receiving care and the people delivering care. Market Shaping tools and techniques will be designed with providers of social care, commissioners, procurement experts and other stakeholders. It will consider how to improve the financial sustainability of current services, and how services that are not currently offered by the market can be designed and secured in ways that providers are able to deliver.

Public reporting of the winter flu and COVID-19 vaccination programme launched on 21 September and can be accessed via PHS Vaccination Surveillance (shinyapps.io) .

The only publicly currently available data is the total number of vaccinations administered for both Covid-19 and flu. By the end of October, Public Health Scotland will begin publishing uptake data by eligible JCVI groups, including those at highest risk. It will also publish Health Board-level uptake data, alongside other information such as uptake by ethnicity and SIMD.

The additional data isn’t publicly available because it is management information that cannot be disclosed until the necessary data quality checks are complete to ensure that the data is robust. In the meantime, officials and health boards are using the management information to monitor uptake to ensure that it is what we are expecting.

There is a currently a mixed delivery of breakfast provision across Scotland with a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We have begun work with local authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map that provision. This mapping work will inform the development of a delivery strategy for breakfast provision designed around the needs of children and families.

The Reach programme, one of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) funded Access to High Demand Programmes (ADHP), was initially founded in 2010 to improve progression to higher education (HE) and targeted specific schools with lower rates of progression to HE.

In 2017 the targeting criteria for ADHP were expanded to ensure that certain disadvantaged pupils in all schools could benefit from the programme, not just pupils in schools with lower progression rates. This decision was informed by the Commission on Widening Access’ final report, A Blueprint for Fairness, and SFC-funded research looking at the attainment and socio-economic profiles of pupils in all schools in Scotland.

Targeting criteria for AHDP is set by SFC and AHDP partners. Since 2017, the eligibility criteria are:

• Live in an SIMD decile 1-4 (SIMD 20/40); or

• Are care experienced; or

• Are estranged from family and living without family support; or

• Have caring responsibilities; or

• Are seeking asylum in the UK; or

• Have refugee status.

Reach partners may also consider extenuating circumstances outwith the above at their discretion.

I understand that local authorities are keen to get clarity on Phase 3 of the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP). We wrote to councils to explain that consideration of potential Phase 3 projects was still ongoing.

It is important to recognise that we are trying to make these important investment decisions against a backdrop of market volatility on current projects, which has meant that we have agreed to provide an 11% adjustment to 20 Phase 1 and 2 projects, and this was communicated to local authorities on 3 August. The incidences of RAAC in a small number of our schools is also a factor we are taking into consideration.

These are big decisions, it is important that we get them right, and I have committed to updating the Parliament by the end of October.

LEIP is an important part of our investment in education provision and will build on this government’s proud record in improving our school estate, which has saw the number of schools in Scotland in good or satisfactory condition rise from 61% in 2007 to 90.7% today.

All staff have the right to a rest break if they work more than 6 hours a day. I recognise the challenges this poses for ambulance crews and a protective measure has been put in place. Where they have passed their rest break window and/or been called out whilst on a rest break, a fully protected rest break should be offered to these staff.

Compliance with rights to rest breaks are matters for employers and I have been clear that all trade union partners need to work with the Scottish Ambulance Service to resolve any ongoing issues.

We continue to work with leaders across health, as well as hearing directly from trade unions to understand where the current pressures are, and what further actions can be taken to mitigate the impact on staff.