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The Scottish Government recognises the valuable and high quality support provided to young people by youth workers.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with Community Learning and Development (CLD) Managers Scotland, Youth Scotland and YouthLink Scotland in connection with the grant funding provided to each organisation. These organisations represent large parts of the CLD youth work sector, and the meetings provide a valuable opportunity for the Scottish Government to receive feedback on youth work.

As part of the independent review of CLD, Kate Still engaged and consulted with a broad range of CLD stakeholders, including youth workers as well as learners accessing youth work. Findings from this engagement are reflected in the Learning: For All. For Life. report which can be found here: Learning: For All. For Life. A report from the Independent Review of CLD.

In addition, HM Inspectors of Education review and report on the quality of CLD provision across Scotland and evaluate the progress that local authorities and their CLD partners are making to improve the quality of provision and services in their areas. Individual reports can be found here: CLD Inspection Reports.

The Fostering_and_adoption_statistical_bulletin_2024-2025.pdf were published on 28 October 2025.

At 31 December 2024, there were 133 children and young people who had been approved for adoption across 23 local authority services and were waiting to be matched with approved adopters.

Of the children waiting to be matched in 2024, 36 (27%) had been waiting for over one year, down from 47 (36%) the previous year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41194 on 7 November 2025. 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/questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41186 on 7 November 2025. 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 recognises the valuable support provided to young people through high quality youth work. This work contributes to the Scottish Government’s priority of eradicating child poverty and tackling inequality.

The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013, in effect, requires local authorities to identify need and plan provision in their areas. These regulations require that a Community Learning and Development (CLD) plan is produced every three years by each education authority. The most recent plans were published in September 2024 and can be accessed at: Local Authority CLD Plans.

The Scottish Government respects the autonomy of local authorities to allocate resources to meet the needs of learners, including for youth work. However, the Scottish Government published strategic Guidance to Local authorities to support them to develop their CLD plans in 2024 which can be accessed at: CLD: guidance for 2024 to 2027.

Recognising the important role local authorities play in delivering local services, including youth work, the Scottish Government has increased the total resources available to local government by over £1.1 billion in 2025-26, a real terms increase of 5.5%.

Additionally, by investing national funding in youth work through programmes such as Cashback for Communities, this opens up further valuable opportunities for young people and communities at a grassroots level. This helps empower young people to grow, thrive, and shape their own futures through improved mental health, physical activity, and gain the skills they need for learning, life, and work.

Regarding quality of local authority provision, between September 2023 and June 2024, HM Inspectors carried out a programme of visits to all 32 local authorities as part of the 2023/24 annual programme of inspection. These inspections were designed to support improvement and provide external assurance of the quality of CLD provision across Scotland, specifically evaluating quality and improvement in leadership and governance. Individual reports can be found here: CLD Inspection Reports.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41190 on 7 November 2025. 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 information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. Building management responsibilities are a matter for the owners and managers to ensure the safety of their premises. Statutory requirements for the fitness of premises to be used for the provision of early learning and childcare are set out in Section 10 of The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011. These requirements are enforced by the Care Inspectorate, which assesses compliance during inspections and registration processes.

The Scottish Government recognises the valuable youth work provided to young people in rural and Island communities.

Each education authority is responsible for securing Community Learning and Development (CLD) in their area under the Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013, including in rural and island education authorities.

The 2013 Regulations require local authorities to plan and arrange the provision of CLD. In line with the Verity House Agreement, local authorities have the autonomy to deliver services that meet the assessed needs of young people in their areas.

Since 2021-2022, the Scottish Government have also provided grant funding to Youth Scotland to coordinate the Young Islanders Network which provides young people aged 5-25 years a safe space to express and discuss issues that affect their lives and their islands. Scottish Government are providing £119,400 in 2025-26 to support the network.

Young Islanders Network members have been closely involved in informing both the implementation of the current National Islands Plan, published in 2019, and the development of the new iteration of the plan.

In 2024-25, Scottish Government also provided £125k to the Rural Youth Action Network (RYAN) as a youth-led project, coordinated jointly by Scottish Rural Action (SRA) and Youth Scotland, to consolidate momentum behind a rural youth mobilisation and participation platform in Scotland.

As the member may be aware, while the Scottish Government does not collect national statistical data on this matter, in June 2025 Nature Scot, Learning Through Landscapes and Play Scotland have published “School Grounds in Scotland in 2025 Key Points and Reflections from a ‘State of the Nation’ Report”, based on a sample survey of 1,000 schools. While the report contained a number of positive conclusions on progress made since a similar report in 2005, it also contained a number of areas for improvement.

The Scottish Government’s Learning for sustainability: action plan 2023 to 2030 - gov.scot contains a range of actions aimed at improving the way that schools buildings, grounds and policies support Learning for Sustainability, including outdoor learning. Additionally, the Learning Estate Strategy – which was co-produced by the Scottish Government and COSLA – includes a guiding principle that makes clear that outdoor learning and the use of outdoor learning environments should be maximised.

The Scottish Government is currently working with a range of national partners to deliver the actions within the LfS Action Plan, to implement the Learning Estate Strategy and, through the work of the Scottish Outdoor Learning Strategic Working Group, to agree further actions to support and promote outdoor learning.

The Scottish Government recognises the valuable support provided to young people through high quality youth work. This work contributes to the Scottish Government’s priority of eradicating child poverty and tackling inequality.

An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD) was commissioned in December 2023. As part of the independent review, a detailed literature review was published on the value and impact of CLD, including youth work. This includes external research carried out on the economic value of youth.

The literature review also outlines how youth work provides employability support, opportunities to develop skills and improves young people’s mental health and wellbeing. The literature review can be found here: Community Learning and Development in Scotland and internationally: literature review - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Learning: For All. For Life. report published in July 2024, which made 20 recommendations varying in complexity and scope. The report can be accessed at: Supporting documents - Learning: For All. For Life. A report from the Independent Review of Community Learning and Development (CLD) - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government and COSLA accepted recommendation 1.1 to set up a joint CLD Strategic Leadership Group. The Group are considering the remaining recommendations of the report, including those relating to outcomes and measurement.