Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The recruitment and deployment of Police Officers and Police Staff is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.

Scottish Government statistics show that we have a higher number of officers than at any time during the previous administration. We currently have 17,232 officers, with Scotland having around 32 officers per 10,000 population compared to around
‎ 23 per 10,000 population in England and Wales.

The Chief Constable regularly reviews the size and shape of the policing workforce in light of changing demands. Local police divisions have a core complement of officers who are always dedicated locally to community and response policing, and they can additionally draw on specialist expertise and resources at a regional and national level – providing the right people in the right place at the right time to keep people safe and to meet the needs of our communities.

The Scottish Government does not believe there is a need to establish a mechanism for members of the public to make representations on applications submitted under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. Whilst no formal mechanism exists, members of the public can at any time raise concerns with a local authority about persons engaged in or seeking to engage in any statutory licensable activity covered by the aforementioned legislation and local authorities can, if they consider such action to be warranted, investigate or take into consideration any representations made. The 2021 Regulations place a duty on the local authority to consider as part of the application process whether any applicant for a licence is a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

The Scottish Government is committed to our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) being operational as soon as practicably possible. We are working hard with Circularity Scotland Ltd and wider industry to agree a final timescale and clear milestones for delivery, and will announce this schedule to Parliament in due course.

a & b) As you will be aware, the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, (the act), introduces new national provisions, prohibiting pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs. A suite of secondary legislation is required for this prohibition to work in practice and give local authorities the power to implement and enforce the prohibitions.

In relation to the points regarding bringing forward dropped kerbs and double parking first, Scottish Ministers need to ensure that local authorities have an effective enforcement regime in place and that local authorities are able to issue Penalty Charge Notices correctly. As such, the enforcement regimes cannot be split and need to remain constituent parts of the same package of enforcement measures. For example, in order to issue all types of ticket, the means to provide a right of appeal needs to be in place and the changes to legislation which govern this need to be made at the same time once all of the other parts of legislation are in place.

We are continuing to consult with Local Authorities, following our initial pivot to deal with the Covid 19 pandemic, to develop both the secondary legislation required to allow them to enforce the National pavement parking prohibition as well as the Parking Standards Guidance which will underpin the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

Additionally, we need to consult with the public on some areas contained within the secondary legislation. Local authorities will be required to undertake an assessment to identify and progress any exemptions to the pavement parking prohibition they consider necessary. We are actively working with Local Authorities to undertake this work and Scottish Ministers have provided the requested £2.4 million of funding to enable this to be progressed in a timeous manner.

The majority of the secondary legislation is likely to be in place by 2022. Some aspects however, such as the appeals process for those who wish to appeal a ticket issued for pavement parking, as mentioned above, may not be in place until 2023.

c) Transport Scotland will be undertaking an in-depth publicity campaign before implementation to make the public aware of the date that the new provisions come into force. We have previously discussed this with disability groups and within our Parking Standards Group of which Living Streets are a stakeholder. We will be progressing this in due course as per the legislative program . In addition to this we are currently exploring other ways of proactively promoting the unacceptability of parking on the pavement and highlighting the risk it causes others. We intend to undertake this as soon as possible and indeed well before mid-2022.

d) The Scottish Government recognises the detrimental impact that obstructive and irresponsible parking can have on vulnerable groups, as well as Emergency vehicles and other road users in general. Scottish Ministers have already undertaken an extensive consultation on this matter, (Improving Parking in Scotland Consultation 2017). Feedback obtained from this consultation is available at the following link:
‎ https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/42239/improving-parking-in-scotland-may-2018.pdf
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‎ Prior to the pavement parking provisions coming into force under the Act, Local Authorities will be required to assess their footways for the purposes of determining which, if any, may be appropriate to be exempt from the pavement parking prohibition. Local Authorities will be required to consider their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 throughout this determination process and prior to an Exemption Order being proposed. Ministerial Directions and Pre-Implementation Guidance will be published to assist Local Authorities in undertaking this determination process.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

In September 2019 there were 1,073 teachers in Secondary schools whose main subject was music.

Of these 1,073 teachers, 1,007 had posts in September 2020 (irrespective of subject taught or setting) and 66 did not have a post in publicly funded Scottish school.

The 1,007 with posts in the 2020 teacher census includes those recorded as not teaching at the time because they were either on leave or seconded from their post (e.g. on maternity leave).

Data from the September 2021 teacher census will be published on the 14th of December.

Our COVID Status Certification scheme is a necessary, proportionate and limited measure targeted towards activities that are a higher risk. This is an alternative to the potential closure of higher risk venues.

We value the work of the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the current scheme takes account of potential issues noted in the Commission’s April 2021 briefing paper. We have addressed a range of more specific potential impacts in our published Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) .

Our decisions are taken, and reviewed on the latest data and clinical evidence . Our review process includes consideration of the impact assessments, such as the EQIA.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03671 & S6W-03672 on 17 November 2021. 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

Our COVID Status Certification scheme is a necessary, proportionate, and a limited measure targeted towards activities that are a higher risk. This is an alternative to the potential closure of higher risk venues.

We have taken an equality and human rights approach; and have considered how the scheme may impact individuals and communities. This includes, considering the scheme’s compatibility with the Convention Rights identified in the Human Rights Act 1998 and with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Other requirements, such as the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) have also been taken into account.

In developing the scheme, ministers and officials have engaged pro-actively with a wide range of stakeholders, including but not limited to, those representing human rights, children’s rights, and each of the protected characteristics in the Equality Act. Stakeholder views and evidence have been reflected in our published impact assessments.

Our decisions are taken, and reviewed on the latest data and clinical evidence . Our review process includes consideration of the impact assessments, such as Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) and Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment .