Chamber and committees

The Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020 repealed the provisions in Part 2 of schedule 6 to the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 - which extended the statutory timescales in FOISA (“the extension provisions”) - on 27 May 2020. Following that repeal, the Scottish Government has provided updated guidance to all staff and our case handling system has been amended to reflect the reversion to the original timescales. The Scottish Government’s guidance for central and local government and public bodies on the Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts also highlights publicly the reversion to the original timescales. This is available on the Scottish Government website at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-stakeholders-on-the-coronavirus-scotland-act-2020/

The extension provisions were in force from 7 April to 26 May 2020. 175 requests under FOISA had final reply deadlines which fell within that period. Of those, 82 were responded to within 20 working days. 93 were not responded to within 20 working days.

The following table provides data - for each of the last six months for which the Scottish Government has so far compiled figures - showing the number of requests under FOISA which were not responded to within 20 working days. It should be noted that some of these cases were nevertheless responded to within the statutory timescales in force at the time the response was issued.

As set out in the report on the Scottish Ministers’ FOI performance laid before the Scottish Parliament on 7 August 2020, the Ministers report monthly to the Scottish Information Commissioner on their FOI performance, before proactively publishing those performance figures on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/freedom-of-information-foi-reporting/

The Scottish Information Commissioner is expected to publish his next progress report on his intervention into the Scottish Government's FOI practice and performance during September. This will provide an independent assessment of the matters raised by the Member and I am confident it will show that the Scottish Government had made good progress before the impact of the coronavirus emergency.

Childminders have been able to reopen since the 3 June 2020 and at 14 August 55% of registered childminders have chosen to reopen their doors to provide childcare to families across Scotland.

Childminding Guidance was first issued June, with a revised version issued on 10 July, detailing how childminders could reopen and operate safely. The vast majority of childminding services, whilst having to make some modifications, have not had to considerably change their operating models and can now run close to business as usual in terms of delivery.

Current guidance states that childminders do not need any additional PPE for caring for children and they should continue to use their routine PPE – such as gloves for nappy changing or toileting children.

A survey commissioned by the Scottish Childminding Association, shared with Scottish Government, indicates that the majority of childminders surveyed believed that their costs would be unchanged or may potentially even decrease as a result of implementing the reopening guidance.

Many childminders have suffered financially because of the pandemic and the subsequent loss of private income over the lockdown period. This hardship, which for some will have been considerable, is distinctly different and should not be confused with costs directly associated with reopening.

To help support childminders who have suffered financially throughout the pandemic, on the 16 July the £60,000 Childminding Workforce Support Fund (CWSF) opened to provide grants up to a maximum of £350. The Scottish Government and the Scottish Childminding Association jointly funded the CWSF. The demand for the Childminding Workforce Support Fund was considerable and given the volume of applications the Scottish Childminding Association decided to pause the Fund for new applications on 17 July.

In view of the considerable demand for the fund, the Scottish Government is working with the Scottish Childminding Association to agree further funding support to childminders. Information on that further support will be made available shortly.

To help support childminders who have suffered financially throughout the pandemic, the Childminding Workforce Support Fund (CWSF) opened on 16 July to provide grants up to a maximum of £350 to eligible childminders. The demand for the Fund was considerable and given the volume of applications the Scottish Childminding Association decided to pause for new applications on 17 July.

In view of the level of demand for the Fund, the Scottish Government is working with the Scottish Childminding Association to agree further funding support to childminders. The needs of the childminding sector are different to other childcare providers and are being considered separately. Information on further support will be made available in due course.

The Transitional Support Fund is designed to help daycare of children providers in the private, voluntary and not-for profit sectors, including out-of-school care providers, to meet the extra costs incurred to comply with public health guidance in response to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 operating guidance, which was developed to support re-opening of daycare of children’s services from 15 July onwards, has significant financial implications (including physical adaptations and additional staffing) for settings. As such, the Transitional Support Fund was developed to offer support to help mitigate such costs.

A survey commissioned by the Scottish Childminding Association, shared with Scottish Government, indicates that the majority of childminders surveyed believed that their costs would be unchanged or may potentially even decrease as a result of implementing the reopening guidance.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) published an Equality Impact Assessment on the Alternative Certification Model ( https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/2020-sqa-alternative-certification-model-equality-impact-assessment.pdf ) on 4 August. This assessed the impact of the implementation of all elements of the approach, including teacher estimates, awarding, results and certification on candidates with protected characteristics.

As part of this, SQA published 2019 teacher estimates and 2019 results for pupils by ethnic group.

Following my statement to Parliament on Tuesday 11 August, learners will now be awarded the grades estimated by teachers unless these were upgraded as a result of the moderation process in which case they will receive the upgraded result. A new Equality Impact Assessment on this approach will be published by the Scottish Government in due course.

SQA is taking forward a rapid consultation on options for changing assessment methods for 2020-21.

As described in the Lessons Learned and Future Actions section of the Equality Impact Assessment published by SQA on 4 August, SQA and the Scottish Government are in the process of developing a suitable approach to data sharing that will allow for further analysis of 2020 results by some protected characteristics.

Comedy venues and those working in comedy have been eligible for Scottish Government support. Comedy businesses received support through the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund and some venues that offer comedy as part of a wider programme, for example along with theatre and music, have also been supported. People who work in venues that offer comedy as part of their programme have received support through our freelance schemes Several recipients of Creative Scotland’s Bridging Bursary and Open Project Fund awards made reference to comedy as part of their application. Creative Scotland made 2,293 awards totalling £4.3m from the Bridging Bursaries (Arts, Creative & Screen). The Arts & Creative Bridging Bursaries ran from 30 March to 2 April and 20-25 April and the Screen Scotland Bridging Bursary ran from 30 March to 20 May. The Open Project Fund for Creative Development budget is £7.5m and as at 3 July Creative Scotland had received 247 applications from individuals with a total ask of £2.9m and 75 applications from organisations, with a total ask of £1.4m. This fund remains open.

We continue to work with the Independent Comedy Association to understand the challenges faced by the sector and to consider how best to provide support.

The Scottish Government has made available £2.3 billion from the Business Support Fund to support those affected by the coronavirus. The £185 million fund for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises has supported many in the cultural industries across Scotland. This includes through the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund, the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund and the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund which are now closed. Further details of the Scottish Government’s Covid19 hardship and resilience awards including their geographical spread are provided in the following link: https://gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hardship-and-resilience-funds-statistics/

Since the pandemic began, Scottish Government officials have spoken regularly to relevant trade unions, both directly and as part of wider meetings with the STUC. Trade union representatives have also been involved in meetings with particular sectors. This has enabled trade unions to contribute to decisions about support for the culture sector on an ongoing basis.

All recipients of Creative Scotland funds are published at the following link on their website: https://www.creativescotland.com/funding/latest-information/awards-listings

As well as developing and delivering new funds at speed and with increased volumes of applications across its funds, Creative Scotland have largely delivered to the timescales in their published guidelines. For example, for the two phases of the new Bridging Bursaries (Arts and Screen) Creative Scotland estimate that around 95% of applications were processed within the published timeline which stated that applicants would receive payments – decisions and in accounts - within 4 weeks. The new Open Fund operates to a 5 week timescale which allows an extra week for contracts to be exchanged compared with the 4 week timescale which applied to the old Open Project Fund. From April to July 2020 there were nearly 4 times more applications to the Broadcast Content Fund and over twice the number of applications for the Film Development and Production Funds compared to 2019.

From the outset of the pandemic Creative Scotland acted swiftly in putting measures in place to support the sector.

Creative Scotland honoured the existing funding agreements with the cohort of 121 Regularly Funded Organisations with whom they already had a funding relationship.

They designed and introduced the Bridging Bursary programme which delivered more than £4.3m in emergency funding support to people working in the culture sector (supported by Scottish Government, the National Lottery and the Freelands Foundation).

Creative Scotland also adapted £8.5m of existing funds to continue to support the development of work by individuals, including the creation of new work, and Screen development.

Creative Scotland also continue to work closely with the Scottish Government on the significant new funding recently announced from the Scottish Government,

Developed in consultation with the Federation of Scottish Theatre and run by Creative Scotland, the Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund (£12.5 million) is specifically designed to deliver relief funding to the many performing arts venues across Scotland which are also registered charities and for whom public funding is already a significant contributor to their ongoing viability.

Within a week of opening on 30 July, the Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund has already supported twenty regularly funded venues across Scotland. Those venues have received a total of £7.5m from the first strand of the fund. The remaining £5m is open to non-regularly funded organisations.

On 10 July the Scottish Government also announced £2.2 million of support to grassroots music venues. This will be delivered by Creative Scotland. The scheme is currently being developed with advice from the Music Venue Trust.

Further details of Creative Scotland’s support during the pandemic can be found on their website at the following link: https://www.creativescotland.com/what-we-do/latest-news/archive/2020/02/coronavirus-advice#cs-support .