Chamber and committees

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) is the specialist provider of blood, tissues and cell products in Scotland. They provide a free delivery service to hospitals 24 hours a day every day of the year. Therefore they do not use Blood Bikes Scotland.

It is a matter for individual NHS Boards to consider whether they enter into an agreement with Blood Bikes Scotland or a similar organisation to transport medical supplies between NHS facilities in their area. The Board would have to be content that the organisation met the relevant regulatory and safety requirements.

Outdoor education encompasses a wide range of learning which can take place in a variety of outdoor settings. It includes activities in school grounds; science and geography fieldwork; environmental and countryside education; outdoor and adventurous group activities; learning through outdoor play; and visits to heritage sites or cultural events.

The National Trust for Scotland runs a number of outdoor learning programmes, for school age children and others, and provides settings which can be used for outdoor learning experiences through the properties and sites which it maintains. The Scottish Government contributes funding to support this work indirectly through grants and partnership work undertaken by Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which is a charity registered with OSCR.

In the current financial year approximately £140k of HES’ core budget is allocated through its Learning Team and Ranger Team budgets to support projects, activities and events with Outdoor Learning elements such as exploring outdoor sites, project elements such as creative art inspired by outdoor settings, events such as guided walks and in-depth experiences such as wildlife surveys or John Muir Award. In addition, HES administers an educational travel subsidy scheme on behalf of Education Scotland which provides support for free educational visits to its historic properties and those of its partners, including the NTS. In 2016-17 this scheme provided over £140k of travel grants to enable over 32,000 students to participate in educational visits, of which £36.3k funded the travel costs of school visits to NTS sites.

Scottish Government funds Keep Scotland Beautiful to deliver the Eco-schools programme in Scotland; a grant of £300k is being made available in 2017-18. The Eco-schools programme supports schools across Scotland to engage with pupils on climate change and sustainability issues, increasing knowledge and engaging on actions that pupils can take around waste, water, food, transport and energy. In many schools, this programme is a natural context for learning both about and in the outdoor environment.

This question has been answered on the basis that the situation being referred to is the removal of a child from school for the purpose of providing alternative means of education.

It is the legal responsibility of every parent to provide efficient education to all of their children who are of school age. The education must be suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude and may be delivered either by sending the child to a public school or by other means. The other means would include home education.

If a parent wishes to withdraw their child from education being provided by their local authority, they must seek, in accordance with Section 35 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (the 1980 Act), the authority’s consent before doing so. If a child has attended a local authority school and the parent requests to withdraw the child to home educate them it is the duty of the local authority to consider such requests and approval should not be unduly withheld. However consent by the local authority is not needed in a number of situations including if the child has never attended a public school in that authority’s area.

However, should the question relate to removal for unspecified reasons often referred to as an unauthorised absence you may find the Scottish Government publication Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: attendance in Scottish schools provides guidance to schools and local authorities on how to promote engagement and motivation, including among those who may be at risk of poor attendance.

It is up to education authorities to decide what sanctions, if any, they will use if there is an unauthorised absence.

All agencies that work with children and their families have a shared responsibility for protecting children and promoting, supporting and safeguarding their wellbeing. National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2014/05/3052/0, published by the Scottish Government in 2014, provides a national framework for agencies and practitioners at local level to understand and agree processes for working together to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of children. Local Authority Chief Officers, Chief Executives of Health Boards and local Police Commanders are responsible for determining the most appropriate child protection arrangements for their respective area.

The Scottish Government does not provide any specific guidance for local authorities regarding children’s welfare in schools when a case of teacher misconduct arises. In such a case we would expect local child protection procedures to be followed in line with the National Guidance. Where child protection issues are identified the Education Scotland Area Lead Officer will liaise closely with the authority to ensure appropriate action is being taken to safeguard the rights of children and young people.

Teachers in Scotland are employees of the local authority and therefore any issues about their professional conduct are for the Council to deal with in line with their locally agreed policies and procedures in this regard. The Director of Education at the Council has overall responsibility for this.

Non-domestic properties, subject to certain exemptions, are entered in the valuation roll and liable for non-domestic rates. Dwellings are entered in the valuation list and liable for council tax. This determination is made by local assessors in line with the relevant legislation. There are no current plans to amend the legislative provision, notwithstanding that the Scottish Government awaits the conclusion of the external review of non-domestic rates led by Ken Barclay and will respond swiftly come that time.

Planning enforcement action is the responsibility of the relevant planning authority (local authority). SEPA is not involved in planning enforcement action undertaken by the authority, but may share information with local authorities upon request, where the law allows this. There may also be cases where local authorities and SEPA both take enforcement action; for example, when a local authority takes action to enforce planning laws whilst SEPA takes action to enforce environmental laws.

Planning authorities do not have powers to impose fines or increase fees for repeat planning applications.

Repeat applications can, in some circumstances, be useful by allowing improved proposals which address problems or sources of objection so that planning permission can be granted. We are, however, aware of some people’s concerns and frustration regarding repeat applications.

Under section 39 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, planning authorities already have discretion to refuse to deal with repeat applications where certain criteria are met.

Currently an exemption from planning application fees applies to a repeat application in certain circumstances. In our consultation paper, ‘Places, People and Planning’ (January 2017), we proposed removing this exemption from planning fees.

Information on types, quantities, and sources of waste held is by SEPA via public registers so long as it is a requirement of an environmental licence that the licensee provide such information. Local authorities and the general public have access to this information through the SEPA website, Scotland’s environment website or by contacting local SEPA offices.

In addition, SEPA holds some information on the destinations of material. However, this information is not published, as it is submitted to SEPA on the understanding that it is treated as confidential on commercial interest grounds, in accordance with Regulation 10(5)(e) of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Where a proposed waste management site requires planning permission, the planning authority consults SEPA on any relevant planning matters. SEPA does not consult the local authority in relation to potential planning issues.

When considering an application for a new waste management licence, SEPA cannot issue a licence unless planning permission is in force for that use of the land. This is required by section 36 (2) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. SEPA is also required to consult the local planning authority prior to the issue of a new waste management licence by section 36(4) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Unlike waste management licence applications, there is no requirement for SEPA to consult the local planning authorities in relation to the registration of exemptions from waste management.

The Scottish prison population is ageing. This is due, in part, to increasing sentence lengths, convictions for historical offences and an increase in life expectancy.

The Scottish Prison Service is working with Scottish Government to review its population management strategy. This process includes consideration of the increasing number of older people in custody.

The SPS has recently published a social care needs assessment report, the results of which are being used to improve services and to inform the development of a strategy for the management of people in its care who have social care needs, including older prisoners. It will also contribute to the overall prison population management strategy.

If an older person is admitted to prison with specific care needs, an individual care plan, care package and accommodation adjustments will be put in place, following consultation with the necessary multi-agency partners.