Chamber and committees

Statutory Adoption Pay is a reserved matter. Under UK Government regulations, self-employed parents are not entitled to statutory pay when adopting a child.

Under The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007, adopters have a legal right to request an assessment of their needs at any time and additional support can take many forms. Corporate Parenting duties on all relevant public bodies require bodies to work together to meet the needs of current and former looked after children.

The Scottish Government's Mental Health strategy released on 31 March 2017 includes a number of actions to build on the existing support already available.

The Adoption Support Services and Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2009 provide the framework for the provision of support and allowances. An adoption allowance may be payable to an adoptive parent for the purpose of supporting the placement of the adoptive child or the continuation of adoption arrangements after an adoption order is made. Agencies are required to publish information on the details of their adoption allowances scheme.

Education authorities have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those with ADHD. This includes ensuring there are the appropriate resources in place to support children and young people in their learning.

There is no specific guidance on the ratio of teachers of teaching assistants to pupils. This is a matter for education authorities.

The Supporting Children's Learning Code of Practice provides detailed practical guidance on supporting a child or young person with an additional support need. The code of practice is due to be revised in 2017

There is at present no standard defibrillator road sign in Scotland or internationally.

Local PAD signage is important and it is recommended, in line with Resuscitation Council (UK) guidance, there should be signs in premises directing people to a PAD and exactly where it is located. The Resuscitation Council (UK) has developed a single defibrillator sign that is due to be introduced next month.

The Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) Strategy for Scotland sets out our commitment to improve outcomes after out of hospital cardiac arrest. Using a defibrillator to restart a heart is one in a series of actions that improve survival after cardiac arrest. The main ways we are improving rapid defibrillator deployment under the OHCA Strategy are: despatching emergency service vehicles or community first responders with defibrillator or directing a bystander to a publicly available defibrillator (PAD).

The SAS is working to map all PADs onto the Ambulance Control Centres system so they will be able to rapidly deploy PADs in cases of OHCA. We encourage members of the public, communities, businesses and other partners responsible for PADs to register the details. This can be done through a dedicated section of the SAS website at the following link; http://www.scottishambulance.com/YourCommunity/pad.aspx.

Further information can be found here: OHCA - A Strategy for Scotland; http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00474154.pdf and OHCA - A Strategy for Scotland Review; http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00510496.pdf.

The Energy Consents Unit employs 15 members of staff to assess section 36 and 37 applications under the Electricity Act 1989. The Energy Consents Unit employs no (a) environmental experts, (b) chartered landscape architects, (c) planners and (d) solicitors. In assessing such applications, the Scottish Government has access to expert advice from its statutory stakeholders namely, Local Planning Authorities, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish National Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland. In addition, subject to the details of the application, a wide range of other stakeholders may also be consulted where their specific expertise is required. Details of the individuals and resources utilised by these organisations is an operational matter for each of the bodies concerned and is not held centrally.

The Energy Consents Unit also utilises solicitors within Scottish Government Legal Directorate and on a project specific basis may also consult with Senior Counsel and the Lord Advocate.

Informal discussions helped shape the suggested locally co-ordinated approach that you can find in the draft Onshore wind Policy Statement, however only through our consultation will we know if these stakeholders are happy with the approach proposed as it has now been presented to stakeholders in its final form until publication. The statement is currently open for consultation until the 30 May. It is through the results of this formal consultation that the Scottish Government will proceed with or amend this approach and this is where our focus will now turn. All comments on this question and the consultation as a whole are encouraged.

There is no single definition of a ‘well-sited’ development as it depends on each project’s context and individual circumstances, but in general terms, a well-sited development maximises Scotland’s wind energy potential with due consideration given to the environmental, community and cumulative impacts. The site will balance the benefits and the impacts of the development as a whole in the context of the requirements of relevant policies.

Our draft Onshore Wind Policy statement is out for consultation until 30 May and we would encourage anyone who may have relevant comments to contribute to respond to the consultation.

The Scottish Government’s £12 million Transition Training Fund is focused on supporting people who have lost or face losing their jobs in the oil and gas sector and the support will help to transition into other roles in the oil and gas industry, and other energy industry and manufacturing employment. To date, more than 1900 individuals have been supported with training support while up to a further 755 are being provided with employment opportunities through two larger scale procurement rounds. The Fund is providing support by offering grants to individuals to support redeployment through retraining and upskilling. The fund is also helping people with the costs of maintaining any licences needed to work in the sector, and develop options to enable individuals to bring their skills and expertise into teaching. To note, the applicant will be required to give evidence of current job opportunities within the marketplace before receipt of support from the fund.

Health and Social Care Integration seeks to ensure that those who use services receive the right care and support whatever their needs, at any point in their care journey. With a greater emphasis on community-based care, local systems will deliver more person-centred services, improving outcomes for service-users, including those who have had a stroke.

Rehabilitation pathways from hospital care to community care are in place for individuals who have had a stroke. Through our work to deliver the priority actions identified in the Stroke Improvement Plan, we are seeking to ensure that people who have had a stroke get access to the care and support they need to help them to return to independent living.

The Transition Training Fund is providing support to those individuals who need help with the costs of maintaining any licences needed to work in the sector. The applicants will be required to be able to demonstrate the evidence base for potential job opportunities in order to demonstrate the need for the maintenance of the license.

Source: SAAS

Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest five.

* Provisional figures for 2016-17 are subject to revision, such as the addition of new or unprocessed applications.