Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has met with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) around the issue of insurance and we have been clear that we would expect responsible insurance companies to offer as much assistance as possible to residents affected by RAAC. The actual cover available will be dependent on the individual policies that homeowners have in place. Building insurance is designed to cover damage caused by defined perils such as storms or floods and would not cover building defects or maintenance issues that develop over time. Homeowners should still be able to claim on their insurance policies if they suffer damage from these perils.

The ABI has indicated that the majority of their members will not void insurance policies as a result of RAAC being identified and that households can expect to continue to be covered for the defined perils outlined in their policy. We have also been assured that insurers will consider the renewal of cover for properties with RAAC, but these may be less commercially attractive as their construction could present a risk of more extensive damage from a named peril. ABI advice remains that policy holders should consider their renewal needs early and may wish to shop around providers to find a policy that provides best value.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

Scottish Government continue to implement the actions in the Coming Home Implementation Report, and work with COSLA to seek progress across the country. Local public bodies have the statutory responsibility for this and delivery rests with them – however we know this work takes time. We want people to be supported in a home that is right for them, which often and rightly requires a bespoke design and build, as well as recruitment and training of a care team tailored to the person.

Scottish Ministers are confident that the national work is putting in place improved systems and structures locally which are required to achieve real change. We launched new national Dynamic Support Registers in May 2023, which provide a mechanism for a new national data collection on people with learning disabilities and complex care needs.

This data is collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) with the first report published in November 2023. This is a significant step forward that provides clarity on the number of people with learning disabilities and complex care needs who are in hospital and in out-of-area placements.

The latest Public Health Scotland publication reports on the census point of 28 September 2023. At that time, there were 1,243 people on the Dynamic Support Register of which, there were 86 delayed discharges and 130 out-of-area placements. Given this was the first publication of this data, care needs to be taken in early interpretation as data collection process embed and mature.

A further publication of updated figures taken from a census point of 28 March 2024 will be published by PHS on 28 May 2024.

The full November PHS report is available on the PHS website: Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - 28 November 2023 - Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who sadly died before a decision could be made on their application.

We know some people waited an unacceptably long time for Child Disability Payment and urgent action was taken to address this resulting in improved processing times.

We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and have an accelerated application process for people who have a terminal illness diagnoses. We urge anyone who is applying on behalf of a terminally ill child or young person to use this dedicated route and ensure their application is given utmost priority.

While we cannot comment on individual cases, there are a number of factors that impact on how long it takes to make a decision including the time taken to gather information to support an application from a professional such as teachers or health care practitioners. This can take time – but under the DWP, people had to do this themselves – and we know people greatly value this service.

As outlined in the answer to question S6W-25522 on 11 March 2024 work is ongoing to consider how embodied/whole life carbon emission reporting might be addressed through building regulations or by other means. This work is outside the scope of our current energy standards review and delivery of a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard. 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 contents of Budgets are not announced until they are delivered in Parliament, and this will be the case for the 2025-26 Budget.

Throughout the public consultation and in reaching the decision to close fishing for sandeel in all Scottish waters, the Scottish Government recognised the importance of potential wider environmental and ecosystem benefits, which included potential benefits to sandeel, seabirds, marine mammals, and other fish species.

There are currently no plans to conduct an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of fishing for sandeel in Scottish waters on seabird populations, including Atlantic puffin, as these measures only came into force on 26 March 2024. However, there are several monitoring and research programmes in place that can add to the evidence base in relation to potential impacts of closing fishing for sandeel in Scottish waters, and which can be drawn on should such an assessment be undertaken in the future.

We have committed to undertaking an evaluation of the effectiveness of the smoke-free perimeter around hospital buildings as part of the first Implementation Plan of the recently published Tobacco and Vaping Framework. We do not centrally hold information on the number of fines issued since the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force.

Primary Teachers are generalists; therefore, they deliver the totality of the Curriculum including PE. Specialist PE teachers are predominantly based in secondary schools.

The table shows the number of Primary schools in each authority with teachers listing Physical Education as their main subject. Head teachers are not included.

Individual teachers may have posts in more than one school. Note that in some local authorities physical education teachers that serve more than one school are recorded as centrally employed rather than allocated to individual schools. Teachers recorded in this way do not appear in the following table.

Primary schools with teachers in post with Physical Education as their main subject taught 2023 - Excludes head teachers.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

Individual Boards are responsible for developing and applying their own policies, including determining eligibility and reimbursement rates, whilst ensuring patient care and safety.

A requirement has been placed within the NHS Territorial Boards annual delivery guidance to bring attention to the requirement for the Boards to consider transport to health for patients and ensure patients have access to information.