Chamber and committees

It will be a matter for professional judgement for practitioners as to whether the behaviour carried out by the child has caused or is likely to cause “significant harm or abuse” requiring the intervention of a Bairns’ Hoose. It is recognised that children exhibiting or carrying out harmful behaviour are often themselves victims of significant harm and abuse. It is with this in mind that a Bairns’ Hoose is considered the most holistic form of intervention and support for the child to ascertain the circumstances of the harm, whilst at the same time offering therapeutic support to a child who may themselves have been harmed.

There is no legal definition of significant harm or distinction between harm and significant harm. The extent to which harm is significant will relate to the severity or anticipated severity of impact upon a child’s health and development. ‘Harm’ in this context refers to the ill treatment or the impairment of the health or development of the child, including, for example, impairment suffered as a result of seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another. ‘Development’ can mean physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development. ‘Health’ can mean physical or mental health.

Forming a view on the significance of harm and whether or not a child is suitable for a Bairns’ Hoose will be undertaken by an Inter-agency Referral Discussion (IRD). An IRD is a formal process of information sharing, assessment, analysis and decision making following a reported concern about abuse. Placing this decision making forum ahead of any child attending a Bairns’ Hoose is necessary to ensure multi agency professional judgement and decision making informs all decisions relating to investigating harm and subsequent interventions, including whether accessing a Bairns’ Hoose is in the best interests of the child.

Following publication of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), Initial Appraisal: Case for Change Reports in February 2021. The following fixed links were included for consideration as part of the appraisal process for Phase 2 of the review:

• New rail connection to/from Cowal linking to the West Highland Line or rail network in Inverclyde or North Ayrshire, including fixed link or ferry crossings
• New rail connection to/from Kintyre linking to Cowal, including fixed link or ferry crossing
• From South Ronaldsay (Orkney Islands) to Gills Bay (Scottish Mainland)
• Sound of Harris
• Sound of Barra
• From Western Isles to the Scottish Mainland
• Between Mull and Scottish mainland
• A tunnel between Benbecula and Skye

The information requested is not collected and held centrally

Currently the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) access card only enables CPS members to use electric vehicle charging stations on the CPS network, but developing interoperability is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Officials are actively exploring how access to other networks for CPS members can be enabled with the ChargePlace Scotland network operator, SWARCO, and are in discussions with other UK charge point network operators.

It isn’t standard practice for Scottish Government to provide specific funding for maintenance of electric vehicle charging stations, and as such we do not hold such information. Units funded through Scottish Government schemes would have a 3/5 year warranty/maintenance pack included within the initial quote to install the unit, after this initial 3/5 year period it is the responsibility of the owner/host to maintain the unit and pay for any work that may be required to keep the unit fully operational.

From 1 April 2022, ScotRail Trains Ltd will be responsible for engaging with the trades unions.

In 2021 to 2022, over £215 million of targeted funding was allocated to the Attainment Scotland Fund, which will be invested to help close the poverty related attainment gap. This is at least 5.1% of total allocated funding for Education and Skills of £4,207.7m within 2021 to 2022.

We are currently considering the appropriateness of such agreements, similar to those developed south of the Border, for Scotland. Initial discussions have been held with trade union colleagues and we are keen to explore constructively how they might be involved in any such future arrangement.

The roll out of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET), which delivered significant reductions in ferry fares, was completed on the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Service network in October 2015 and led to an estimated average fare reduction of 34% for passengers and 40% for car traffic and it continues to save travellers around £25m a year. We are also continuing work to explore options to introduce RET on all Northern Isles routes.

The 2021-22 Programme for Government (PfG) also reiterated our commitment to maintain Road Equivalent Tariff on all current island ferry routes, helping make ferry travel more affordable and more accessible, and enhancing island economies.

A review of ferry fares policy will be conducted as part of the upcoming Islands Connectivity Plan, to be published by the end of 2022. Consultation and engagement will be central to the development of the Plan and the review provides the opportunity to ensure that our fares policy continues to address the needs of island residents, businesses and communities.

Scottish Government only holds information for chargepoint units that have been supported by funding from Scottish Government and added to the Chargepoint Scotland network or where funding has been provided from schemes managed by Energy Saving Trust on our behalf.

2018-2019 - 1506 units

2019-2020 – 2333 units

2020-2021 – 4411 units

2021-2022 – 3753 units

These figures include domestic home charging units and charging units installed by Local Authorities, businesses and other organisations.

There may be addition units installed that Scottish Government would have no information on as the host/owner may not have appointed the Chargepoint Scotland Network as there back office provider or received funding from Scottish Government.