Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02964 on 28 September 2021. 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 Scottish Government has consulted on the Scottish Law Commission (SLC) report recommendations and draft Bill on Judicial factors. The provisions of the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017 (“2017 Act”) was raised in the consultation along with a question asking consultees whether any provisions of the 2017 Act could be usefully replicated in any Scottish Legislation.

The consultation responses suggest that some aspects of the 2017 Act could be considered: Judicial factors: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The issues brought to light in the consultation responses will be explored further when work to consider a programme of the implementation of SLC Reports during this Parliament - which includes Judicial Factors - is commenced.

Negotiations are a matter for ScotRail and staff representatives through established collective bargaining arrangements. That being said, I have had discussions with Abellio ScotRail and the trade unions, and have encouraged every constructive effort to resolve the situation.

Through the pandemic we have supported rail operators, including ScotRail, with funding of around £1bn, of which over £450m is additional funding, to maintain services and full employment and salaries for rail staff. Any pay rise, including payments for rest day working, would need to be funded by efficiencies agreed by both sides.

The commitment to investing at least £500m over the life of this Parliament to create a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is significant. This will enable transformational change through the building of universal, holistic support services available in communities across Scotland giving families access to help when and where they need it, and help Scotland keep the Promise.

We will work closely with The Promise Scotland and partners across local government, social justice, health, the third sector, and with children and families to design and deliver the Fund. Further details will be provided in due course.

CalMac Ferries Ltd negotiated the time charter of the MV Arrow with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, in line with the industry standard practice. Responsibility for crewing, repairs & maintenance and regulatory compliance rests with the Seatruck, as the owner of the vessel. CalMac Ferries Ltd did not pay a charter fee for to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for the MV Arrow when the vessel was not available for deployment as a result of mechanical failure.

This information is not collected centrally.

Section 35B of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 sets out the statutory basis for annual reporting on progress to implementation of Climate Change Plans.

The Scottish Government’s update to the 2018 Climate Change Plan, which was finalised earlier this year, includes a refreshed monitoring framework to underpin the statutory annual reporting. In May 2021, the first set of monitoring reports prepared on this basis was laid in the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Marine Energy Research Programme (ScotMER), a Scottish Government initiative, is actively developing the evidence base required to facilitate the sustainable development of offshore wind. This programme works with key stakeholders and scientific experts to identify and address priority evidence gaps across environmental and socioeconomic interests.

Under this programme, the implications of underwater noise and efficacy of mitigation techniques have been identified as key evidence gaps, and we are working with industry and academia to deliver new research to inform future planning, consenting and licensing of offshore wind.

More information on ScotMER is available on: https://www.gov.scot/policies/marine-renewable-energy/science-and-research/

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people with additional support needs are supported. Under the Additional Support for Learning Act education authorities are responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of their pupils. This includes the employment and provision of appropriate resources, including teaching and support staff, to meet children’s needs.

The Scottish Government remains committed to maintaining teacher numbers nationally and ensuring we have the right number of teachers, with the right skills, in the right places to educate our children and young people.

Figures published in December 2020 show that teacher numbers increased for the fifth year in a row – rising to 53,400 in 2020, an increase of 1,153 on the previous year. There are now more teachers than at any time since 2008, and the ratio of pupils to teachers is at its lowest since 2010.

We also continue to provide additional support to education authorities through investment of £15 million per year to further enhance capacity in education authorities and schools to respond effectively to the individual needs of children and young people, through the provision of support staff.

The Scottish Government has also established a Pupil Support Staff Working Group to explore how best we can empower and support pupil support staff, including taking action in response to the recommendations of the additional support for learning review. As part of this a Professional Learning Framework for Pupil Support Staff was launched at the Scottish Learning Festival, on 22 September 2021 .

The R100 North lot contract was signed one year later than planned due to a legal challenge which resulted in a necessary pause in the procurement process. The contract we subsequently signed with BT plc will go far beyond our superfast commitment of 30 Mbps by delivering a significant number of Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connections, providing future-proofed, gigabit capable connectivity.

The additional engineering work required to deliver these connections will take time, however we remain committed to ensuring that everyone can access superfast broadband services by the end of 2021. Anyone whose home or business broadband speed is less than 30 Megabits per second (Mbps), and where there are no plans under the R100 contracts or commercial build to bring superfast broadband to their address by the end of 2021, will be eligible for a voucher through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.