Seòmar agus comataidhean

Moving on to what you said about being held to account, obviously, in light of the report, trust was at an all-time low, so a lot of the process is about not only rebuilding trust but enhancing it so that we can have truly transformational change. None of us wants to be here in five or 10 years’ time thinking that we did all that work with all these resources but nothing changed. I am interested in all the sporting bodies, so I would like to hear from Forbes Dunlop and from Cricket Scotland on this. Do you think that sporting bodies have, or will have, sufficiently robust and effective safeguarding procedures in place that mean that what occurred in Cricket Scotland will not repeat itself and we will not lose another generation of ambitious young sporting people?

If anybody wants to add to that, feel free. You mentioned Sporting Equals. I appreciate and value its expertise. What work has it done to understand the Scottish context and build trust in that process?

Thank you very much to the committee for allowing me the opportunity to come along today. As you know, I have an interest in this area.

Fortunately, a lot of the points that I was going to raise have been raised already. I want to ask about two areas: the first is sportscotland’s communications with the Scottish Government, and the second is safeguarding.

The first question is probably for Forbes Dunlop. Will you give us a wee outline of what support and scrutiny you have been getting from the Scottish Government, given that, obviously, commitments were made on the back of the motion that I brought to the chamber for debate?

Good morning, everyone. I am going to ask about two areas. First, I will ask about the attainment challenge and the budget that will support that. I will then ask about Gaelic education.

On the attainment challenge, you would expect me to be fully aware of how stubborn the poverty-related attainment gap is and the fact that many portfolio areas cover it. Education gets the focus for closing that gap. I am aware of that context. While so many portfolio areas cover the poverty-related attainment gap, funding the work is a challenge—I understand that.

I heard the cabinet secretary talk about the £100 million to support closing the gap, and I was pleased to see that there has been a wee bit of a recovery, especially in primary schools, in going back to pre-pandemic levels, but we know that progress could be better. We understand that, and we know why the issue is so difficult.

How will the budget support the continued attempts to close the very stubborn poverty-related attainment gap? How will the public be assured that, with all the money that the Government is quite rightly spending, they are getting value for money? How will that be monitored and tracked?

It might be helpful for people who are listening to know about the tracking of that. Obviously, there will be stuff that can impact straight away, and then there will be medium and longer-term outcomes. How regularly do those check-ins happen with the appropriate body? I do not expect you to be involved at that level, cabinet secretary, but what is the process? Will you expand further on the measuring and tracking of that?

Thank you. On the Gaelic language, will there be additional funding to support the new Gaelic language plan when it is published, in April 2023?

Yes, that is absolutely noted. Those of us who are dealing with constituents on the matter are aware of one layer of the complexity and sensitivities around it, so I can imagine the challenges for caseworkers in doing that very professional job. It is important to put an acknowledgement of their work on the record.

You mentioned that people have been waiting a long time. Is there any priority given? Obviously, every case is individual, and they all deserve the same priority, but there will be people who, for either medical or other reasons, might be prioritised. Has that been considered?

Deputy First Minister, thank you for the update on caseworker recruitment. I would like to look into that a little. You acknowledge that more work needs to be done on that. I have a constituent whose case I have been following. Initially, they felt that there was a shortage of caseworkers and were not allocated one, although the situation has moved on since then. That seems to mirror what you said about the recruitment of 23 caseworkers. Will the number of caseworkers be maintained throughout the operation of the redress scheme? Is there any wiggle room? Cases are obviously very complex. Is there a requirement for more casework to be done or for more people to be brought in?

The research has been referred to a few times, and I will spend a few minutes digging further into that.

You have made it clear that no decision has been made and that you have commissioned research from CELCIS. Please quickly explain the background reasons for commissioning that research. What is the timeline for that, and how does it fit into the progress of the bill?

I understand and respect that. I just think that it would be useful for the committee to hear from the perspective of a young person, with their voice, about a real-life example, as that would give a good illustration of their experience of the service. That is why I was keen to get an example.