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The Scottish Government does not expect to incur any costs as a result of not awarding any further grants to the National Parent Forum of Scotland. Detailed costings for the new panel are still in discussion with Connect.

The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening our approach to parental engagement to ensure there are a range of opportunities for parents and carers to shape and influence policy development. There is a need to establish a broader, more representative model to support meaningful engagement from parents and carers and this is what the National Parent Panel will do. It will play a critical role in informing policy, and providing advice and challenge to Government as we drive improvement in our education system.

The Scottish Government recognises some duplication in how parents and carers are engaged by a range of parental focused organisations at local and national level, including the National Parent Forum of Scotland and Connect. However, we must ensure that, at this critical juncture for education reform, meaningful engagement draws on a wide range of perspectives and experiences from all parts of Scotland. As such, we have concluded that there is a need to establish a broader, more representative model to support engagement from parents and carers through the National Parent Panel.

The Scottish Government will bring forward plans for the replacement for the National Parent Forum of Scotland and I am happy to ensure that the member is kept informed.

The Scottish Government is content to share any relevant communication, if requested.

In 2023 Scottish Government committed to carrying out a scoping exercise across Health Boards to consider the FLS audit through Scottish National Audit Programme (SNAP) with Public Health Scotland (PHS).

Scottish Government committed to funding up to £150,000 for this scoping exercise and a potential audit in year 1. This has now been completed and PHS have put forwards a Business Case to Scottish Government which is currently being considered.

Data on Fracture Liaison Services across Scotland are not centrally held by the Scottish Government.

(a) The eligibility criteria for the Digital start fund required applicants to meet at least one of the following conditions:

? Unemployed

? In receipt of a low income benefit such as Universal Credit

? Employed on an income of £16,000 or less

? Experience two or more barriers or disadvantages as defined by Scottish Government’s European Structural and Investment Funds Participant Guidance .

SDS, who administered the fund, do not hold the data necessary to determine how many participants met each of these specific criteria.

(b) Over three years, the Digital Start Fund supported 468 individuals with 380 candidates completing training. Their employment status when starting the training is broken down as follows:

? Year One: unemployed individuals 55.7%; employed 28.7%

? Year Two:unemployed individuals 71.3%; employed 18.3%

? Year Three: unemployed individuals 50.9%, employed 35.3%

The SQA publish information on the number of entries to Higher subjects by male and female candidates on the attainment statistics pages of their website: Attainment Statistics - SQA

Based on this the percentage of entries to Higher computing science by female candidates in each year between 2021 and 2023 can be found in the following table.

Table: Percentage of entries to Higher computing science from female candidates, 2021 - 2023

The Digital Start Fund was established in 2019 and ran for three years. Scottish Government provided SDS with £3,083,383 for the Digital Start Fund programme.