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The Scottish Government is working with local government partners on the Additional Support for Learning Project Board to deliver the recommendations of the 2020 additional support for learning review by March 2026. As outlined in our updated action plan , published in November 2022, we have committed to engaging with Audit Scotland on a national performance audit on outcomes for children and young people with additional support needs. This work will be undertaken by Audit Scotland, and is therefore for them to determine their timescales. I have asked officials to make Audit Scotland aware of your question.

Progress by the Additional Support for Learning Project Board can be followed through the published minutes . A further progress update is due to be published in May 2024.

The Scottish Government is working with local government partners on the Additional Support for Learning Project Board to deliver the recommendations of the 2020 additional support for learning review by March 2026. As outlined in our updated action plan , published in November 2022, we have committed to revise GIRFEC policy and practice guidance, including a single planning process for children and young people.

On 30 September 2022, the Scottish Government published a series of refreshed GIRFEC policy and practice guidance to provide practitioners and professionals working with children, young people and their families with the confidence, clarity and practical support to continue to embed the GIRFEC approach.

The next phase of the GIRFEC refresh includes guidance on planning for children and young people. This is in the early stages of development and requires a collaborative and pragmatic approach between all stakeholders to ensure its success within a shifting legislative and policy landscape.

The statutory Supporting Children’s Learning Code of Practice already provides advice on the relationship between statutory and non-statutory plans. However, this matter will be considered further as part of our work to refresh the Supporting Children’s Learning Code of Practice which will take account of the refresh of the GIRFEC Policy and Practice Guidance.

A further progress update is due to be published in May 2024.

Career progression for teachers who want to further their careers in specialist roles in curricular, pedagogical and policy delivery are available through the role of Lead Teacher, which was introduced into the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers grading structure in August 2021.

Lead Teacher areas of specialism can include additional support needs and therefore there is the potential for an increase in the opportunities available to teachers wishing to specialise in this area.

The recruitment and deployment of teachers, including Lead Teachers, is a matter for individual local authorities, based on their local need and priorities.

The Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland’s Principles into Practice trial programme, which was conducted in ten participating Local Authority areas, concluded on 31 March 2023. The revised Principles into Practice Framework will shortly be made available on ARC’s dedicated website, along with Compass - an online tool developed in partnership with young people and parents and carers during the trial programme, to help them, and the professionals who support them, to navigate the transition to young adult life.

Over the next two years ARC Scotland will continue the work of the Scottish Transitions Forum, including supporting the wider implementation of Principles into Practice across Scotland, through funding from the Scottish Government’s Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector Fund.

The most recent statistics report Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 includes data tables showing a time series of poverty rates for children by whether the mother is under or over the age of 25. This report is available at Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 (data.gov.scot) . However, it has not been possible to publish poverty rates for children where the mother was under 25 from 2016 onward due to small sub-sample sizes. The next report will be in March 2024.

The most recent statistics report Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 , shows an estimated 36% of households with household heads aged 16 to 24 were in relative poverty after housing costs. Over the past decade, the estimates have fluctuated between 27% and 33% for this age group.

Whilst Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 shows that the poverty rate after housing costs for all individuals in Scotland remained below that of the UK, we recognise too many people are living in poverty, and that is why tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for this government.

We are committed to using our fixed budget and all the powers we have to reach our targets of substantially reducing child poverty, providing immediate support to families whilst also tackling the underlying causes of poverty.

Our second tackling child poverty delivery plan ‘ Best Start, Bright Futures ’, focused on the six priority family types identified as being at greatest risk of poverty - including families with a mother under 25. In August 2022 we published a focus report on households with mothers aged 25 or under , presenting further evidence of the drivers of child poverty amongst this priority group to inform future action.

We are already taking significant action to tackle poverty amongst families. This includes increasing the value of the Scottish Child Payment to £25 per week, per child, and opening applications to all eligible under 16s in November 2022. Our five family payments, including the Scottish Child Payment, could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns 6. This compares to less than £2,000 for eligible families’ in England and Wales, with Scottish support providing over £20,000 by the time an eligible child is 16 years old.

Young families can also benefit from free bus travel for under 22s and the provision of 1,140 hours per year of funded, high-quality early learning and childcare for eligible children, which would cost families around £5,000 per eligible child per year if they were to pay for it themselves. Going forward, the Scottish Government is committed to building a system of school age childcare and developing a funded early learning and childcare offer for 1 and 2 year olds, focusing on those who need it most.

The Scottish Government also provides more targeted support for young families through the Family Nurse Partnership, which we have committed to expanding to all young first-time mothers aged 21 and under by the end of 2024, and, where capacity allows, targeting first time mothers aged 25 and under who are care experienced or from the most deprived communities. This expansion will support up to an additional 500 families per year by 2025.

This intensive relational based support provided to young families is holistic in nature, aims to address immediate health and wellbeing needs and build pathways into community supports and resources to address social and economic factors, such as housing stability, welfare, education, employment and money advice.

A first release of Official Statistics on Winter Heating Payment will be published on 06 June 2023, covering up to 31 March 2023. Subject to disclosure control, the publication will include breakdowns of applications and payments by channel, including paper forms. The figures will also be reported as percentages of total applications received. These will be available on Social Security Scotland’s statistics publication page at:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications .

In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, care will be taken to ensure that these publications are produced to a level of quality that meets users’ needs. Published data will be subject to disclosure control methods to protect the confidentiality of the data.

Data on the number of people who are eligible for the payment is not available.

As at 31 March, almost 400,000 low income households had automatically received £50 in Winter Heating Payments to support them with their energy bills for this winter. All will have received a letter explaining their entitlement to the benefit.

Information on payments for Winter Heating Payment will be included within Official Statistics that will be published on 6 June 2023. These will be available on Social Security Scotland’s statistics publication page at:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) are the official producer of statistics relating to deaths, including where the cause was related to COVID-19. The information they hold is restricted to that recorded at death registration and therefore they do not hold sufficient detail to identify where a cause of death was related to secondary COVID-19 impacts such as loss of support.

A one off analysis of COVID-19 deaths by disability was made possible by linking information on death registrations to data on long-term health problems and disabilities from Scotland’s Census 2011. This is publicly available on the NRS website: Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, Week 11: Report (nrscotland.gov.uk).

There is no ongoing or planned work to look further at the level of detail outlined in the question.

The Scottish Government has committed to funding this audit and a letter setting out the details has been sent to the Royal Osteoporosis Society.