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The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government.

We know that children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing will have been affected during lockdown, and schools have a key role to play in supporting children’s and young people’s mental health. The Health and Wellbeing Census reported that across most of the measures, positive perceptions of life satisfaction, confidence and loneliness decrease up to S4, but the analysis shows small improvements (or no further decreases) for those in S5 and S6.

We continue to prioritise support for mental health and wellbeing in schools. We support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services support delivery of the commitment. We also published a Whole School Approach Framework and a professional learning resource to assist school staff in supporting children and young people’s mental health in schools.

We are committed to supporting the recruitment of more teachers and my predecessor recently set out measures to Parliament making it clear that we will provide £145.5 million in next year's budget to protect increased teacher numbers and support staff.

In addition, in 2022-23 we offered 150 bursaries of £20,000 for career changers wishing to undertake a one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in STEM subjects - Physics, Maths, Technical Education, Computing Science, Home Economics and Chemistry. These are the secondary school subjects with the greatest demand for teachers. Our STEM bursary scheme will continue in this financial year.

With these interventions, STEM teacher numbers are at their highest level since 2011. We are also continuing to work with universities and local authorities to look at innovative and creative ways to encourage more teachers into STEM subjects.

The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for ensuring that local authorities comply with the legislation and requirements, and this includes the assessment of risks from asbestos.

The Health and Safety Executive undertakes school inspections to assess the management of risks from asbestos within schools.

The Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment, led by Professor Louise Hayward, will report to the Scottish Government by the end of May 2023. The Review’s interim report was published on 3 March and includes a model for a new approach to qualifications and assessment which is currently being tested further with stakeholders.

The Scottish Government will need to consider the recommendations in the final report before providing a formal response.

We recognise that children’s and young people’s mental health may have been affected during the pandemic and want to ensure that anyone who needs support can get access to appropriate services.

We continue to prioritise support for mental health and wellbeing in schools and the provision of Educational Psychologists, school counselling services and school staff are a key part of the support being offered. The Scottish Government supports our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services support delivery of the commitment.

In addition, the Mental Health in Schools Working Group developed a mental health professional learning resource for all school staff to assist in responding to and supporting children and young people’s mental health in schools. Education Scotland has also provided tools and guidance for school staff to further strengthen support to children and young people.

Since 2020, the Scottish Government has made available a package of support for the education workforce which is designed to help staff look after their own wellbeing, those of colleagues and those they lead. An evaluation in 2022 found that 93% of participants report an increase in their confidence to manage their own mental health and wellbeing since engaging with this support.

The Chair of the Assurance Board, Christine McLaughlin, wrote to members on 31 March 2023 with a full progress update on NHS Forth Valley’s escalation in Governance, Leadership and Culture. The letter has been published on the Scottish Government website: NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board update: letter from the Chair to MSPs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The onus remains on NHS Forth Valley to deliver and evidence the required improvements in governance, leadership and culture; and, in turn, on performance. The Assurance Board will continue to monitor and scrutinise NHS Forth Valley’s progress.

NHS Forth Valley provide a full progress update against their published Improvement Plan to the Assurance Board on a monthly basis. Material relating to the escalation is proactively published by both the Scottish Government and NHS Forth Valley.

NHS Forth Valley recently published the latest iteration of their Improvement Plan, which included a progress update and incorporated additional actions in governance, leadership, culture and integration. A Measurement Framework has also been developed and published by NHS Forth Valley to allow them to demonstrate and evidence tangible progress. These documents can be found on NHS Forth Valley’s website: NHS Forth Valley – Escalation and HIS

The onus remains on NHS Forth Valley to deliver and evidence the required improvements in governance, leadership and culture; and, in turn, on performance. The Assurance Board will continue to monitor and scrutinise NHS Forth Valley’s progress.

As stated on 8 March in the Chamber in response to a parliamentary question (S6O-01978), a revaluation statistical summary report, which will include information broken down by property class, is expected to be published in 2023-24 once final values for the revaluation have been made available. It is intended that this report will be available in the Spring.

The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the parliaments website, the Official Report can be viewed at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-08-03-2023?meeting=14190

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of rural bus services and is committed, in conjunction with operators and local authorities, to looking at ways of improving services. I convened the Bus Taskforce to bring key players in the sector together to make bus travel a more attractive choice for passengers through joint commitments to reform and improve bus services.

The Scottish Government provided £223m in emergency funding to support bus services during the pandemic and the Scottish Budget for 2022-23 allocation of £410m in funding for bus services and concessionary fares. The COVID recovery support for the bus sector through the Network Support Grant Plus was extended from June 2022, and again in October 2022, and due to end on 31 March 2023. The Network Support Grant Plus was always a temporary fund and extending to 31 March was to freeze fares on participating services to help people with the cost of travel over the winter.

We are supporting bus use through the Young Persons Free Bus Scheme, which means that around half of Scotland's population are now eligible for free bus travel. We continue to provide financial support for bus services to keep services more extensive and fares more affordable than would otherwise be the case. Payments are based on the distance buses are operated, which is a particular advantage in rural areas where the routes are generally longer. Funding is also provided to local authorities in their annual settlement to support services they consider socially necessary and for community transport services, which can play an important role in rural transport networks. In 2021-22 they spent £55m in this way.

Since December 2020, the Scottish Government have supported operators through our Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus and Scottish Zero Emission Bus schemes, to acquire 548 new, zero emission buses and supporting infrastructure with awards totalling almost £113m. In addition, the Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme, worth £500k, was announced on 10 August 2022 to help organisations to understand the steps required to replace their bus fleet with zero emission alternatives.