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The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended, gives all those assessed as homeless the right to temporary accommodation.

Scottish Government policy is that temporary accommodation should be of a good standard and the stay there should be as short as possible. Households in temporary accommodation should be given appropriate support for the duration of their stay, and helped to move on to settled accommodation in accordance with their rights.

Since the closure of large scale hostels in Scotland some years ago, the Scottish Government has been clear that modern hostels, provided by local authorities, housing associations and third sector agencies, should be small scale, increasing the range of options available in providing short term temporary and supported accommodation.

Hostels can meet the immediate needs of some homeless households by providing additional support while options for settled accommodation are considered. A person centred approach is important and different models of hostel provision may be required to meet the needs of different households.

The Scottish Government does not provide guidance to local authorities on charging for music tuition.

Local authorities determine their own polices on, for example, tuition costs, concession rates, selection procedures, available instruments and hire and additional activities. The improvement service yearly (since 2012) survey is a key tool which enables local authorities to reflect on their policies and practices:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/InstrumentalMusic/ImplementationGroup

The Scottish Government has regular discussions with Creative Scotland on a wide range of subjects including developments around the Youth Music Initiative which allows young people to take part in music in and outside of school in all 32 local authorities.

On 5 January 2015, free school meals were extended to primary 1 to 3 children in Scotland to help ensure every child has the best possible start in life and gets every chance to succeed at school. The policy has had a huge take up with latest figures showing that over 134,500 primary 1 to 3 children (81.7%) across all 32 local authorities in Scotland are taking a nutritious free school meal, saving families around £380 a year for each eligible child. The Scottish Government is fully funding this policy and is providing £54 million revenue funding in 2016-17, building on the £70.5 million of revenue funding provided over 2014-16 and the £24.8 million of capital funding which was provided to support implementation.

The Scottish Government will ensure that all local authorities and schools are aware of the eligibility and award criteria for school clothing grants following discussions with COSLA. Guidance will be provided as appropriate.

The Scottish Government supports a number of music initiatives for young musicians, across a range of organisations.

The Youth Music Initiative (YMI) programme is receiving £10 million of government support in 2016-17. Reporting indicates that this level of investment in 2014-15 enabled music opportunities for 225,000 children across Scotland and independent evaluation published last year indicated that the YMI fosters and develops children's and young people's musical skills and supports more than 300 projects each year across all 32 local authorities.

All of the five Scottish Government-funded National Performing Companies also have initiatives to encourage cultural activity and participation, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera orchestra musicians and creative learning teams providing a range of programmes to encourage young musicians.

We are also providing support to give children greater access to cultural opportunities – as evidenced by the announcement, in March 2016, of an additional £2.5 million of funding for Sistema Scotland and the recent launch of the Theatre in Schools Scotland Project supported through the National Theatre of Scotland.

<>Scottish Ministers continue to discuss the provision of school clothing grants and appropriate timescales for implementation with COSLA. We intend to achieve this in partnership with COSLA rather than by imposing regulations, in the same way that we have successfully implemented universal free school meals for Primary 1 to 3. However, the regulation-making power provides an alternative route should this not prove possible.

Decisions about the provision of instrumental music tuition, including policies for access, concessions and charging, are for each local authority according to local priorities, demands, circumstances and traditions.

Information on the government’s work on instrumental music can be viewed at:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/InstrumentalMusic

<>Each of the Big Noise centres deliver an intensive, immersive and inclusive programme with Sistema Scotland working with the relevant local authorities and identified schools and nurseries in the areas that Big Noise centres operate in Raploch, Govanhill and Torry to select the children for the programme. You may wish to contact Sistema Scotland directly for more detailed information:-

Colin McKerchar

Interim Chief Executive

Sistema Scotland

Raploch Community Centre

Drip Road

Raploch

Stirling

FK8 1RD

<>Information about the number of families who have qualified for free school meals is not held centrally. However, latest statistics on free school meals were published on 22 June 2016 in the Scottish Government statistics publication - Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living, No. 6: 2016 Edition. Table 1 in the accompanying supplementary data, provides details of the number of children and young people in primary, secondary and special school registered for free school meals in each year from 2007. This can be accessed at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/MealsSD/mealspesd/mealspesd2016.

We are undertaking a data transformation project for children in early learning and childcare to ensure we have data that reflects recent policy changes and ongoing transformation. This includes looking at free school meal uptake in early learning and childcare as increasing flexibility results in more children attending during lunch times. In addition, under the Education (Scotland) Act 2016, children receiving their funded entitlement to early learning and childcare at partner providers are now eligible for a free school meal where they meet the criteria and have a session in the middle of the day. This will also need to be added to our consideration of data collections and analysis once this part of the Act is fully commenced in 2017 (this can currently be delivered on a voluntary basis by local authorities).