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Education Scotland’s Corporate Plan 2013-16 sets out actions which aim to bring a step change in the quality and equity of Scottish education. The strategic objectives and commitment for action over the next three years are focussed on the areas which will have a positive impact on all our learners, including the key educational goal of eradicating inequity in educational outcomes. Under each strategic objective Education Scotland have set out a range of sources of evidence which will be used to judge success. The first annual report will be produced later this year and the corporate plan gives a commitment to publishing a review and summary report by the end of 2016.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has asked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which aims to help improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world, to carry out a review of the curriculum in 2015, alongside the Royal Society of Edinburgh Education Committee, to ensure the new curriculum is making a positive impact for all our children and young people.

The ‘Improving Performance to Raise Attainment policy group’ (now known as the Raising Attainment and Governance Unit) is an internal policy unit within the Scottish Government Learning Directorate.

The Scottish Government are taking forward a number of activities to support raising attainment and closing the inequity gap including: the implementation of Teaching Scotland’s Future; establishing a Scottish College for Educational Leadership; encouraging collaboration and continuous self-improvement through our Self-Improving Schools Partnership Programme (led by Education Scotland); the Pathfinder Schools programme; the establishment of literacy and numeracy hubs across Scotland to facilitate sharing of best practice; funding for the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre; and the development of ‘Insight’ which will help local authorities and secondary schools to analyse strengths and areas for improvement. We are also providing accessible information for parents and carers through a refreshed Parentzone website and are working with schools and the third sector to explore effective links and share ideas.

The new Balfour Hospital project is at an early stage. Scottish Government officials are currently reviewing the outline business case for the project.

Guidance sets out that all new healthcare buildings, where the capital cost is more than £2 million, are to obtain a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Model ‘Excellent’ rating or equivalent ‘target score’. The ‘excellent’ scoring emphasises the minimising of energy demand and consumption in buildings, and includes a mandatory assessment of renewables for each project.

As such, officials have discussed with NHS Orkney the potential for use of renewable energy technologies in the new hospital as part of their work in reviewing the business case, and they will continue to engage with the board as the project progresses with development of the procurement strategy.

The new Balfour Hospital project is at an early stage.

NHS Orkney will ensure that the new hospital meets the requirement that all new healthcare buildings, where the capital cost is more than £2 million, are to obtain a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Model ‘Excellent’ rating or equivalent ‘target score’. The ‘excellent’ scoring emphasises the minimising of energy demand and consumption in buildings, and includes a mandatory assessment of renewables for each project.

NHS Orkney are keen to fully explore the potential benefits of renewables technologies for the new hospital and plan to undertake a full options appraisal exercise to fully consider the potential benefits of renewables technologies for the new hospital, and which technologies might best realise the benefits. The Scottish Government supports this approach.

The Scottish Government provides incentives to encourage the use of renewable energy technologies when developing hospitals and other major public buildings through a number of channels.

Specifically for developing new health facilities within NHS Scotland, NHS boards are encouraged to fully consider a range of sustainability issues, including carbon emissions, through the application of green energy including renewable sources. This issue is assessed as part of the NHS Scotland Design Assessment Process and the consideration of business cases within the Scottish Government's Health and Social Care Directorates.

More generally, Resource Efficient Scotland is a Scottish Government programme delivered by Zero Waste Scotland which offers a wide range of advice and support on renewable technologies including the implementation of decentralised renewable energy solutions. This service is available to public bodies. Further information can be found at: http://www.resourceefficientscotland.com/.

Police Scotland is committed to investigating wildlife crime and have confirmed that on this occasion well established protocols and processes were adhered to in order to allow the bird to be recovered successfully. As a result of this, and the subsequent analysis carried out by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture identified that the bird had been poisoned, Police Scotland is now working in cooperation with both RSPB and National Wildlife Crime Unit to fully investigate this crime.

In any given case, police call handlers must consider the information they are given at the time of the call and not all reported incidents may be crimes. Police Scotland has also confirmed that no official complaint has been received from the reporter of the original incident.

The training of wildlife crime officers is a matter solely for the Chief Constable. It is not appropriate for Scottish Ministers to seek to intervene on operational policing matters.

I can advise however that since Police Scotland came into being on 1 April 2013, there have been significant changes to the structure and training for wildlife crime officers.

The strategic lead for wildlife crime which sits in the Specialist Crime Division is held by the Assistant Chief Constable. A Detective Chief Superintendent holds the portfolio lead and the post provides essential direction and governance around strategic issues relating to wildlife crime prevention and investigation.

A full time national Wildlife Crime Co-ordinator at Detective Sergeant level provides engagement with national issues relating to coordination, policy, performance and training, and supports the Detective Chief Superintendent.

In each of the 14 territorial divisions there are wildlife crime liaison officers who are supported by a Superintendent (or above). Wildlife crime officer posts can be either full or part-time and deal with crime prevention and investigation when required for operational policing issues.

It is important to highlight that the investigation of wildlife crime is not the exclusive preserve of dedicated staff, and a variety of investigative and intelligence resources and tactics are brought to bear on such matters, from local and national policing.

The Leadhills area has been identified as a poisoning ‘hotspot’ in the maps that are published annually by the Scottish Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime. There have also been incidents in the area involving illegal shooting of raptors.

Operational policing and the targeting of enforcement activity in any specific area is a matter solely for Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government works closely with the police, conservation groups and landowners through the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) Scotland. The PAW Scotland Raptor Group has established a short-life working group tasked with developing a clear message that raptor persecution must stop now. The message will have the explicit backing of all PAW partners and be aimed in particular at those areas where raptor persecution is most persistent.

See also my response to S4W-20748 on 12 May 2014 which sets out the additional steps being taken by the Scottish Government and partners to combat illegal raptor persecution.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

There is not yet sufficient evidence to assess the effectiveness of the new measures announced on 1 July 2013. A report on the review of penalties is due by the end of the year and the changes to the general licences will be fully implemented by Scottish Natural Heritage over the next few months. The use by the police of the full range of investigative techniques in raptor persecution cases is an operational matter, however it is unlikely that results would be seen less than 12 months after the announcement of new measures.

Since 2005 there has been a total of 1553 language assistants in Scottish schools. A breakdown of this figure is provided in the following table by each academic year since 2005. This number includes both local authority and independent schools.

The data for 2014-15 is not yet confirmed but initial indications suggest the number of language assistants will be around 100.