Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-15395

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding in Recorded crime in Scotland: 2016-2017, which records that, of the 10,822 sexual crimes that were reported in 2016-17, 44% related to a victim under 18.

The National Statistics on police recorded crime demonstrate that where sexual crimes are reported to the police, victims are disproportionately likely to be under the age of 18. Furthermore Scottish Government research published in 2017 identified that certain types of sexual offending (communicating indecently or cause to view sexual activity or images) are much more likely to have younger victims when committed online than when the offender and victim are in the same location.

We have and will continue to take action to tackle the sexual abuse of children, including development of the Scottish Government's National Action Plan on Internet Safety for Children and Young People. This was published in April 2017 and sets out a number of actions to improve internet safety. Its priorities include equipping children and young people to build their own personal resilience to stay safe online, supporting professionals and parents and carers and continuing to work with digital and social media providers to ensure children are not exposed to harm.

The Scottish Government also participates in the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet safety and explore with social media providers how we can improve child internet safety in Scotland.

We have also invested in programmes that promote internet safety, including funding to Stop it Now Scotland! and to SACRO for their Challenging Harmful Online Images and Child Exploitation programme.

The Scottish Government established an expert group for preventing sexual offending involving children and young people and will bring together professional and academic expertise from across justice, education, child protection, health and the third sector to identify actions to better prevent sexual crime involving children and young people and mitigate the harm it causes. It will build on existing good work across Government and through partners.

Question reference: S5O-01975

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it will protect respite services to allow carers to access a short break, as set out by the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.

Question reference: S5W-15419

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 April 2018

To ask Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of the council tax reductions that are offered to households under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 for making energy efficiency improvements, and what its position is on amending the provisions to help encourage the uptake of more energy efficiency discount schemes.

Section three of this year's annual report to Parliament on the operation of the Council Tax energy efficiency discount schemes (reference SG/2018/28) examines the contribution made to energy efficiency. The report can be provided by SPICe on request.

Development of each Council Tax energy efficiency discount scheme is the responsibility of individual local authorities in delivering their duties under Section 65 of the Climate Change Act 2009.

Question reference: S5W-15418

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many households have received council tax reductions in each of the last five years for making energy efficiency improvements under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Question reference: S5W-15380

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 3 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time for an autism diagnosis for children and young people in NHS (a) Lanarkshire and (b) Forth Valley has been in each year since 2011.

Information on waiting times is not held centrally. Information Services Division does not collect Autism Spectrum Disorders waiting times information.

Information Services Division receives waiting times information from NHS Boards for all referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) but this is not broken down by condition.

However, improving diagnostic services remains a Scottish Government priority for the Scottish Strategy for Autism .

It is recognised that waiting times are too high across both children and adult diagnostic services and that is why the Scottish Government has invested in an Improvement Programme to work with Health and Social Care Partnerships to reduce waiting times for autism assessments.

Question reference: S5W-15382

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to its statistics, which record that disabled children are twice as likely to be excluded from school than non-disabled children.

The Scottish Government has taken a number of steps to reduce the incidences of school exclusions and close the attainment gap to improve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people, and maximise their future opportunities. Our most recent statistics on exclusions show that in 2016-17, the rate is less than half the comparable figure from 2006-07.

We know that we can improve further, so in June 2017 we published our refreshed guidance on preventing and managing school exclusions. This focuses on the importance of early intervention measures to prevent the need for exclusion and promotes the importance of positive relationships in schools. The guidance clearly sets out schools responsibilities on the exclusion of pupils with disabilities. It makes clear that targeted support should be explored and exhausted, with exclusion from school always being the last resort.

Scottish Government and Education Scotland officials have recently organised a series of implementation and awareness events across Scotland on the refreshed guidance to assist schools and local authorities.

Question reference: S5O-01962

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to review the requirement for corroboration in relation to prosecuting reported sexual crimes.

Question reference: S5W-15381

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for assistance under the Bellwin Scheme have been rejected in each year since 2007, broken down by the total value of the claims each year, and what information it has regarding (a) who made the claims and (b) for what reason the claims were (i) made and (ii) rejected.

The applications for additional financial assistance under the Bellwin Scheme that have been turned down since 2007 are as follows:

2008-09 - Scottish Borders Council - 3 separate incidents of flooding and winter weather - the claim was £250,000 above their threshold - the Council received their share of £5 million (£239,000) provided across all 32 councils following the severe winter weather in place of any specific support being provided through the Bellwin scheme.

2012-13 - Perth and Kinross Council - severe flood damage - the claim was £369,555 above their threshold - the claim was rejected as the majority of the claim consisted of capital expenditure which is ineligible under the Bellwin Scheme.

2012-13 - Dumfries and Galloway Council - winter weather - the claim was £1,079,196 above their threshold - the claim was rejected as the majority of the claim consisted of expenditure to put right the ill effects of the storm which the Bellwin Scheme guidance states is ineligible. The Council were however awarded additional capital funding of £500,000 towards the repair of the river banks, the sea walls and the coastal paths.

Question reference: S5W-14913

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 12 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-01460 by Angela Constance on 2 August 2016, whether it will provide an update on its position on misogynistic hate crime, including whether it considers it should be made a specific offence.

Lord Bracadale's independent review into hate crime legislation is expected to make recommendations to Ministers in the spring. Amongst other things, Lord Bracadale is considering whether new categories of hate crime should be created for characteristics such as age and gender, which are not currently covered. The Scottish Government will consider the recommendations that Lord Bracadale makes carefully. In November 2017 we published a delivery plan for Equally Safe, our strategy to tackle violence against women and girls; this contains 118 actions across 4 priorities to support our ambitions in this area.

Question reference: S5W-14909

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the take-up of modern apprenticeships by (a) ethnicity and (b) LGBTI people, broken down by sector and, if such information is not collected, what its position is on doing so.

Skills Development Scotland published the Modern Apprenticeship 2016-17 quarter 4 statistics in June 2017 which included reported Equality performance including Ethnicity.

The following table provides an ethnicity breakdown of modern apprenticeship uptake by framework groupings for 2016-17:

MA Starts by Ethnicity and Framework Grouping 2016-17 Quarter 4

Framework Grouping	Mixed or Multiple; Asian; African; Caribbean or Black; and Other ethnic group	White	Prefer Not to Say	Total	Known	Mixed or Multiple; Asian; African; Caribbean or Black; and Other ethnic group as a % of Known
Administration & Related	37	2,111	6	2,154	2,148	1.7%
Animal Care, Land & Water Based	*	*	*	*	*	*
Automotive	16	1,098	4	1,118	1,114	1.4%
Chemicals & Biotechnology Related	*	*	*	*	*	5.3%
Construction & Related	43	5,420	471	5,934	5,463	0.8%
Creative & Cultural Skills	11	338	4	353	349	3.2%
Engineering & Energy Related	6	1,246	3	1,255	1,252	0.5%
Financial Services	41	707	4	752	748	5.5%
Food & Drink	10	1,098	3	1,111	1,108	0.9%
Hospitality & Tourism	61	2,910	16	2,987	2,971	2.1%
Management	10	654	2	666	664	1.5%
Other Manufacture	*	*	*	*	*	*
Other Services	39	1,253	10	1,302	1,292	3.0%
Personal Services	10	924	2	936	934	1.1%
Retail & Customer Service	54	2,619	10	2,683	2,673	2.0%
Sport, Health & Social Care	79	3,211	5	3,295	3,290	2.4%
Transport & Logistics	16	1,086	4	1,106	1,102	1.5%
Total	436	25,282	544	26,262	25,718	1.7%

* Asterisks have been used where the numbers are so small they could lead to the identification of individuals.

The most recent Modern Apprenticeship quarterly statistics (Q3) for 2017-18 published 13 February 2018 show that, as at 29 December 2017, there were 354 Modern Apprenticeship starts who self-identified as being from a Mixed or Multiple; Asian; African; Caribbean or Black; and Other ethnic group. This represents 2% of all starts where ethnicity is known. The following table provides an ethnicity breakdown of modern apprenticeship uptake by framework groupings.

MA Starts by Ethnicity and Framework Grouping 2017-18 Quarter 3

Framework Grouping	Mixed or Multiple; Asian; African; Caribbean or Black; and Other ethnic group	White	Prefer Not to Say	Total	Known	Mixed or Multiple; Asian; African; Caribbean or Black; and Other ethnic group as a % of Known
Administration & Related	24	1,180	3	1,207	1,204	2.0%
Animal Care, Land & Water Based	0	209	0	209	209	0.0%
Automotive	15	848	1	864	863	1.7%
Chemicals & Biotechnology Related	0	28	1	29	28	0.0%
Construction & Related	28	4,092	622	4,742	4,120	0.7%
Creative & Cultural Skills	6	111	2	119	117	5.1%
Engineering & Energy Related	15	1,132	5	1,152	1,147	1.3%
Financial Services	19	536	1	556	555	3.4%
Food & Drink	19	974	2	995	993	1.9%
Hospitality & Tourism	67	1,673	44	1,784	1,740	3.9%
Management	5	275	0	280	280	1.8%
Other Manufacture	0	206	0	206	206	0.0%
Other Services	40	1,365	7	1,412	1,405	2.8%
Personal Services	9	549	5	563	558	1.6%
Retail & Customer Service	38	1,473	3	1,514	1,511	2.5%
Sport, Health & Social Care	64	2,223	13	2,300	2,287	2.8%
Transport & Logistics	5	833	4	842	838	0.6%
Total	354	17,707	713	18,774	18,061	2.0%

Regarding the take-up of modern apprenticeships by LGBTI people. In 2016-17 Skills Development Scotland collected information through its self-declared equality monitoring processes for Modern Apprenticeships in relation to whether individuals identified themselves as transgender and also in relation to their sexual orientation. This information is not currently published and SDS is currently consulting with Scottish Government and legal advisors regarding the future publication of this sensitive information.

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