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Work to develop the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill is drawing on a range of officials across the organisation who will contribute to varying extents as part of their wider responsibilities in supporting the Scottish Government. The exact number of officials contributing as part of their wider responsibilities cannot be set out as the Scottish Government has no need to record this information.

I am delighted that the Bill has now been introduced to Parliament. This marks the culmination of a wealth of work undertaken in the past 18 months by Ms Mackay and her team, supported by the Scottish Government. Whilst introduction is a significant milestone for the Bill, I am mindful that it is one step in the Parliamentary journey and there will be considerable work ahead. The Scottish Government will continue to offer Ms Mackay every support as that work progresses.

The duty to provide free school meals to eligible pupils, education authorities have the power to provide meals on a discretionary basis to those who they believe require it. The Scottish Government would continue to urge local authorities to continue to resolve any payment issues without withdrawing meals from pupils.

The information requested is not held centrally. Pupil Equity Funding empowers headteachers, who know their children best, to provide targeted additional support for children and young people impacted by poverty to achieve their full potential, focusing on targeted improvement activity in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. As set out in the refreshed 2023 National PEF Operational Guidance, intended to help schools plan how they will most effectively and fully invest their Pupil Equity Funding to improve the educational outcomes of children affected by poverty, schools are expected to incorporate details of their Pupil Equity Funding plans and explicitly report on the impact on outcomes for learners impacted by poverty. This should be done within existing local authority reporting processes to their Parent Council and Forum, including in their annual School Improvement Plans and Standards and Quality Reports. These plans and reports must be made publicly available so that parents and carers can easily access, understand and where appropriate, challenge, what is happening in their school with regard to Pupil Equity Funding.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people who require free school meals receive these. Education authorities have duties to provide free school meals to those who are eligible in primary 6 to S6 and the Scottish Government has already expanded universal free school meal provision to those in primary 1 to 5 and special schools. We are currently working with Local Authorities on the next stages of expansion of Free School Meals to those in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in P6 and P7. In addition, Local Authorities have the powers to provide discretionary free school meals who they believe require them. These meals meet high nutritional standards as set out in The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink (Scotland) Regulations 2020 ensuring that school lunches contain an appropriate amount of energy and nutrients to support healthy growth and development’.

The Scottish Government does not recognise the term 'school hardship fund' and it is not part of Free School Meals legislation. Local authorities have powers to provide financial or other support to any child in need under section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Additionally, section 12 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 enables the provision of assistance to adults, including provision of cash, in relation to emergencies. Both of these powers have been utilised in past to enable the provision of direct payments in lieu of free school meals. The latter are usually referred to as crisis grants.

Although school meal debt is a matter for councils, the Scottish Government will do everything that we can to support families, and we will consider all the options that are available to us to ensure that families do not find themselves punished for struggling during a cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government does not recognise the term 'school hardship fund' and it is not part of Free School Meals legislation.

This is a matter for education authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

However, Local Authorities have the powers to provide discretionary free school meals who they believe require them.

Pupil Equity Funding is allocated directly to schools with headteachers having the discretion to make decisions about which particular interventions or approaches will be most effective at raising attainment and achievement and widening opportunities for children affected by poverty in their schools and communities. Although we expect schools to provide plans detailing their use of Pupil Equity Funding through existing planning procedures e.g. through School Improvement Plans and Standards and Quality reports, details of the particular interventions each school has implemented using Pupil Equity Funding are not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving terms and conditions for the adult social care workforce, to support the development of an attractive, sustainable and effective social care sector.

We recognise paying a recurring fee may be challenging for workers in the current financial environment. The Scottish Government is currently considering options to address issues facing Social Care staff, including the payment of SSSC fees. We will update the sector once this work has concluded.

The Scottish Government places great importance on community sports and leisure facilities, such as swimming pools. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

We are fully aware that local authorities are facing challenging financial circumstances, particularly in the maintenance and operating of facilities such as swimming pools, largely due to energy costs and other cost of living pressures.

The 2023-24 Local Government settlement of £13.5 billion provides a cash increase in day to day spending of over £793 million, a real terms increase of £376 million. As confirmed this week in the Autumn Budget Revision, all consequentials available from the UK Spring Budget have now been allocated, with the Local Government Settlement increasing by £264 million accordingly.

sportscotland are working with local and national partners to help them assess the impact of any potential facility closures and these discussions will continue over the coming weeks and months. It is vital that all avenues are explored to ensure, where possible, that local clubs and communities have access to sport and leisure facilities.

In addition, sportscotland are supporting Scottish Swimming to undertake the Scottish Swimming Facilities Project. This is a detailed piece of work to accurately understand the current pool provision and life cycle, and to predict the landscape in the short, medium, and long term.

We understand that access to facilities is necessary for a range of sporting activities. That’s why our Programme for Government for 2023 to 2024 sets out our intention to convene a working group, including representatives of sports organisations, community organisations and CoSLA, to explore how community access to community facilities, such as the school estate, can be enhanced. This will be a priority action in our refreshed Active Scotland Delivery Plan.

The Scottish Government believes that every child should be given the opportunity to learn to swim, it is a life skill that can save lives.

In response to terrible tragedies in Scotland’s waterways during 2021, the Scottish Government brought together key water safety organisations to collaboratively develop a Water Safety action plan. The Plan outlines key initiatives to improve education, data, local area water safety planning and incident reviews.

In addition, the Scottish Government have been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sportscotland and Scottish Water to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers. Inclusion has been central to the approach and there is a specific focus on targeting areas within quintile 1 of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Four Delivery Pilots have taken place to support schools to understand and consider different approaches on how best to support young people to access school swimming. An evaluation will be published in October and we will work with Scottish Swimming and sportscotland to utilise the learning from these pilots to consider the best approach for a continued roll out of a national framework for school swimming.