Chamber and committees

The purpose of the alcohol licensing system is to support the regulation of the sale of alcohol with the objectives of preventing crime and disorder; securing public safety; preventing public nuisance; protecting and improving public health; and protecting children and young people from harm. It is for independent licensing boards to administer the licensing regime at a local level with reference to these five licensing objectives.

Under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, each independent licensing board is required to publish licensing policy statements. Such statements allow for interested parties to understand better how each licensing board will operate in line with these five overarching licensing objectives. The introduction within the 2005 Act of a public health objective ensures licensing boards can take into account the importance of protecting and improving public health when considering and determining licensing matters brought before the Board. How the public health objective is to be achieved within each licensing board area as one of the five licensing objectives is a matter for each independent licensing board, but licensing policy statements should reflect the approach to be taken.

The Scottish Government has also taken forward a range of legislative measures such as, amongst others, placing restrictions on drink promotions, requiring the operation of an age verification policy and giving the police powers to disrupt drinking dens to help reduce alcohol harm.

In terms of the affordability of alcohol, minimum unit pricing (MUP) was introduced on 1 May 2018 at 50 pence per unit of alcohol and is subject to a comprehensive, independent evaluation, led by Public Health Scotland (PHS). Various reports on the impact of MUP are published on the PHS website, with a final report due in November 2023.

The Scottish Government commissioned an Environmental Report as part of a comprehensive consultation process prior to the creation of the Single-use Plastic Regulations recently laid before the Scottish Parliament.

This report is published on the Scottish Government’s website here and shows the following estimated yearly figures used in Scotland for the products requested:

All local authorities are now offering 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) to all eligible children. Figures published in October 2021 by the Improvement Service show that at the end of August 2021, nearly 91,000 children in Scotland were accessing funded early learning and childcare. Of these 91,000 children, 97% are accessing expanded provision, and 87% - nearly 80,000 children – are choosing to take up the full 1140 hours on offer.

Each local authority is responsible for developing a local ELC offer that meets local people’s needs and circumstances, working in partnership with providers, and they have a statutory duty under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to consult with parents every 2 years on how they provide these services.

This will help local authorities to ensure that there is an appropriate mix of providers and patterns of delivery within each authority area, and that is delivered in a way which is responsive to parental demand.

In each local authority area parents should be able to choose from a range of types of setting, offering different patterns of provision, and which meet the National Standard, but we do not expect every setting to offer every possible pattern of provision that a parent may request.

Local authorities have worked incredibly hard with their partners to introduce the expanded ELC offer while dealing with the challenging circumstances and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Local ELC offers will continue to evolve in response to patterns of demand and local circumstances.

As the member is aware, mainland Health Boards have postponed some of their non-urgent elective activity to ensure they can continue to protect urgent activity, including vital cancer treatments, and to cope with staffing and other pressures they are currently experiencing. As such, decisions are taken on an individual Health Board basis dependent on the particular circumstances and pressures they are facing each week. It is not possible to indicate how long such postponements will last.

However, the Scottish Government are monitoring Health Boards’ elective activity through daily and weekly Health Board returns and are providing support where it is required.

Under current legal aid provision, BSL interpreting costs can be paid as an outlay where legal aid or advice and assistance is in place. When a person requires such support to access legal services, the Legal Aid Fund will meet these costs. The Scottish Legal Aid Board is currently undertaking a consultation on its approach to accounts assessment, within which it has proposed to continue to assess BSL interpreting as part of its general outlays policy.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board has also promoted the availability of ContactScotland BSL service to solicitors. This Scottish Government funded service, has expanded to allow BSL signers across the country to make phone calls in their first or preferred language. It is a VRS (virtual relay service) for making phone calls, or conversation where both parties are not in the same place. It is available 24 hours a day throughout the year.

The Scottish Government has established a British Sign Language Justice Advisory Group, as part of its BSL National Plan 2017-2023. The role of this BSL-led justice advisory group is to provide expertise and guidance to justice agencies. The Group is to play a key role in developing and delivering a programme of improvements to help the justice agencies better meet the needs of BSL users.

Scottish Government officials met with representatives from the National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland on 14 October to discuss the shortage of available student accommodation this academic year. The matter was also discussed at the meetings of the Covid Recovery Group and the Purpose Built Student Accommodation Steering Group on 20 October, and at the Student Accommodation Group meeting on 4 November. The issue of housing capacity was highlighted in these meetings, and proposals for dedicated meetings with universities and accommodation providers from areas experiencing particular problems in this academic period were explored, and will be taken forward.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation whether the accommodation is managed by universities or private sector organisations. However, we remain committed to working further with universities and student associations to develop solutions to the present shortfall in renting opportunities for students.

Our Programme for Government commitment to review Purpose Built Student Accommodation and our 100 days commitment to establish the next stage of this, is already underway and will be taken forward in parallel with work to ensure rent affordability and improving standards across the private rented sector.

The community alarm/telecare charging amounts are set out below by Local Authority. The rate of charging varies depending on a range of factors including what technology offering they receive. This can be a standard community alarm package to more advanced technologies such as sensors to prevent a fall and other adaptations depending on individual circumstances. Figures are regularly collated by COSLA but charging rates do change in some areas quite regularly and are often means tested. Some Local Authorities will charge more than the figures stated based on any additional offering provided.

East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnerships have all made progress in reducing delayed discharges but numbers remain high in Edinburgh, given the specific challenges in the city. The four Health and Social Care Partnerships across Lothian have been allocated £18.535m of additional winter funding to provide interim care, enhance care at home, and develop multi-disciplinary teams. The Scottish Government is meeting weekly with the Chief Executive of NHS Lothian, the Chief Executive of City of Edinburgh Council and the Chief Officer of Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership to closely monitor progress.

The arrangements for school inspections this academic year take account of the current situation with COVID-19. As announced on 16 September 2021 HM Inspectors of Education are taking forward a phased approach to scrutiny activity. Initially HM Inspectors are visiting over 90 schools awaiting a further inspection following an inspection before the pandemic. These visits are taking place currently and 64 schools have been visited so far with visits to the other schools planned. HM Inspectors of Education are also visiting schools as part of national thematic inspections. To date 61 school visits have taken place as part of national thematic inspections.

The Scottish Government has proposed a methodology to the Settlement and Distribution Group which was considered on 17 November. A recommendation has been made to COSLA Leaders for adoption when they next meet on 26 November.