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A number civil service jobs in the Scottish Government and associated Agencies and bodies are already undertaken outwith Edinburgh and Glasgow. For example, Social Security Scotland has an office in Dundee, Scottish Public Pension Agency and Accountant in Bankruptcy are based in Galashiels and Kilwinning respectively, and the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service have a number of locations across Scotland.

Working from home remains the default position for the majority of Scottish Government staff during the pandemic. As noted in the Strategic Framework published on 22 June 2021, there will be a phased return to more office working from Level 0 onwards but with continued support for working from home where possible and appropriate. Once the easing of restrictions allows more staff to return to buildings, our expectation is that we will introduce a hybrid working model which will enable Scottish Government staff, where the role allows, to have more flexibility in their work location across Scotland and include a mix of home and office working.

In March 2021, the Scottish Government’s Population Strategy recognised that these changes to working norms may offer new opportunities to support civil servants who wish to live and work in locations outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow. As part of this, the Scottish Government committed to actively considering its workplace footprint and exploring the opportunities of distributing its workforce in greater detail. This work is in its early stages. However, as a first step, the Scottish Government will be piloting local hubs outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow so that staff can work at office locations closer to their home.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that high quality, person centred bereavement care and support is available for those who need it. It is important to reflect that each individual and family’s experience of bereavement is unique as are their support requirements. That is why we undertake a broad range of work to improve the bereavement care and support available for those who need it, particularly at this difficult time.

Since 2016 the Scottish Government has funded Cruse Scotland and Child Bereavement UK through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund to provide support to individuals and families who have been bereaved. This Fund has been extended to end March 2022 to provide greater stability to organisations and we will announce in due course plans for funding the third sector from April 2022.

In 2020 we awarded a contract to Includem to establish a Scottish childhood bereavement co-ordinator who will ensure effective provision of bereavement support and care for children and young people.

Our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, published in October 2020, sets out a number of commitments to support the mental health of people following bereavement and we will continue to engage with providers of bereavement support, and people with lived experience, to design improvements. Through the work of our National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group we are supporting the piloting of suicide bereavement support services and pilots will launch in Highland and Ayrshire & Arran in the coming months.

We will continue to work closely with NHS Boards, Integration Authorities and third sector organisations to continually revisit our work in this area and respond to the additional needs of people and families arising from the pandemic and provide additional support where needed.

The response provided to S6W-00515 confirmed the Scottish Government’s position with the UK Government's Events Research Programme. In common with the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government did not hold events as part of the ERP.

Specific procedures that were part of the ERP, for example testing as means of entry to EURO 2020 matches, were considered for the event in Scotland as part of our gateway process for flagship events – however, clinical advice cautioned against mandatory testing and checking on arrival, in this instance, as the knock-on effect on flow may have created more risk of mixing.

The final report of Phase 1 of the UK Government's ERP has now been published – Events Research Programme: Phase I findings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) – and we will continue to engage with the UKG and on a 4 Nations basis, with the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, to identify learnings from the ERP and help inform the route ahead for the events sector.

Table 1 shows the median waiting time (in days) for individuals with first treatment type recorded as either (1) Community based support and/or rehabilitation or (2) Residential Detoxification/Inpatient Treatment. Figures are presented for each of the last 5 financial years and include Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) breakdowns as well as Scotland level data. Treatments can be for drug or alcohol clients, or clients with a combination of the two. Waiting times are calculated from date of Referral to date of First Treatment.

Table 1 Median Waiting Time (in days) from Referral to First1 Treatment for treatment types (1) Community based support and/or rehabilitation2 or (2) Residential Detoxification/Inpatient Treatment3 , drug and alcohol clients or clients with a combination of the two, by ADP and Scotland.

There is no statutory obligation for youth workers or for youth work activity to be recorded or monitored by local authorities, third sector organisations or voluntary organisations.

However, the CLD Standards Council for Scotland, reports that over two and a half thousand CLD staff and volunteers have signed up to the CLD code of ethics which includes practice for youth work and community based adult learning. The CLD Standards Council also reports in 2018 that there is an estimated paid workforce of twenty one thousand practitioners within the CLD sector.

The Scottish Government is currently exploring the potential to establish an office of the Climate Change Committee in Scotland.

Financial expenditure data relating to Fair Start Scotland is broken down by contract area, rather than by Local Authority area. For a breakdown of these contract areas, please refer to Annex A of the Fair Start Scotland Annual Report .

The anticipated spend on Fair Start Scotland is regularly published by the Scottish Fiscal Commission and is based on performance levels set within provider contracts. As this is dependent on provider performance in supporting people into sustainable employment this figure is subject to some variation.

The Scottish Government proactively publishes information relating to the annual spending on Fair Start Scotland. Annex B of the Fair Start Scotland Annual Report published on 9 th November 2020 outlines the total expenditure in its first two years of delivery. Further information on annual spend will be published in future publications.

The Scottish Government also publishes annual Evaluation reports that fully assess the effectiveness of the service. These reports include commissioned research with service users, delivery partners and providers, as well as ongoing analysis of performance. Links to the first two Evaluation reports can be found below. The next Evaluation report is due to be published in September 2021.

Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 2: overview of year one - November 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Fair Start Scotland - evaluation report 3: year two - overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

There were three cases of pupils being 'removed from the register' of their school in 2018-19. When this occurs a pupil does not return to their original school and will be educated at another school or in some other educational provision.

More statistics on exclusions from school can be found in the following publication: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-exclusion-statistics/

Information on exclusions is not available for 2017-18 or 2019-20 as this data is collected biennially. Information on exclusions in 2020-21 has yet to be collected.

The Scottish Government have worked closely with the Scottish FA, with Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland and other partners on the operations of the EURO 2020 Fan Zone at Glasgow Green. The situation with the Fanzone in being continually reviewed during the EUROS and as part of that ongoing work Scottish Ministers set up a review team, comprising of the government, city council and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Public Health, to provide advice on the ability of the Fan Zone to operate safely.

The fan zone provides an outdoor, highly regulated space for fans to watch the tournament. Although there are up to 3000 people in attendance per session, this is in a large, outdoor space with normal capacity for up to 80,000 people. Necessary physical distancing and hygiene measures are of course in place. In addition, there is comprehensive stewarding, cleaning and contact tracing provisions in place. Rapid lateral flow test kits have been mailed to all visitors to the Glasgow Fan Zone as part of a series of measures to help reduce the risk of transmission before and after the event.

The Scottish Government welcomes the study, which was carried out to support Scotland’s response to climate change and will help identify the rivers most at risk from water shortages and prioritise the development of resilience.

Scotland is a water rich nation but we need to use water wisely and build resilience to the impacts of climate change including drought and water scarcity. We are working with key business sectors, SEPA, Scottish Water, local authorities, and other stakeholders to make sure water is used efficiently; the first line of defence against droughts and climate change.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has just consulted on a Water Resources Management Plan, which highlights the risk of climate change and the need to work in collaboration to develop a series of practical actions to deliver a more sustainable and resilient use of water. This builds on the approach taken under the National Water Scarcity Plan, which focuses on making early information available to allow water users to manage supplies during prolonged dry periods without harming the environment.