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Island Communities Impact Assessments (ICIAs) and all other relevant impact assessments will be undertaken, as appropriate, as and when individual policies and programmes set out in the Shared Policy programme come forward for implementation.

While Winter Fuel Payment is one of the benefits that will be devolved to the Scottish Government, we have not yet taken over responsibility for its administration. This means that the current rules governing the rate of payment, who is eligible to receive, and when and how it is paid, is set by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This £300 change represents an increase in the base amount paid by the DWP for Winter Fuel Payment, which is normally paid in November, whereas the additional payments from 14 July are a one off payment for those in receipt of a variety of benefits, rather than an increase to the payment rates.

This is a matter for Public Health Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

We have begun the SBA delivery process for 15 buildings using our grant based approach, with an additional 29 contacted to offer directly commissioned assessments.

We have contacted 29 buildings so far to offer the direct provision of fire engineers. Once we ascertain consent and details, we will move to the contracting process.

25 of the 29 buildings we have contacted are from the 80 block 2021 Expressions of Interest group. Once we ascertain consent and key details, we will move to the contracting process.

Since the launch of the Young Person’s Guarantee in November 2020, we have provided additional funding, with the aim of supporting new and enhanced opportunities for young people, through Local Employability Partnerships (LEPs). In 2022-23, Local Employability Partnerships will receive almost £113 million in funding for local employability services through the No One Left Behind approach, which includes the Young Person’s Guarantee, to provide support that meets both individual and labour market needs in each area. This is crucial to achieving shared aims around tackling poverty and inequalities.

As part of funding arrangements, Local Authorities are required to complete Equality Impact Assessments for the funding provided through the Guarantee, outlining how their plans and policies will support young people with protected characteristics, including disabled young people, and where they will target supported education, employment and training projects.

Recently published experimental statistics show that between January 2021-December 2021, 1189 disabled young people received employability support via LEPs, which included Young Person’s Guarantee funding. This data cannot be further disaggregated by type of disability.

The Scottish Government has no functions in relation to Kickstart, which is reserved to the UK Government. Data relating to the Kickstart Scheme is collated by the UK Government and is not currently shared with the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government remains committed to answering all correspondence as quickly as possible and within agreed timescales. This question has been interpreted to be seeking figures from the start of session 6 to date.

a) The Scottish Government responded to 2750 freedom of information requests within the statutory 20 working day deadline during this period. The time limit was exceeded 470 times. FOI performance figures are published on monthly basis on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/freedom-of-information-foi-reporting/ .

b) The Scottish Government produces statistics, available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which show how many written parliamentary questions were answered after the substantive date.

c) A high volume of Ministerial correspondence was received by the Scottish Government during this period. Of the 44991 pieces of correspondence received, 77% were answered on time with 10370 exceeding the response deadline.

We have logged correspondence from numerous homeowners and factors across Scotland and invite all to follow the progress of the pilot. Additionally we regularly work with local authorities to understand any developer led remediation in their area.

In 2020-21 academic year, the estimated number of school leavers who self-identified as deaf/having a hearing impairment was 170, which represented 0.6% of all school leavers who were enrolled in college. Of the estimated 680 school leavers recorded for Young Person’s Guarantee funded courses (which began in January 2021), 10 were school leavers who self-identify as deaf/having a hearing impairment, which represented over 1% of enrolments. The number of enrolments in 2020-21 for Kickstart placements cannot be provided due to small numbers.

Advancing equality and inclusion, and working to eliminate discrimination, is central to the Young Person’s Guarantee, ensuring that no one is left behind. Provision is supporting tailored education, training and employment opportunities for young people with protected characteristics across Scotland, including young people who identify as deaf or have a hearing impairment.

Through the Guarantee we have provided colleges with additional funding of £10m per year in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, to enable them to deliver shorter industry focused opportunities for young people, including skills boost and fast track courses, to meet the needs of employers and support economic recovery. We are continuing to engage with the college sectors and key partners to ensure opportunities are targeted at supporting individuals who experience barriers to participating in the labour market, including disabled young people.

It’s important to note that as disabilities and health conditions are self-declared at the point of application, these figures may not provide the total number of deaf school leavers accessing these opportunities. The figures are also estimates based on data returned from colleges.