Seòmar agus comataidhean

I reaffirm the answer provided in S6T-00784 on 14 June 2022. Specifically, that local decisions are taken by headteachers in an empowered education system. We trust schools and headteachers to know their pupils best, and to take decisions that are in the best interests of their children and young people.

Where there are projects involving Police Scotland in place, schools find these to be of great benefit. They are highly engaged in proactive and preventative work in communities with families – working alongside Social Work and third sector organisations.

All answers to Topical Questions are available on the Parliament's website at the following link: Meeting of the Parliament: 14/06/2022 | Scottish Parliament Website

I reaffirm the answer provided in S6T-00784 on 14 June 2022. Specifically, in the small number of areas where there are projects involving Police Scotland in place, schools indicate that they find these to be of great benefit.

A key principle of the refreshed 2022 Pupil Equity Funding National Operational Guidance states that: ‘Teachers, parents and carers, children and young people and other key stakeholders should be meaningfully involved throughout the processes of planning, implementing and evaluating approaches.’

Headteachers are accountable to their local authority for the use of Pupil Equity Funding within their school. We have been clear that schools should consult and engage effectively with teachers, parents and carers, children and young people and the wider community when implementing approaches to closing the poverty-related attainment gap.

To ensure transparency, 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 arrangements for publication should be confirmed by the relevant local authority.

The Scottish Government has had no specific discussions about this issue with these local authorities. It is for headteachers, who know their children best, to decide on how to invest their Pupil Equity Funding, based on their local contexts and they should work in partnership with each other, and their local authority, to agree the use of the funding.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-24134 on 18 July 2019.. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Crown Estate Scotland contributed £150K funding towards the data collection component of the National Electrofishing Programme (NEPS) for Scotland 2021.

The total cost of data collection for NEPS 2021 was ca. £416,337 and was issued as a Grant to Fisheries Management Scotland. Marine Scotland covered the remaining costs of data collection and will cover the costs of analysis and publication.

The Crown Estate Scotland grant covered some modest project management time from Fisheries Management Scotland (£5,100) and the costs incurred by local fisheries managers (e.g. staff time, travel) in sampling fish populations at 810 sites across Scotland in 2021.

Payment was made on a “per-site” basis at £460 for electrofishing and a further £43.33 for genetic sampling, which underpins the National Introgression Programme for Scotland (NIPS).

The Crown Estates Scotland funding was not ring-fenced for specific regions or components of the data collection and, therefore, should be considered a contribution to the overall project.

The Pig Producers Hardship Support Scheme was first published in August 2021, when a £715,000 fund was made available. All 39 applications received were successful, totalling a spend of approximately £654,000.

In February 2022, the scheme was extended to offer a further £680,000 and had 32 applicants, leading to a total spend of c£675,000. There were no unsuccessful applications.

In June 2022, a further extension to the scheme of £410,000 saw 32 applications, with no unsuccessful applicants. The total spend for this third and final round of the Pig Hardship Scheme is estimated at £406,000 with payments to be made by the end of August.

This amounts to c£654,000 being paid out in 2021 and approximately £1,081,000960 to be paid in total this calendar year. Due to the nature of the scheme, the same applicants could apply for multiple rounds of support.

The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish student nurses is currently at its highest level, and is the highest level of support available to nursing and midwifery students across the UK. Our non-means tested, non-repayable paramedic, nursing and midwifery student bursary is £10,000 per year and will remain at this level for the upcoming 2022-2023 academic year. Scottish domiciled students on degree, honours and masters levels of study leading to registration as a paramedic, nurse or midwife are all eligible.

Nursing students may also be eligible for a range of funding on top of the non-means tested bursary, including a Dependants Allowance, Disabled Students’ Allowance and/or Single Parent’s Allowance.

Students who are in financial difficulty may also be able to access the Nursing & Midwifery Discretionary Fund, which is administered by higher education institutions on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is aware of the international consensus principles for ethical wildlife control and alongside the recent Parliamentary debate on the issue, I previously met with OneKind to discuss those principles in more detail, and last month Scottish Government officials attended a workshop organised by both John Muir Trust and OneKind on the principles and how they could be applied in deer management.

Animal welfare remains at the heart of our wildlife management policies and we have taken a number of steps in recent years in order to ensure the highest standards of animal and wildlife welfare in Scotland.

NatureScot has invited stakeholders such as the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission and animal welfare organisations such as the Wild Animal Welfare Committee to work with them on exploring where they think we can go further in regards to animal welfare and the international consensus principles for ethical wildlife control being applied within the Shared Approach.

The Programme for Government 2021-22 committed to expanding the availability of the Caledonian System, with the aim of making it available to all Scottish local authorities by the end of the parliamentary term.

Consideration must be given to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operation of the Caledonian System, our ability to assess and evaluate during this period, and what lessons might be learned to further enhance the programme.