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In 2002, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) adopted a new system for the management of Children’s Hearings data. Prior to 2002, information on Children’s Hearings was not recorded in the same way – only substantive decisions were recorded, and the data would therefore not be comparable. SCRA can be contacted for further detail on this if required. The number of children’s hearings held in each year since 2002-2003 are:

The Scottish Government is aware of the impact that invasive species can have on seabird populations. We are developing the Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy, which aims to optimise the conservation prospects of seabirds in Scotland through effective management of existing and emerging threats. We plan to consult on the Strategy in summer 2022.

The Scottish Government sits on the working group for the RSPB led UK Seabird Island Biosecurity Programme. This programme follows on from the Biosecurity for LIFE programme where invasive rats that were negatively impacting seabird populations were successfully removed from the Shiant isles. Through the working group RSPB are identifying funding opportunities for the programme.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 provides local authorities with a discretionary power to set up workplace parking licensing (WPL) schemes. It will be for local authorities to decide whether they wish to implement WPL locally and to shape proposals to suit local circumstances.

Liability for the WPL charge sits with employers, not with employees, and it is a matter for employers whether they pass on the cost to employees.

As the impacts will depend on local authorities’ proposals, it is for local authorities, rather than Ministers, to assess the likely impacts of their proposed schemes. Local authorities are required to consult those likely to be affected and undertake impact assessments before implementing a WPL scheme.

The Scottish Housing Regulator collects information from all social landlords on performance against the standards and outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. This includes the average length of time taken to complete emergency and non-emergency repairs during the reporting year. The published Scottish Housing Regulator Charter Data information is available at Statistical information | Scottish Housing Regulator .

The Scottish Housing Regulator collects information from social landlords on performance against the standards and outcomes of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. This includes information on the total number of emergency and non-emergency repairs completed during the reporting year. The published Scottish Housing Regulator Charter Data information is available at Statistical information | Scottish Housing Regulator .

Severance arrangements and the scrutiny of severance cases follow the process set out in SPFM . This includes arrangements around voluntary exits and settlement agreements and use of confidentiality clauses.

• Data in relation to settlement and the number of confidentiality clauses in Scottish Government and Public bodies, NHSScotland and Scottish Funding Council overseen bodies is held from 2014 and, since then, has been provided to parliament annually – see links to previous reports . 2020-21 data will be published imminently.
• We do not hold information prior to 2014, nor do we hold information in respect of local authorities.

SG and public bodies, NHS and SFC Data. - CC = confidentiality clause.

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads with the local road authorities, including parking on local roads. They also have a duty under the Disabled Persons' Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009, in particular circumstances, to exercise their power to make it an offence to park in a disabled parking place without displaying a blue badge.

Enforcement of these spaces is therefore the responsibility of traffic wardens, local authority parking attendants, civil enforcement officers and Police officers.

However, as part of the implementation of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 parking provisions, we will be undertaking a publicity campaign to highlight inconsiderate parking including the misuse of disabled parking bays.

We have committed to a significant programme of investment an expansion in universal school meal provision, this programme will see universal free school lunches being made available for all children in primary and special schools during school term-time during the course of this parliamentary term.

As a part of this workstream, we have also committed to piloting approaches to the provision of free school meals in secondary schools during the course of this parliamentary term. We will provide updates on the progress of delivery around our work to establish pilots of universal free school meal provision in secondary schools as this progresses.

Current building regulations require that fire spread on external walls is inhibited. The guidance which supports the regulations calls for non-combustible or limited combustibility cladding and insulation materials on the exterior walls of high rise buildings over 11m and high-risk buildings. Combustible cladding and insulation can only be used in such situations when the fire performance of the whole of the cladding system (including thermal insulation and fire barriers) has passed a large scale fire test. The Scottish Government requires to be notified when such a test has been used to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.

The current review of building regulations has considered a ban of the highest risk cladding materials including the role of the large scale fire test, BS 8414. It is expected that amended regulations will be laid in the Scottish Parliament shortly.

The following table shows how many school-aged children are in each local authority (as at September 2020) and how many devices have been distributed by councils using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets. We do not hold information centrally on those approaches, therefore, the following table only shows devices distributed through the funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government are committed to providing a device for every school aged child by the end of this Parliament.