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The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s January 2021 forecast for expenditure on the Scottish Child Payment, utilised to set the Scottish Budget 2021-22, was £68 million. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s August 2021 forecast revised this estimate to £55 million for 2021-22, based on updated estimates of eligible children. The difference between the forecast at the time of setting the Scottish Budget 2021-22 and the August 2021 forecast is £13 million.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04128 on  30 November 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04128 on 30 November 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As of August, all councils are offering 1140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children, making high quality early learning and childcare available to families and saving parents up to £4,900 per year for each eligible child. Up to 130,000 children are expected to benefit this year as new children are enrolled.

This is a fantastic achievement that has been achieved in the face of the pandemic by Scottish Government, Local Government and our local delivery partners.

Data returned by local authorities in September 2021 indicates that 90,890 children were accessing funded ELC as of the end of August 2021. Of these, 88,122 children (97%) were accessing more than 600 hours, and 79,262 children (87%) were accessing 1140 hours funded ELC. Providers in the private and voluntary sectors and childminders provide 32% of all funded provision.

Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer the equivalent of 1140 hours to all eligible children regardless of their parents’ working status, putting children first. That includes all 3 and 4 year olds and around a quarter of 2 year olds.

The Scottish Government has been working with local authorities to promote the expanded entitlement, with the aim of helping parents to make informed choices about what works best for them and their children, and that provision reflects local needs.

Our Transition and Recovery Plan recognised that there can be challenges relating to rural isolation, which may be increasingly felt by those in remote communities as a result of the pandemic. We have committed to working in partnership with the National Rural Mental Health Forum to develop an approach to ensure that these communities have equal and timely access to mental health support and services, including consideration of whether dedicated pathways are needed. We’re keen to support efforts by NHS Boards to promote the use of digital services, in particular to maximise the benefits for rural communities; whilst recognising that this isn’t the solution for everyone.

Our Transition and Recovery Plan is supported by a £120m Recovery and Renewal fund. This year, a total of £9m has been allocated from this fund to address Psychological Therapies waiting times. Phase one funding of £5 million was allocated to Health Boards to address long waits within psychological therapies. Phase two funding of £4 million was recently approved to allow Boards to recruit more staff now, see the longest waits, meet the anticipated winter surge of those being referred for psychological interventions, and support the creation of a more effective digital infrastructure so those in remote and rural communities can be seen whenever and wherever they require care. Phase two funding included a minimum allocation for Island Boards to ensure that they can use the money in the transformational way it is intended.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the provision of safe and reliable lifeline ferry services for our island economies. We recognise how frustrating delays and cancellations can be for businesses, individual and communities but it should be remembered that they happen for a variety of reasons, often weather related or for reasons outwith Calmac’s control. Our focus is very much on preventing service disruption where that is possible, so we continue to work with CalMac to maximise available capacity across the network.

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 introduced a number of measures ensuring that there is a sustained focus across Government and the public sector to meet the needs of island communities now and in the future.

Any funding provided to organisations by the Scottish Government directly, or through sport scotland, for this purpose, will include arrangements for monitoring of that investment.

It is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to agree and deliver any overseas training programme, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

The Chief Constable of Police Scotland announced, at the Scottish Police Authority Board meeting on 24 November 2021, that Police Scotland has made the decision not to undertake any further work in Sri Lanka before their current contract expires in March 2022. Police Scotland has also advised the UK Government that they will not seek to renew their contract in support of the Sri Lanka Police Service.

The vast majority of the school estate is the responsibility of, and managed by, local authorities. The Scottish Government’s and its guiding principles provide a platform for investment in the learning estate across Scotland and set out our strategic approach for managing the learning estate. One of these guiding principles is that learning environments should serve the wider community and where appropriate be integrated with the delivery of other public services.

The Programme for Government aims to address the inequalities in our society, and create a fair, equal society for all. The commitment to doubling investment in sport and active living is aligned to this wider aim and will be used to ensure we support participation across all groups and address inequalities in access to physical activity and sport.

As part of its ongoing commitment to develop the sporting system, sport scotland continues to work with local authorities to encourage and support them in widening access to school sport facilities. This has involved working in partnership with local authorities to support various aspects of their planning, including facilitating the development of local sport and sport facilities strategies, and supporting operational planning at individual school level, including developing Community Sport Hubs within schools.

Community Sport Hubs are delivered in partnership with the local authority, ensuring that there is full commitment to delivering community access to the school estate from the outset. Community Sport Hubs provide a home for sport. They bring together sport clubs and community organisations who want to develop and grow the sporting offering in the community. They focus on sustainable, community-led approaches that get clubs working together to develop a welcoming, safe, and fun environments for sport.

Spending plans will be contained in the Scottish Budget due to be published on 9 December 2021. The Scottish Government has a robust sponsorship relationship with sport scotland to ensure oversight and accountability of their funding and will require reporting against investment from any other organisations that are funded directly.