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Since the start of Session 6, the Chamber Desk has seen an upturn in the number of questions and motions submitted. In particular, the number of Urgent Questions being lodged has increased significantly. These factors have had an impact on the previous pattern of work undertaken by the Chamber Desk and have resulted in a longer turnaround time than Members will previously have been used to. When Urgent Questions are lodged, they are given priority due to the timeframe for such questions to be taken if selected and only selected questions are published. To respond to these changes in demand and pattern of work, additional staffing resources have been deployed to the Chamber Desk. Due to the specialist nature of the services provided by the Chamber Desk, the impact of these additional resources will not be immediately realised as staff require to undertake training and familiarisation with the role. Where any Members have lodged motions that are particularly time-sensitive and that they wish to be prioritised they should indicate this by email to the Chamber Desk and, where possible, early attention can be given to processing those items.

The Parliament takes an inclusive approach to providing its staff with appropriate childcare support.  Staff are supported by a range of policies to enable them to manage their work, family and home life circumstances. This has been particularly helpful during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK Government operates a tax free childcare scheme which offers up to £2000 per year for each child to assist with childcare costs.  As an employer there are limitations on the benefits that can be offered following changes to UK legislation in 2018 which prohibited employers from operating a childcare voucher scheme other than for parents who were already members of the scheme prior to its closure.  Prior to the closing of all employer funded childcare schemes the SPCB operated a voucher scheme for Members, their staff and SPCB staff.   The scheme was introduced to promote fairness and inclusion for all individuals in place of a childcare facility which would primarily benefit employees across the central belt of Scotland and within easy access of the childcare facility. 

The employer childcare voucher scheme which remains in operation for employees who were members of the scheme prior to its closure in 2018 has experienced a reduction in use during the Covid-19 pandemic where staff had the ability to work in a more flexible manner and from a flexible location, reducing the requirement for paid childcare provisions. 

Ensuring electric charge points are accessible and user friendly for all is a core part of the Scottish Government’s approach to building out Scotland’s charging infrastructure. All chargers supported by Scottish Government funding must meet the requirements and recommendations set out in Transport Scotland’s good practice guide. This makes clear that installations by local authorities and other chargepoint owners should take account of duties set out in the Equalities Act 2010, noting specific accessibility considerations including in areas such as hatched markings and dropped kerbs.

Transport Scotland is also working in partnership with Scottish Enterprise through the Can Do Innovation Challenge framework to improve the design of electric vehicle charge points to make them even more accessible. This project is being advanced with input from the disabled community and organisations including Motability, the Mobility and Access Committee, The Roads for all forum, Perth and Kinross Inclusive Living Centre and Disabled Equality Scotland.

To ensure outcomes of our current innovation challenges and user engagement is captured, Transport Scotland is working with The Department for Transport, the charity Motability, and the British Standards Institution on the development of Accessible Electric Vehicle Chargepoint standards. The set of advisory standards are due to be developed by Summer 2022, once developed, they will provide specifications for the installers and operators of public charging infrastructure to ensure a more accessible and inclusive charging system across Scotland, and the UK as a whole.

The following table provides reconviction rates for individuals aged 16 or over, who were released from custody in the stated year and then subsequently reconvicted by a court at least once during the specific follow up period. Reconvictions can be for similar or different types of crimes and offences, compared to the initial conviction.

With this type of cohort-based analysis, sufficient time is required to have passed before reconvictions can be measured. For example, in the latest cohort year available, 2018-19, the number presented in the table represents the proportion of individuals who were reconvicted at least once in 2019-20. Given this time lag, the table presents reconvictions for the four to five year period instead of over four years. When examining a reconviction rate at the four to five year period, the latest cohort year where this analysis can be conducted is 2014-15.

Table 1. Reconviction rates for individuals aged 16 or over released from custody, 2007-08 to 2018-19 cohorts .

Social Security Scotland regularly publishes information on levels of detected fraud in its Annual Report and Accounts. The most recent document covering the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 3 November 2021.

From 3 September 22018 until 17 November 2021, Social Security Scotland has detected internal fraud with an estimated value of £17,400. Throughout the same period, no overpayments of benefit have been classified as being due to client fraud. Benefit fraud cases are only recorded as such following conviction.

The Scottish Government publishes information on “Homelessness assessment decisions” which provides data on the number of homeless applications which are assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness. Information has been collected and is available by local authority for the years 2002-03 to 2020-21.

The data can be found in Table 11 of the associated with the latest Homelessness in Scotland: 2020-21 publication.

In September 2019 there were 1,073 teachers in Secondary schools whose main subject was music.

Of these 1,073 teachers, 1,007 had posts in September 2020 (irrespective of subject taught or setting) and 66 did not have a post in publicly funded Scottish school.

The 1,007 with posts in the 2020 teacher census includes those recorded as not teaching at the time because they were either on leave or seconded from their post (e.g. on maternity leave).

Data from the September 2021 teacher census will be published on the 14th of December.

Throughout the pandemic, the Scottish Government has emphasised to Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and Local Authorities the on-going need to promote both the physical and the psychological wellbeing of everyone working in health and social care.

This year the Scottish Government has made available £12 million to support the wellbeing of the health and social care workforce. This includes £8 million from the NHS Recovery Plan to provide ongoing wellbeing support alongside an additional £4 million for practical, emotional and evidence-based psychological support to help staff as they respond to winter pressures.

The Scottish Government’s national resources complement the range of support measures that are available across health and social care organisations: the 24/7 National Wellbeing Helpline, the National Wellbeing Hub, Coaching for Wellbeing, the Workforce Specialist Service and additional funding for psychological interventions and therapies specifically for the workforce.

We are working with partners to develop further support measures and additional resources for Boards, social care providers and others who employ frontline staff as they respond to winter pressures.