Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government submitted a response to Ofcom’s Strategic Review of Digital Communications in November 2016 and our dialogue with Ofcom on the issues raised is ongoing. Our response is available on Ofcom’s website: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/62557/scottish_government.pdf.

The programme for Government committed half a billion pounds to Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme over the next four years, including funding to continue to tackle fuel poverty. Further information on our investment in fuel poverty and energy efficiency will be included in the draft Budget Bill which will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament later this year.

The Active Schools programme provides opportunities for children to participate in sport and physical activity before, during lunch, and after school. This programme does not contribute to the Physical Education target of two hours per week.

The Scottish Government has, on many occasions, made representations to the UK Treasury on all matters relating to oil and gas. The Scottish Government is keen to ensure the oil and gas fiscal regime is robust and fit for purpose, with the aim of maintaining the North Sea as an attractive place for investment, but also one that ensures the right assets are in the right hands to prevent premature cessation of production.

With regard to oil and gas and decommissioning, the Cabinet Secretary met with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 30 June 2016 to discuss this, among other issues of importance to Scotland. The Cabinet Secretary highlighted the need for urgent action on the UK Loan Guarantee Scheme to support investment in oil and gas assets and infrastructure, which was originally announced by the UK Government in the Spring Budget 2016.

It was also impressed upon the Chief Secretary that decommissioning was a major opportunity, with the potential for Scotland to become a centre of expertise. The Cabinet Secretary stressed the need for the UK Government to do all it could to support this ambition.

The findings of the survey will be published on the Scottish Government website later in 2016.

The Scottish Government is committed to enabling all children and young people to reach their full potential. To support this we are developing the health visiting services over the next two years to introduce a consistent enhanced service to all families and grow the workforce. In October 2015 we published the new Universal Health Visitor Pathway, which outlines a core home visiting programme to be offered to families with pre-school children. It consists of 11 contact points including formal health reviews of the child at 13-15 months, 27-30 months and prior to starting to school to assess development and report on any issues or concerns. This provides an opportunity for Health Visitors, children and their parents/carers to review development and act as a gateway to other services when needed. This will provide support and timely interventions for deaf children and their families both prior to and following an identification of deafness. It will also aid in how development and outcomes of deaf children in the early years are monitored.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of supporting families with a deaf baby and funds the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) to deliver its family sign project. The British Sign Language National Advisory Group has representation from both deaf and hearing parents of deaf children and it is highly likely that support for families of deaf children will feature in the first national plan. The Equality Unit has provided £40,000 (2016-17) to NDCS in connection with the deaf sector partnership, and in particular, to enable parents with a deaf child to contribute to the discussions on the development of the first British Sign Language National Plan.

In terms of supporting children and young people in school, the Scottish Government works with local authorities to implement the Additional Support for Learning legislation which provides the legal framework for the identification, support and review of the specific learning needs of pupils including those arising from hearing impairment. In addition, the Scottish Government is working with key stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the Scottish Parliament's Education Committee report on the attainment of pupils with sensory impairment.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider the recommendations from the National Deaf Children's Society’s report “Getting it right from the start: Improving early years support for deaf children in Scotland” to identify areas where it can make a practical difference to families with a deaf child.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with local partners and the National Deaf Children’s Society to ensure that the learning from the two pilots set up in Lothian and Tayside is implemented nationally.

Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) is the government’s national approach that aims to improve outcomes for all children and young people in Scotland.

The GIRFEC approach currently operates in many parts of Scotland on a non-statutory basis. The Child’s Plan as set out under Part 5 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, which is not yet commenced, offers a consistent approach to how extra support is planned, delivered and coordinated if a child has more complex needs. Not every child will require a Child’s Plan. It will be available for children who need extra support that is not generally available to address their needs and improve their wellbeing. The child’s plan, developed in partnership with the child and their parent(s), will be coordinated by a lead professional involved in delivering the plan. The child’s plan will contain information about why the plan has been created, what the plan is aiming to achieve, and the actions to be taken to improve the child’s wellbeing.

In addition, in October 2015, Scottish Government published the new Universal Health Visitor Pathway, which outlines a core home visiting programme to be offered to families with pre-school children. It consists of 11 contact points including formal health reviews of the child at 13-15 month, 27-30 month and prior to starting to school to assess development and report on any issues or concerns. This provides an opportunity for Health Visitors, children and their parents/carers to review development and act as a gateway to other services when needed. This will provide support and timely interventions for deaf children and their families both prior to and following an identification of deafness. It will also aid in how development and outcomes of deaf children in the early years are monitored.

Work is already underway to develop Scotland’s first ever BSL National Plan which will include recommendations on improving support for deaf children. This involves a wide range of representation, including the National Deaf Children’s Society, deaf parents and hearing parents of deaf children.

We are developing the health visiting services over the next two years to introduce a consistent enhanced service to all families and grow the workforce. We published in October 2015, the new Universal Health Visitor Pathway, which outlines a core home visiting programme to be offered to families with pre-school children. It consists of 11 contact points including formal health reviews of the child at 13-15 month, 27-30 month and prior to starting to school to assess development and report on any issues or concerns. This provides an opportunity for Health Visitors, children and their parents/carers to review development and act as a gateway to other services when needed. This will provide support and timely interventions for deaf children and their families both prior to and following an identification of deafness. It will also aid in how development and outcomes of deaf children in the early years are monitored.

In addition, The Scottish Government has increased the amount of funded early learning and childcare to 600 hours a year for all three and four year olds and some two year olds. Young children with additional support needs, including deaf children, are supported through the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, and in certain circumstances the duties under the act will apply before children reach the age for the entitlement to funded early learning and childcare. This means that children with additional support needs can access funded early learning and childcare potentially from birth and generally before the age they would otherwise become eligible.