The Chair of the Assurance Board, Christine McLaughlin, wrote to members on 31 March 2023 with a full progress update on NHS Forth Valley’s escalation in Governance, Leadership and Culture. The letter has been published on the Scottish Government website: NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board update: letter from the Chair to MSPs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The onus remains on NHS Forth Valley to deliver and evidence the required improvements in governance, leadership and culture; and, in turn, on performance. The Assurance Board will continue to monitor and scrutinise NHS Forth Valley’s progress.

As stated on 8 March in the Chamber in response to a parliamentary question (S6O-01978), a revaluation statistical summary report, which will include information broken down by property class, is expected to be published in 2023-24 once final values for the revaluation have been made available. It is intended that this report will be available in the Spring.

The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the parliaments website, the Official Report can be viewed at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-08-03-2023?meeting=14190

The Scottish Government is aware of the importance of rural bus services and is committed, in conjunction with operators and local authorities, to looking at ways of improving services. I convened the Bus Taskforce to bring key players in the sector together to make bus travel a more attractive choice for passengers through joint commitments to reform and improve bus services.

The Scottish Government provided £223m in emergency funding to support bus services during the pandemic and the Scottish Budget for 2022-23 allocation of £410m in funding for bus services and concessionary fares. The COVID recovery support for the bus sector through the Network Support Grant Plus was extended from June 2022, and again in October 2022, and due to end on 31 March 2023. The Network Support Grant Plus was always a temporary fund and extending to 31 March was to freeze fares on participating services to help people with the cost of travel over the winter.

We are supporting bus use through the Young Persons Free Bus Scheme, which means that around half of Scotland's population are now eligible for free bus travel. We continue to provide financial support for bus services to keep services more extensive and fares more affordable than would otherwise be the case. Payments are based on the distance buses are operated, which is a particular advantage in rural areas where the routes are generally longer. Funding is also provided to local authorities in their annual settlement to support services they consider socially necessary and for community transport services, which can play an important role in rural transport networks. In 2021-22 they spent £55m in this way.

Since December 2020, the Scottish Government have supported operators through our Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus and Scottish Zero Emission Bus schemes, to acquire 548 new, zero emission buses and supporting infrastructure with awards totalling almost £113m. In addition, the Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme, worth £500k, was announced on 10 August 2022 to help organisations to understand the steps required to replace their bus fleet with zero emission alternatives.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Keeping The Promise by 2030, working in partnership with all partners including Local Authorities, the third sector and importantly the care community to create the conditions for change at a national and local level.

We continue to support a wide range of projects and initiatives across communities in Scotland that improve outcomes for children, young people, adults and families who are care experienced and those on the edges of care.

The Scottish Government has committed £4 million per year up to March 2025 for The Promise Partnership Fund which launched in 2021. This has been established to help organisations with early intervention and to deliver changes to better support children, young people and families in or on the edges of care.

The 2023-24 budget allocated £30 million towards Keeping The Promise to children and families with care experience. In addition, £50 million has been allocated for Whole Family Wellbeing Funding. This funding will focus on the system changes required to shift investment towards early intervention and prevention activities, to ensure families can access support before they reach crisis point.

The Scottish Government is committed to keeping The Promise and improving the outcomes of care experienced children and young people in education. To achieve this we continue to work with partners, including Education Scotland, COSLA and ADES.

Our national guidance, Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2 , is clear that exclusion should be used as a measure of last resort. The guidance includes particular considerations regarding the exclusion of care experienced young people.

Engagement activity includes with the Scottish Advisory Group for Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS), to consider exclusion in the context of promoting positive relationships and behaviour in schools.

The Scottish Government is committed to ending the placement of under 18s in Young Offenders Institutions (YOI) and supporting care based alternatives. We have already made significant progress, with the number of under 18s in YOI down to 4 on 28 February from over 200 in 2007. The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill, introduced to Holyrood on 13 December 2022, will end this practice if it gains Parliamentary approval.

Such action is integral to Keeping the Promise, a pledge which has cross party support and to which this government remains steadfastly committed.

Beyond legislative change we are working closely with Local Authorities and the third sector to create the conditions for change. A practice guide for community alternatives has been drafted with key partners for expected publication by May 2023. The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice are supporting engagement with key partners and children and young people on the future of secure care, including defining issues, developing options for change and delivering on this, where agreed with Ministers.

We are engaging with secure care providers and local authorities to increase secure care capacity for under 18s. We are exploring funding options to provide financial sustainability for secure care providers going forward.

Together with Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Government is developing a consensus statement on substance use prevention for young people. This will provide an agreed expert view and understanding in where our collective efforts should lie in improving practice and associated outcomes for children and young people. It will be used to support planning and delivery at a national and local level, and will include consideration of the specific needs of care experienced children and young people.

The Scottish Government’s whole family approach to drug and alcohol services is supported by our annual investment of £3.5 million through Alcohol and Drug Partnerships. Additional funding, such as the £3 million Children and Families Fund administered through the Corra Foundation, is in place to improve support for children, young people and families impacted by drug use.

Ensuring sufficient community pharmacy provision is the responsibility of NHS Health Boards in their local areas. Arrangements are set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and decisions regarding pharmacy provision are made through a Board’s Pharmacy Practices Committee (PPC). The process is independent of Scottish Ministers and Government.

The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) requires a collaborative approach. A cross portfolio ministerial group oversees the programme at a high level, whilst Governance is provided by the Programme Board which consists of Directors from across the relevant portfolios as well as key external stakeholders.

WFWF is funded by the Education and Justice portfolio for financial year 2022-23 and will again be funded through this portfolio in the financial year 2023-24 as set out in the Scottish Budget.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the sustainability of local news as a key part of the public interest news sector in Scotland. In 2021, we established the Public Interest Journalism Working Group to consider the long-term sustainability of public interest journalism, including local news, and to recommend ways to ensure its ongoing resilience. We responded to the Group’s recommendations on 24 June 2022. This included a commitment to facilitate a Roundtable event to support the creation of a new Scottish Public Interest Journalism Institute, which was held on 23 November. While it is not for Scottish Government to influence the remit of the Institute, it is likely, in line with the Working Group’s recommendations, that part of its role will be to support local news.

The Scottish Government and public bodies also use local media, including newspaper, to promote initiatives such as public health campaigns.