The retention of police officers is a matter for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

Police Scotland has set out in its recently published Corporate Strategy, plans to diversify its workforce through the promotion of attractive, inclusive and responsible practices. Police Scotland also set out in its 2013 Equality and Diversity Report, that Police Scotland will continue its commitment to the principles of positive action in respect to recruitment, retention, progression and development in order to achieve an equitable work environment.

Data collected from local authorities on a monthly and quarterly basis is used to monitor HEEPS: ABS delivery by Scottish Government officials. This monitoring process provides assurances that projects are proceeding on the basis agreed between the Scottish Government and local authorities. In the event that projects run into difficulties, that funding can be quickly re-allocated between projects or across local authorities.

Given the flexible nature of HEEPS projects we do not publish monthly or quarterly progress data. In May 2013 we advised local authorities that HEEPS: ABS funding for 2013-14 did not need to be spent by local authorities until the end of September 2014, in line with standard financial practice with projects of this nature. This means that full details on what have been delivered via HEEPS: ABS funding will not be known until after the end of September 2014. The publication of final outcomes for 2013-14 will then follow.

There are no plans to change the definition of fuel poverty in Scotland. In its final report on the Scottish Government’s fuel poverty strategy, published in March 2014, the independent Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum recommended “that the definition currently used in Scotland is still relevant, but that it needs to be reviewed and updated to reflect a more accurate assessment of the energy demands with in homes in a modern age.”

Research into the robustness of the assumptions underpinning the current definition of fuel poverty was commissioned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the Fuel Poverty Forum and members of the forum are currently considering the results of this research and will make recommendations to Scottish Ministers in due course. The four assumptions being considered are the heating regime, the definition of vulnerability, the treatment of under-occupancy and the definition of household income.

The forum led on the research and is responsible for the final report.

For every application to the Scottish Welfare Fund, we ask for the gender of each person in the household, including the main applicant, their partner, children and any other person living with them. Whilst this question is completed for 94% of people overall, the gender of the main applicant is known in 99.98% of applications.

Further details of the information we collect can be found in the data monitoring specification. This is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/15257/1529/swf-dataspec.

The Scottish Welfare Fund comprises of community care grants and crisis grants.

The table below shows the total number of community care grants and crisis grants decided between 1 April and 31 December 2013, broken down by the gender of the main applicant and whether the applications were successful or not.

For community care grants, 62% of males were successful and 68% of females were successful. For crisis grants, 69% of males were successful and 73% of females were successful.

Statistics on the Scottish Welfare Fund can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/swf.

The Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) is intended to help vulnerable people across Scotland, regardless of gender.

An equality impact assessment (EQIA) on the differences between the Discretionary Social Fund and SWF was published in April 2013. It did not find any evidence to suggest that there would be a differential effect between men and women under the SWF.

Gender issues have been mainstreamed in guidance by ensuring that vulnerabilities which are more commonly experienced by women are taken in to consideration in the decision making process.

Factors listed in the guidance as increasing a person’s vulnerability include: people fleeing domestic violence, looking after children for a relative or friend as a kinship carer, being a lone parent, being pregnant, recent childbirth or adopting a child and having responsibility as a main care giver. There are also several vulnerabilities listed relating to the presence of children which are intended to impact child poverty but will advantage women who are mothers.

The EQIA can be found at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/socialfund/FullEQIA.

This data is not held centrally. I will ask the chief executive of Skills Development Scotland to write to you with the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government, through Skills Development Scotland, ensures that there is fair and open access to all our national training programmes, including modern apprenticeships. Government supported training programmes are delivered by a wide range of stakeholders such as local authorities, colleges, training providers and employers. They must all meet their statutory obligations and operate within the appropriate laws, such as The Equality Act 2010 and the Employment Relations Act 1999.

The recent interim report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce makes a number of recommendations relating to government supported training programmes, and I am currently considering these recommendations, with the final report due in early summer. An important stage in the second half of the Wood Commission will include a focus on equality issues, looking to make meaningful recommendations to improve employment outcomes in relation to gender, disability and ethnicity.

We will use the findings from this work to develop a way forward for government supported training programmes which will better meet our aims and ambitions for Scotland.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) publishes management information on government supported training programme, including modern apprenticeships on a quarterly basis.

The published data is broken down by gender, age, framework followed (which relates to the apprentice’s occupation) and local authority area.

I attach a link to SDS published data:

http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/statistics/modern-apprenticeships/.

The Scottish Government contributed £5.1 million to the £7.45 million making advice work fund, the remainder being contributed by money advice services. Stream three of this funding was focussed on tackling barriers in accessing advice for priority groups, one being people experiencing domestic abuse and several of the projects focussed on advice for women.