Since the start of the pandemic the Scottish Government has provided local authorities with £240 million of additional investment, over two financial years (2020-21 and 2021-22), specifically for the recruitment of more education staff, and a further £145.5 million of permanent funding has been allocated from April 2022.

The recruitment and deployment of teachers is a matter for individual local authorities, and they are responsible for using available resources to provide a complement of staff, including Lead Teachers, which meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils based on local needs and priorities.

The recruitment and deployment of teachers is a matter for individual local authorities, and they are responsible for using the resources available to them to provide a complement of staff, including Lead Teachers, which meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils based on local needs and priorities.

At the time of the Summary Statistics for Schools In Scotland 2021 publication, there were no Lead Teachers employed in schools. This data was collected in September 2021 and therefore will not reflect the current position.

South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) advertised for four new Board members in Autumn 2021. Applicants were asked to demonstrate evidence of their skills, knowledge and experience in one of three areas: land based industries; governance/strategic management; or digital transformation. On 15 February 2022, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy announced the appointments, with two of the successful candidates having extensive expertise in land based industries. In addition, two existing members of the Board have knowledge of agricultural matters.

Local authorities are responsible for determining how they deliver education in their schools. Decisions relating to the provision of digital technology are taken locally. As such, we do not hold this information centrally.

The Scottish Government is clear that bullying of any kind is unacceptable and must be addressed quickly whenever it arises.

Each local authority is responsible for the care, safety and welfare of pupils in school in the authority area. All adults who work in schools have a responsibility to ensure the mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing of the children and young people in their care.

Headteachers, teachers, other school staff and local authorities are best placed to decide how to address bullying in their schools. Individual schools know their context and children and young people best and so it is essential they are able to implement their own anti-bullying policy, specific to the local needs and circumstances of the children and young people in their area.

Our national guidance ‘Respect for All’ provides the overarching framework for all adults working with children and young people to address all types of bullying. It makes clear that bullying is not just the responsibility of schools but all adults involved in the lives of children and young people who have a role in preventing and responding to bullying.

We continue to fully fund respectme, Scotland’s anti-bullying service to build confidence and capacity to address bullying effectively, aligned to ‘Respect for All’.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07687 on 19 April 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Where agricultural expertise is required in Ministerial appointees to Government agencies, the sponsor team for the agency may choose to integrate that into criteria for the role. The sponsor team should work with the public body and the Board Chair on this, to represent Ministers' aims and requirements for the roles.

Government agencies will of course also ensure that they engage with their relevant stakeholders, including agricultural representatives, as appropriate.

This data is not centrally available; aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Waiting Times is sent to Public Health Scotland (PHS) from each NHS Board. It does not contain explicit information on the number of young people who have learning disabilities. It reports on the number of referrals for young people to services; numbers waiting to start treatment and total waiting; not accepted for treatment from referral and Did Not Attend status numbers for 1st contact appointments; and the time between referral and first treatment.

PHS are developing a patient level dataset, Child, Adolescent and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND) and the Scottish Government has commissioned Directors of eHealth in NHS Boards, working with others, including PHS , to work to improve the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) digital infrastructure. This will enable the recording and extraction of the full CAMHS and Psychological Therapies (PT) National Dataset (CAPTND), which will allow improved reporting on patient characteristics.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07353 on 25 March 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

This data is not centrally available.

PHS are developing a patient level dataset, Child, Adolescent and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND) and the Scottish Government has commissioned Directors of eHealth in NHS Boards, working with others, including PHS , to work to improve the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) digital infrastructure. This will enable the recording and extraction of the full CAMHS and Psychological Therapies (PT) National Dataset (CAPTND), which will allow improved reporting on patient characteristics.