I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41513 on 7 November 2025. The Taskforce will bring together work from across Government. The Scottish Government is engaging with a wide range of third sector bodies, including those representing children and young people, as well as public sector stakeholders in developing and delivering work focused on tackling online harms to children and young people. This includes the various stakeholders involved in the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group - gov.scot.

The Taskforce will be considering how engagement on the government’s overarching approach to online harm can be enhanced further to support a more joined up dialogue with stakeholders including the third sector.

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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41513 on 7 November 2025. The Taskforce currently plan to publish a strategic plan bringing together work from across Scottish Government to protect children and young people from online harms and promote positive online behaviours at the turn of the year. 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.

As referenced in the Scottish Government Programme for Government 2025-26: Building the Best Future for Scotland, the purpose of the Taskforce is to strengthen our approach to keeping children safe online, providing oversight and direction across Scottish Government and identifying what more can be done to protect children and young people. In meeting this purpose it will bring together work from across government to better effect, maximising the funding available across government to keep children safe online and help promote wellbeing through positive behaviours.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are continuing to progress the longer-term reforms to the sustainable rates setting process as set out in the 2023 joint Sustainable Rates Review.

The joint 2025-26 sustainable rates guidance, published 20 February 2025, reflects the recommendations of the Review – in particular by encouraging local authorities to introduce greater standardisation in the rate setting process. Local authorities are expected to make progress towards reflecting the changes outlined in this guidance during 2025-26.

Full implementation of these changes requires more robust and reliable data to improve the sustainable rate setting process, as recommended by the Review. To support this new national ELC cost surveys are being undertaken independently by the Diffley Partnership. When the survey data is available the Scottish Government and COSLA will consider carefully with the sector its potential implications for policy, guidance and funding in future years.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government as it relates to an operational matter for the children’s hearings system. Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) are responsible for the scheduling and administration of children’s panel members.

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) publish annual statistics, which sets out a measure on time taken to progress referrals through the children’s hearings system. The information is available on the SCRA website: Official Statistics - SCRA.

The Scottish Government remains resolutely committed to fulfilling all recommendations of the Independent Care Review and to Keeping The Promise by 2030.

The Promise Implementation Plan, published in March 2022, set out the Government’s approach to fulfilling these recommendations. A comprehensive update on progress was provided in the Implementation Plan Update published in September 2024, which outlined the actions taken and the ongoing work required.

Progress is being understood through the Promise Story of Progress, a joint approach co-authored by Scottish Government, COSLA and The Promise Scotland. One aspect of this is the Promise Progress Framework, which builds on a theory of change to identify outcomes for care-experienced children, young people, and families which need to improve by 2030, and national-level data that can help understand where change is happening.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that transformational change is required and that progress must be understood not only through outcomes, but also through the lived experiences and relationships that shape those outcomes. There are two further strands to the Promise Story of Progress, which seek to better understand organisational activity to Keep The Promise, and the voice of the care experienced community. The approach promotes shared accountability across the sector and supports continuous learning by identifying effective practices and areas for improvement, and is designed to evolve as new insights emerge. An update to all three these strands of The Promise Story of Progress will be published in December 2025.

The Government continues to work collaboratively across portfolios and with key stakeholders and delivery partners to ensure that the necessary changes are implemented and sustained.

Children’s Hearings Scotland is responsible for the recruitment, training and retention of children’s hearings panel members and is assigned funding through the grant-in-aid process. It is a matter for the National Convener to allocate resource to the training of panel members. Grant-in-aid funding is detailed in CHS' annual report.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

From 1 January to 19 October 2025 inclusive, there were 34 Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) application results where the processing time took longer than eight weeks.

Note 1: Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) applications from 1 April 2025 onwards, with the implementation of the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, represents: Level 2 PVG scheme disclosure (Join), Level 2 PVG scheme disclosure (Existing), Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Join) and Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Existing). Prior to 1 April 2025, PVG applications represents: Scheme Record Disclosure, Short Scheme Record Disclosure, Existing Scheme Record Disclosure and Statements of Scheme Membership.

Note 2: This figure relates to PVG applications completed between 1 January and 19 October 2025 inclusive, with a processing time greater than 56 days.

Note 3: The processing time for a completed application incorporates all time between an application being received by Disclosure Scotland, through to completion with a disclosure issued to the applicant. Disclosure Scotland deducts any time which the application was suspended on our system, such as being suspended for customer contact. Weekend days are included in the number of processing days for applications, but national holidays and Scottish Government public and privilege holidays are excluded.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to delivering all recommendations of the Independent Care Review, as part of its pledge to Keep The Promise by 2030.

The Promise Implementation Plan, published in March 2022, set out the Government’s approach to fulfilling these recommendations. A comprehensive update on progress was provided in the Implementation Plan Update published in September 2024, which outlined the actions taken and the ongoing work required.

Implementation of the Care Review’s recommendations is an ongoing and evolving process, and as such, it reflects the Government’s strategic approach to systemic change, with milestones and actions being continuously developed in collaboration with partners, stakeholders, and care-experienced people. Examples of this include the Promise Scotland’s Plan 24-30 and the Promise Progress Framework, which was published jointly by COSLA, the Scottish Government and The Promise Scotland in December 2024.

The Scottish Government continues to lead from the front and remains resolute in its commitment to ensuring that all children and young people in Scotland grow up loved, safe, and respected, with full delivery of the Care Review’s recommendations by 2030.

This information currently is not held by the Scottish Government.

The £60 million play park renewal funding is allocated to local authorities to use across their whole play estate during the course of this Parliament term. It is the responsibility of the individual Local Authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them based on local needs and priorities. The Scottish Government recognise that the extent of renewal and refurbishment will be influenced by local plans and investment priorities and engagement with children and young people.

Local authorities have a general responsibility to maintain play parks that serve their communities and this investment provides a boost in funding to accelerate local plans and improve play experiences for all children in Scotland.

The Scottish Government worked with COSLA on the national principles for the play park renewal programme, which is used to guide Local Authorities’ renewal programme. The national principles set out that Local Authorities should review their existing estate, prioritise renewal work, and design play parks that offer improved play opportunities for children and families. The national principles state that access to play should be as wide-reaching and inclusive as possible, ensuring all children have access to play spaces where they feel safe and comfortable to use them.