The Requirements for Teachers (Scotland) Regulations 2005 state that where an education authority employs a teacher wholly or mainly to teach pupils who are hearing impaired, visually impaired or both hearing and visually impaired, then that teacher must possess an appropriate qualification to teach such pupils or be in the process of obtaining such a qualification.

In addition, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, as amended in 2009, places a duty on education authorities to identify, meet and keep under review the additional support needs of all pupils for whom they are responsible and to tailor provision according to their individual needs.

It is, therefore, a matter for local authorities to ensure that the teachers they employ to teach visually and/or hearing impaired pupils have, or acquire through continuing professional development (CPD), the appropriate professional skills and knowledge to undertake the teaching duties allocated to them, including an appropriate level of proficiency in British Sign Language.

For its part, the Scottish Government has provided £150,000 in 2013-14 to enable the Scottish Sensory Centre to support teachers of pupils who are hearing impaired, visually impaired or both hearing and vision impaired by producing high quality CPD.

The Requirements for Teachers (Scotland) Regulations 2005 state that where an education authority employs a teacher wholly or mainly to teach pupils who are hearing impaired, vision impaired or both hearing and vision impaired, then that teacher must possess an appropriate qualification to teach such pupils or be in the process of obtaining such a qualification.

In addition, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, as amended in 2009, places a duty on education authorities to identify, meet and keep under review the additional support needs of all pupils for whom they are responsible and to tailor provision according to their individual needs.

Teachers in Scotland are required to undertake 35 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) each year and local authorities are responsible for ensuring that appropriate development opportunities are made available to teachers to meet personal, school, authority and national priorities.

The Scottish Government has provided £150,000 in 2013-14 to enable the Scottish Sensory Centre to support teachers of pupils who are hearing impaired, visually impaired or both hearing and vision impaired by producing high quality CPD.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government launched the national Play Strategy in June 2013. The strategy recognises that play is a fundamental part of childhood, taking place within the home from birth, through formal and informal learning, and in community settings through the use of public spaces and services.

The Scottish Government wants Scotland to be the best place to grow up. A nation which values play as a life enhancing daily experience for all our children and young people; in their homes, nurseries, schools and communities.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 required SEPA to undertake a national assessment of flood risk, to help identify the areas in Scotland most vulnerable to flooding. The first National Flood Risk Assessment was published in 2011 and shows that Comrie is situated in a Potentially Vulnerable Area (PVA) i.e. an area where the potential impact of flooding is sufficient to justify further assessment and appraisal of flood risk management actions. The national flood risk assessment, including the individual PVA datasheets, can be found on the SEPA website at:

http://www.sepa.org.uk/flooding/flood_risk_management/national_flood_risk_assessment.aspx.

The risk of flooding in Comrie, is from multiple sources including both the Ruchill Water and the River Earn, as well as a risk of surface water flooding. A detailed assessment of potential future flooding in Comrie has also been undertaken by Perth and Kinross Council, who are working in partnership with SEPA, Scottish Water and the other local authorities in the Tay Local Plan District (LPD) to consider what measures will be required to reduce flood risk across the whole of the LPD. This is part of the on-going development of flood risk management strategies and local flood risk management plans.

This collaborative approach will allow the best combination of actions to reduce flood risk to be determined. Flood risk management strategies and local flood risk management plans will be at the heart of efforts to tackle flooding in Scotland and will explain what actions will be taken, by whom and at what time. This will help us to target investment in reducing impacts in areas most vulnerable to flooding

Following the flood events in Comrie in August and November last year, we worked with SEPA to expedite a new flood warning scheme for the Ruchill Water in Comrie. The scheme became operational on 28 January 2013 and residents, emergency responders and local elected members were kept informed of the developments by SEPA. To date, 181 people in Comrie have signed up for Flood Warnings from SEPA. This represents around 40% of properties at risk of flooding. SEPA are actively encouraging sign up in the area, and have hosted in drop-in sessions and participated in the Comrie Fayre earlier this year.

Perth and Kinross Council submitted a claim, under the Bellwin Scheme, for additional funding of £1,044,751 following the flooding in Comrie in November 2012. Approximately £855,000 of the Council’s claim was ineligible as it was expenditure on improvements to prevent future flooding.

Under the rules of the Bellwin Scheme local authorities are expected to set aside a small amount (0.2% of their revenue budget) for such events and this is known as the threshold. After the deduction of the ineligible expenditure the balance of around £190,000 was less than the Council’s 2012-13 threshold of £675,196 and as a result the Council did not qualify for any additional funding under the Bellwin Scheme.

A consultation on the terms and conditions of the Bellwin Scheme was carried out with all 32 local authorities and other interested parties in 2005. Perth and Kinross Council were amongst those local authorities that responded. Various improvements were introduced from 1 October 2006.

Following the severe flooding incident in Comrie in November 2012, Scottish Government officials provided Perth and Kinross Council officials with general advice on how to make a claim for additional expenditure under the Bellwin Scheme. This advice included reference to the published guidelines and a reminder that the Bellwin Scheme is discretionary with no automatic right to additional funding.

The Commonwealth Games provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make lasting improvements the whole of Scotland can benefit from.

In September 2009, ‘A Games Legacy for Scotland’ outlined the Government and its partners’ ambitious programme to capitalise on the economic, social and cultural advantages of the 2014 Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow. At this time £23.5 million of legacy funding was announced, comprising £18 million from sportscotland and £5.5 million from BIG Lottery Fund to deliver its 2014 Communities Fund.

sportscotland has allocated £10.5 million of that to improve facilities and support athletes and coaches participating in High Performance Sport, and £7.5 million to work with local authorities to create a network of 150 Community Sports Hubs across Scotland by 2016.

A breakdown by local authority of Community Sports Hubs which have been established or are currently in development can be viewed at:

http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/content/sportscotland/Documents/Club_resources/CSH/CSH_Website_Information_-_May2013.pdf. Information broken down by project and local authority relating to investment in High Performance Sport, is not held centrally. I have asked sportscotland’s Chief Executive, Stewart Harris, to contact you with further information.

The 2014 Communities Fund has to date made 3,080 awards of between £300 and £1,000 (worth more than £4 million collectively) to local sports clubs, voluntary and communities organisations, community councils and schools, who wish to take part or volunteer in physical activity or sport. A breakdown of awards by local authority area is provided in Table 1.

Since 2009, Legacy 2014 has continued to map its journey throughout Scotland by launching a range of additional programmes delivering opportunities across the whole of Scotland. Key examples of this include the £10 million Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund, the £5 million Legacy 2014 Young Persons’ Fund, the £4 million Celebrate Fund and the £5 million Sport Relief Home and Away programme.

In order to demonstrate the reach of these programmes throughout Scotland we have recently launched an interactive legacy map, as part of our website, which is available at: www.legacy2014.co.uk.

Table 1: 2014 Communities Awards

Source: Big Lottery Fund, 25 September 2013

We welcome the initiative from Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution in distributing stickers to the UK farming community warning of the risks from overhead power cables.

Employers and operators of industrial and agricultural machinery have statutory obligations under health and safety regulations. This is an issue reserved to the UK Government.

The Health and Safety Executive have produced guidance for the operation of agricultural machinery in the presence of overhead power cables.