Seòmar agus comataidhean

As I have made clear in recent parliamentary statements, this government is absolutely committed to improving the lifeline ferry fleet and better meeting the needs of island communities.

I indicated in my statement to Parliament on 8 September that I would consider what more could be done to provide additional capacity in the CalMac fleet.

I undertook to involve all parties in next steps relating to Project Neptune and I am pleased that members had the opportunity this week to hear directly from Ernst and Young about their review and the report as part of that work.

I can announce today that additional funding has been prioritised to enable Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to accelerate the procurement of replacement vessels for the Calmac fleet.

Today, CMAL has launched a procurement for two additional vessels to be constructed to the same specification as the existing vessels currently under construction for Islay. This will significantly accelerate the replacement of the major vessel fleet and also help deliver on our aim of providing a more standardised vessel type that can be used interchangeably on a variety of different routes, providing potential economies of scale and enhanced public value.

It is expected the contract will be awarded before the end of the year. The overall project costs are estimated at around £115 million, including allowance for minor port improvements.

Our intention is that these vessels would be deployed on the Skye triangle routes to Lochmaddy and Tarbert delivering dedicated services to these communities in the peak season rather than the shared vessel operation currently in place. This will also create the opportunity for significantly increased capacity and resilience for the communities of the Western Isles. It will also deliver an additional vessel overall in the Calmac fleet.

This will also allow consideration of all options to deploy Vessel 802 on an alternative route, including potentially alongside her sister ship the MV Glen Sannox on the Arran route which would provide additional capacity on this busy route in the peak season. All the options will be discussed with island communities at the appropriate time.

Transport Scotland, Calmac and CMAL will of course engage with residents, businesses and communities on the detail of how services and timetables for these additional vessels should be deployed to ensure that their needs and interests will be met.

Since this government was elected in May 2021, we have bought and deployed an additional vessel in MV Frisa in June, made significant progress in the construction of vessels 801 and 802, commissioned two new vessels for Islay, progressed investment in essential harbour infrastructure, and now we are delivering a further two new vessels. At the same time we are continuing to work on pursuing all reasonable and appropriate opportunities to enhance capacity and resilience in the short term through second hand vessels. I will update Parliament on progress in that regard as soon as possible.

A virtual agency has been established within Scottish Government and will be housed within the Directorate of Energy and Climate Change bringing together our existing heat and energy efficiency delivery programmes. The agency will work with our existing delivery partners and operate as Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland.

This is the first step in transitioning to a dedicated body by 2025. Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland will be responsible for accelerating transformational change in how we heat and use energy in homes and buildings, aid public understanding and awareness, and co-ordinate delivery of investment. The agency will also act as a Centre of Expertise, which in time will support project delivery across a range of sectors, notably heat networks.

The virtual agency and transition to a dedicated body will be supported by an independent Strategic Board, chaired by Professor Lorne Crerar, who will work with us and key delivery partners to consider how to build on, improve and co-ordinate existing and future advice and support, as well as wider capital delivery programmes.

The profile of a virtual Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland will be built progressively over the coming months.

The Culture Collective programme was awarded £5,891,553 in March 2021 and £4,241,918 in March 2022. This is supporting 26 projects in communities across Scotland and has, to date, created over 320 opportunities for creative practitioners.

The Scottish Government has undertaken analysis into the costings of implementing a pay increase to £15 per hour for social care workers.

An increase in pay from the current rate of £10.50 per hour to £15 per hour for adult social care workers providing direct care in commissioned services would be in the region of £1.2 billion per year. To also include workers within Children’s and Justice commissioned services would be in the region of £1.75bn.

It is important to note that this does not include any costs for uplifting the pay of social care workers employed within Local Authority settings who have existing pay arrangements, which are devolved to Local Authorities and COSLA.

Raising the hourly rate for social care workers to £15 per hour would likely cause significant issues of parity across public sector pay, as well as within Local Government.

The Scottish Government are considering all options to tackle delayed discharge and officials will continue to engage with external partners to develop appropriate approaches.

The Scottish Government have also announced significant additional funding to address delays in discharge. This includes for 2022-23:

• £124m to enhance care at home
• £200m to increase the hourly rate of pay to £10.50
• £20m to support interim care arrangements
• £40m to enhance multi-disciplinary teams

Since 2020 we have invested more than £4.5m to scale up Hospital at Home services, now established within 20 HSCPs. A further £3.6m is available for 2022-23, taking our total investment to over £8m.

Through expanding our virtual capacity we have avoided or saved bed days equivalent to adding a large district general hospital. This has already saved 45,000 hospital bed days this year and is being further rolled out over the coming months.

The National Records of Scotland published the latest life expectancy statistics on 22 September 2022. As reflected in these statistics, the pandemic has hit our most deprived communities the hardest, including many in Lanarkshire.

Reducing poverty and inequality sits at the heart of our investment across all portfolios and remain the best way of improving life expectancy. As a result we are mobilising action across government to tackle the underlying causes of inequality in our society.

This includes our commitment to providing free school meals, increasing the number of hours of free childcare, investing in affordable housing and continuing to deliver free prescriptions, concessionary travel and free personal care. Our Programme for Government and COVID Recovery Strategy include further commitments to improve life expectancy and to tackle health inequalities.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have confirmed that in the last five financial years, as of 14 October 2022, there have been 11 charges reported and 2 charges convicted under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 S4A(1) in relation to the selling of vaping products to under 18's.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10615 on 22 September 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

The majority of Scottish domestic consumers have contracts with energy suppliers for their electricity consumption and are therefore automatically eligible to receive support through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. Thousands of households across the country that are off the gas grid and rely on electric heating, heating oil, LPG and other alternative fuels would miss out on this support if it were delivered through gas accounts instead of electricity accounts. This would also be true for the equivalent support for alternative fuel users introduced through the Energy Price Guarantee.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government on ways to ensure that all consumers receive at least the equivalent to the £400 support delivered through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reaching its target of eliminating HIV Transmission in Scotland by 2030.

In 2019, The Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Health Protection Network leads to deliver a proposal for how Scotland can become one of the first countries to eliminate HIV transmissions.

Work on the proposal has been led by Professor Rak Nandwani, Honorary Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University, with input from clinicians, academics, public health experts, the third sector and people living with HIV.

Their work has now concluded, and we anticipate the proposal, along with next steps, will be published on 1 December, to coincide with World Aids Day

Offshore emissions generated as a result of the exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea are not counted as part of Scotland’s emissions inventory and instead are attributed directly to the UK emissions inventory and are not allocated to any devolved administration.

The Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) offshore wind planning and leasing round will build on the success of ScotWind and enable new innovative and unique offshore wind projects to directly remove oil and gas production emissions from our environment and help Scotland maximise our offshore wind potential and build our offshore wind supply chain.

Lease lengths and conditions were set out by Crown Estate Scotland following engagement with the relevant sectors. INTOG projects that are successful in gaining a lease and consent will help decarbonise the oil and gas production sector, as we manage the structured transition away from the fossil fuel sector, and by supplying excess energy to the grid or converting it to other fuels will directly help meet Scotland’s own net zero commitments. A full Sustainability Appraisal for the INTOG plan will be carried out before any projects are offered Option Agreements by Crown Estate Scotland.

The Scottish Government has stated that our contribution to climate change will end, definitively, within one generation. In line with this commitment, our Programme for Government 2021/22 states that "unlimited extraction of fossil fuels is incompatible with our climate obligations and meeting the aims of the Paris Agreement"; in a post-COP26 world.