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a & b) As you will be aware, the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, (the act), introduces new national provisions, prohibiting pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs. A suite of secondary legislation is required for this prohibition to work in practice and give local authorities the power to implement and enforce the prohibitions.

In relation to the points regarding bringing forward dropped kerbs and double parking first, Scottish Ministers need to ensure that local authorities have an effective enforcement regime in place and that local authorities are able to issue Penalty Charge Notices correctly. As such, the enforcement regimes cannot be split and need to remain constituent parts of the same package of enforcement measures. For example, in order to issue all types of ticket, the means to provide a right of appeal needs to be in place and the changes to legislation which govern this need to be made at the same time once all of the other parts of legislation are in place.

We are continuing to consult with Local Authorities, following our initial pivot to deal with the Covid 19 pandemic, to develop both the secondary legislation required to allow them to enforce the National pavement parking prohibition as well as the Parking Standards Guidance which will underpin the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

Additionally, we need to consult with the public on some areas contained within the secondary legislation. Local authorities will be required to undertake an assessment to identify and progress any exemptions to the pavement parking prohibition they consider necessary. We are actively working with Local Authorities to undertake this work and Scottish Ministers have provided the requested £2.4 million of funding to enable this to be progressed in a timeous manner.

The majority of the secondary legislation is likely to be in place by 2022. Some aspects however, such as the appeals process for those who wish to appeal a ticket issued for pavement parking, as mentioned above, may not be in place until 2023.

c) Transport Scotland will be undertaking an in-depth publicity campaign before implementation to make the public aware of the date that the new provisions come into force. We have previously discussed this with disability groups and within our Parking Standards Group of which Living Streets are a stakeholder. We will be progressing this in due course as per the legislative program . In addition to this we are currently exploring other ways of proactively promoting the unacceptability of parking on the pavement and highlighting the risk it causes others. We intend to undertake this as soon as possible and indeed well before mid-2022.

d) The Scottish Government recognises the detrimental impact that obstructive and irresponsible parking can have on vulnerable groups, as well as Emergency vehicles and other road users in general. Scottish Ministers have already undertaken an extensive consultation on this matter, (Improving Parking in Scotland Consultation 2017). Feedback obtained from this consultation is available at the following link:
‎ https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/42239/improving-parking-in-scotland-may-2018.pdf
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‎ Prior to the pavement parking provisions coming into force under the Act, Local Authorities will be required to assess their footways for the purposes of determining which, if any, may be appropriate to be exempt from the pavement parking prohibition. Local Authorities will be required to consider their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 throughout this determination process and prior to an Exemption Order being proposed. Ministerial Directions and Pre-Implementation Guidance will be published to assist Local Authorities in undertaking this determination process.

I have written to the political group leaders of North Lanarkshire Council to advise them of the existing flexibilities and additional support that we provide as part of our Area Based Schemes. These include a higher intensity of grant-in-aid for households in extreme fuel poverty or where there are other relevant factors, for example where there are additional delivery costs due to a non-standard construction type.

I have also encouraged the Council to contribute to the review of our Area Based Scheme (ABS) guidance for 2022-23. We have asked every council in Scotland to provide evidence about any changes in delivery costs in their area. We will continue to seek the views of local authorities and COSLA about the funding and delivery of our Area Based Schemes.

I am not aware of further Ministerial correspondence from local authorities about this scheme during October or November. However Scottish Government officials routinely discuss and where necessary agree a higher intensity of grant-in-aid for some ABS projects facing additional delivery costs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04198 on 25 November 2021. 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

No. If, and when, any additional functions are added to the NHS Scotland Covid Status App then the privacy information will be updated accordingly. For more detail on the current privacy information, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-04212 and S6W-04213 on 25 November 2021. 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

Public Heath Scotland publish a weekly COVID-19 statistical report every Wednesday which includes this information.

As at 15 November 2021 the:

• COVID Status app had been downloaded over 1.5 million; and separately
• vaccination status letter has been requested in paper copies 478,014 times; and
• downloaded in PDF format over 1.2 million times.

A single user may choose to download the App or PDF on multiple devices, and may request a replacement of paper copies so it is not currently possible to identify the total number of people who have obtained proof overall.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Transport Scotland is working closely with Scottish Futures Trust to consider the most appropriate structures and approach to growing and developing Scotland’s public electric vehicle charging infrastructure and recently published a report on future development of Scotland’s public electric vehicle charging infrastructure:

New report on the future of public EV charging infrastructure (transport.gov.scot)

This report notes Climate Change Committee data that implies a potential need for 30,000 public electric vehicle charge points by 2030 in Scotland, but also highlights the challenge of accurately predicting with certainty the actual number of charge points required. This will be influenced by a range of factors, including developments and innovation in battery and charging technologies that will determine when and how often vehicles need charged.

Advancement in technologies including smart charging and the approach to the planning and delivery of electric vehicle charging infrastructure will not only have a bearing on the amount of charge points needed, but also on future electricity demand and its intelligent management. Similarly, decisions on where private and public charge points are located will also be influenced by range of factors including local need. It will also become increasingly important for local authorities, private sector and the electricity Distribution Network Operators to work together to strategically plan and optimise investments. The Scottish Government is continuing to fund the roll-out of electric vehicle charging at this point, and going forward will continue to work with the public sector – government, local authorities and regulators - as well as the private sector – car manufacturers, charging providers and electricity network owners and suppliers to harness efficiencies and opportunities, to build a comprehensive charging network accessible to all where no part of Scotland is left behind and which adds value to the economy.

My statement to Parliament on 23 September 2021 welcomed the findings from independent research that the Scottish Government has commissioned, to help inform its ambitious agenda to decarbonise Scotland’s transport sector, which includes a shift to greater use of public and shared transport and active travel, and also the outcome of there being a 20% reduction in kilometres driven by cars by 2030:

New report on decarbonising transport

This research sets out the scale of the challenge this Parliament is tasked with and provides an illustration of where action in the transport sector will need to be considered as Scotland transitions to net-zero. It also provides insights into the possible future composition of Scotland’s car fleet between now and 2045 under different pathways and their influence on the numbers of electric, petrol and diesel vehicles on Scotland's roads.

Citizens Advice Scotland is the membership organisation for independent Citizens Advice Bureaux. At the time of writing, the Scottish Government is aware that there are 59 Bureaux, operating from 76 separate locations across Scotland. Information about historical Citizens Advice Bureaux can be obtained from Citizens Advice Scotland.

The following table outlines the funding provided directly by the Scottish Government to Citizens Advice Scotland between 2016-17 and 2021-22 (so far). It should be noted that the majority of this funding is granted to Citizens Advice Scotland for onward distribution to its member Bureaux.

The years 2016-17 and 2017-18 include funding provided to Citizens Advice Direct, which from 2018-19 ceased to be a member of Citizens Advice Scotland. It is now known as Advice Direct Scotland and is not funded via Citizens Advice Scotland.

There is a range of digital and non-digital routes available to access COVID-19 Status Certificates, and currently the choice to obtain a certificate is voluntary.

The data processing complies with data protection principles of lawfulness, fairness and transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, security and accountability as per the Data Protection Act 2018. As the processing of data is necessary for the purposes indicated in the privacy notice , an opt out is not applicable.

On the 5 October, the Health Secretary announced our £300 million NHS and care winter package.

We announced funding of:

• £40m for ‘step-down’ care, so that hospital patients can temporarily go into care homes, or can receive additional care at home support;
• £62m to maximise the capacity of care at home services;
• Up to £48m to increase the hourly rate of frontline adult social care staff to at least £10.02;
• £20m to enhance Multi-Disciplinary Teams, so that more social work assessments can be carried out, and to support joint working between health and social care.

This new funding will support increases in social care capacity in the community and in primary care.

As set out in the announcement, £62 million for 2021-22 has been allocated for building capacity in care at home community-based services. This is recurring funding intended help to fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity of individual needs, also helping to ease pressures on unpaid carers.

Health Boards have already commenced recruitment activity to meet the commitment to recruit an additional 1,000 Health and Care Support staff at AfC Bands 2, 3 & 4 to provide additional capacity across a variety of services both in the community and in hospital settings. Funding of up to £15 million is being provided in-year to fully fund all costs associate with recruitment to these posts. We are directly supporting boards to fill these posts as quickly as possible within that time frame, through securing an accelerated pre-employment process and supporting the delivery of employability initiatives such as the ‘Skills Boost for Health Care’ training for staff new to health and care.

On the 8 November we launched a further national marketing campaign to attract more people to the sector. We are doing things differently to previous campaigns, focusing on social media, a younger target audience, and we are working with schools and colleges, and linking to the medium term work we’re doing with the SSSC and NES on career pathways and learning and development.

We have approved funding to extend the MyJobScotland recruitment website to all third and independent sector organisations until March 2022, which will mean that all social care vacancies can be advertised on one platform at no additional cost to providers.