Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has provided support to households for energy saving measures through a number of support and advice schemes over the last 5 years. Home Energy Scotland, administered on behalf of the Scottish Government through Energy Saving Trust, acts as a single point of access for advice on sustainable energy and fuel poverty support in Scotland. We also offer support and advice through other Scottish Government schemes providing energy saving help or fuel poverty relief to households. The information on these schemes has been provided to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre at BIB number 63123.

Forestry and Land Scotland have received no funding from the Scottish Government for their Starter Farm Programme. The funds allocated to the initiative by FLS have been generated by their Operational activities (i.e. management of Scotland’s national forests and land).

The FLS budget for FY 22/23 to maintain, repair and ensure compliance to meet statutory landlord obligations across its nine Starter Farms is £124,000.

The FLS Starter Farm programme was only established in FY 12/13 and therefore no funds were available prior to that year.

FLS made available £1,641,043 of capital to bring the Starter Farms up to a compliant and tenantable standard prior to letting.

The total cost of ongoing repair, maintenance and compliance (to meet statutory landlord obligations) between FY 13/14 – FY 21-22 was £661,858. That is broken down by financial year as follows:

The Red Rocks and Longay MPA which is located in the Inner Sound of Skye was designated as an Urgent MPA in March 2021, following discovery of the largest flapper skate nursery area in Scotland, with the site being deemed nationally important for the conservation of this critically endangered species. The protected area was further extended in December 2021 following survey work to establish the extent of the nursery. This MPA is being strictly managed using an urgent Marine Conservation Order.

An urgent MPA can only last for a maximum of two years, unless it is made permanent. In order to do this a public consultation needs to be undertaken. Today the Scottish Government will launch a consultation on proposals to make Red Rocks and Longay a permanent MPA with an associated Marine Conservation Order. The public consultation will seek views on the designation of the site and the management measures to be adopted. Following statutory advice from NatureScot that recreational and commercial hand diving for scallops do not impact on flapper skate, these activities will not be prohibited under the proposed permanent measures.

The public consultation will run for 12 weeks and can be responded to via https://consult.gov.scot/marine-conservation/red-rocks-longay-marine-protected-area

The Urgent Marine Conservation Order that is currently in place can only be in force for one year, unless extended for a maximum of one year. An Urgent Continuation Order, to ensure management measures for the Red Rocks and Longay urgent MPA remain in force whilst the public consultation is undertaken, will be laid in Parliament on Thursday 03 February 2022.

As NatureScot have advised that for flapper skate recreational diving and commercial hand diving for scallops are considered not likely to have an affect (other than insignificantly), the Scottish Government will take steps in due course to remove the prohibition of these activities under the Urgent Marine Conservation Order that is currently in force.

This means that the required protections for flapper skate and their eggs will remain in place at the Red Rocks and Longay Urgent Marine Protected area whilst the public consultation on the permanent site and final measures is undertaken. Following the public consultation, Ministers will make a final decision on the designation of the MPA and the adoption of measures to protect it through a Marine Conservation Order.

The Programme for Government 2020-21 commits the Scottish Government to consult on proposals to extend the new regulatory framework that came into force on 1 September last year for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding activities, animal welfare establishments and pet sales to performing animals and animal care services. This latter category may possibly include canine fertility clinics, particularly given the concerns of the veterinary profession about the growth and practices of such clinics across the country.

The Scottish Government has been clear since early in the pandemic that there should be where feasible a whole system response. This includes deployment of mutual aid between and across Health Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and Local Authorities and the deployment of staff (including nurses) to care homes to meet shortages but also strengthen senior and experienced nursing in these settings.

We continue to take other measures to support the sector including workforce at this time. We recognise the pressures currently being experienced across the social care system. On 5 October, we announced a £300 million investment in health and social care as a direct response to winter planning and systems pressures. This includes £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.

We have made funding available to recruit up to 1,000 additional healthcare support staff by March 2022 to support patients in hospitals and in community health teams, including care homes. Funding of up to £15m is being provided to take forward recruitment to these posts.

Up to £48 million of funding has been made available to enable employers to update the hourly rate of Adult Social Care Staff offering direct care. This funding is critical to support retaining and recruiting staff in the sector and to alleviate the immediate pressures in Social Care and NHS/Community based health services. We have extended and will continue to raise awareness of the Disclosure Scotland Priority COVID Staff process to support the prompt recruitment and appointment of additional resource.

The Scottish Government has invested over £11.5 million in the last three academic years, to support our commitment to introduce more than 80 additional counsellors in colleges and universities. We are well on our way to achieving this target.

Funding for the 2021-22 Academic Year has been set at £4.23 million, an increase of almost £0.6 million on last year’s budget.

Furthermore, we remain committed to the development of a Student Mental Health National Action Plan, which will address waiting times, ensure equity of access to counsellors, and embed mental health and wellbeing into the curriculum. We will be reforming the Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group in February 2022 to help shape that Plan.

I recently met with Universities Scotland on 12 January 2022, to discuss the appropriate referral pathways for students across Scotland and specific challenges they may face in accessing support. At this meeting, we agreed that, as part of the development of a Student Mental Health and Wellbeing National Action Plan, representatives from NHS Health Boards, the higher education sector and representatives from Scottish Government will work to understand the specific needs of students and where improvements to student mental health support may be facilitated.

The Scottish Government is engaging closely with COSLA and Heads of Planning Scotland to understand the pressures faced by the planning service and to promote a highly performing system which can deliver on the ambitions for planning set out in the emerging NPF4.

Consideration of capacity and skills in planning is informed by recent research commissioned by Skills Development Scotland, undertaken by EKOS and published by Partners in Planning, available at https://www.partnersinplanning.scot/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/23623/Skills-in-Planning-Research-Final-February-2021.pdf The research report provides an independent perspective on the challenges faced and a series of proposed actions. Scottish Government is working with the other partner members of Partners in Planning to take forward the proposed actions to help ensure the future pipeline of planners needed to deliver on our ambitions. This includes supporting a short project recently commissioned by Heads of Planning Scotland and the RTPI to explore options and set out proposals to help increase the numbers of people entering the planning profession.

Reviewing the planning performance and fee regime is a key part of our planning reform programme. We are currently progressing proposals to increase planning fees, following a public consultation carried out in 2019-2020. Although implementation of these proposals was postponed during the pandemic, this work has now recommenced and we will shortly lay regulations in the Scottish Parliament bringing the proposed fee increases into effect. The new regulations are expected to come into force in April 2022, subject to parliamentary scrutiny. The proposed measures would increase fees by between 25 and 50% in some cases, moving fees closer to covering authorities’ costs in determining the applications and providing substantial additional income to authorities.

Ministers will also shortly undertake recruitment and appointment of a new national planning improvement coordinator for Scotland. The core purpose of the coordinator’s role will be to support improvement within the Scottish planning system, by providing constructive input which promotes an outcomes-based approach.

The Scottish Government is working with the other UK administrations to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging. How much producers pay for a particular type of packaging will depend on its environmental impact. This will create a powerful incentive to adopt more recyclable packaging.

The Scottish Government has laid regulations before Parliament that ban some types of packaging products such as expanded polystyrene cups and food containers that, if incorrectly disposed of, contaminate kerbside recycling bins.

I recently announced the first £20 million of landmark investments from the Recycling Improvement Fund, to increase the quantity and quality of recycling. We are funding a range of improvements to improve the quality of recyclate, including local service redesigns to align with Scotland’s Household Recycling Charter, and new ‘in cab’ updates to help councils tackle contamination. New funding will also enable Fife Council to become the first local authority in Scotland to locally sort and separate the plastic films it collects for recycling, and boost Scotland’s capacity to recycle this problematic material. This will allow the council to accept flexible plastics and films for recycling within the existing kerbside schemes.

We are working with industry, local government and environmental groups to develop a route map to deliver our waste, recycling and climate change targets. This work will include consideration of recyclate capture and quality. We will also introduce a Circular Economy Bill this parliamentary session which will include measures to encourage reuse of products and the reduction of waste.

We wrote to NHS Boards on the 10 December to set out measures intended to support NHS Scotland to manage the continuing pressures resulting from the pandemic and the emerging threats posed by Omicron. Services which were considered essential under this direction included primary care services, vaccination, urgent and unscheduled care and drug and alcohol services. It is for local Boards to determine how they apply this guidance.

Boards were advised to review their planned care activity in line with the Clinical Priority Framework to support the delivery of urgent care and urgent cancer care. Patient safety will always remain at the forefront of any decisions made related to service delivery.

The Scottish Government is already engaging with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) regarding the decommissioning of the Hunterston B site and the sharing of the NDA’s extensive knowledge and skills across its estate, including the Dounreay site.

This follows on from the designation direction agreed by Scottish and UK Government Ministers, and laid last year at both the Scottish and UK Parliaments under the Energy Act 2004 (available on the link below). This direction facilitates the process of decommissioning and the eventual transfer of ownership of the site to the NDA once it has been defueled by its current owners, EDF Energy.

https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/committees/current-and-previous-committees/session-6-net-zero-energy-and-transport-committee/correspondence/2021/directions-to-the-nuclear-decommissioning-authority-hunterston-b-and-torness-sites

The Scottish Government will continue to support the process of decommissioning as it progresses.