Seòmar agus comataidhean

Within the Highlands and Islands area there are currently 129 electric vehicle charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) network, which has been developed by Scottish Government, the majority of these are publicly available. However, it is worth noting that other charge point operators have networks in Scotland, and so the actual number of charge points will be higher.

Scottish Ministers have provided over £45m of funding to all of Scotland’s local authorities to help grow the CPS network. Our analysis indicates that, by late 2020 around 40% of chargers on the network were outside urban areas. Due to the wide range of factors that will influence and ultimately determine the number of chargers required across Scotland, it is not possible to define the number of chargers needed in the Highlands & Islands to deliver against emissions targets. Our focus will continue to be on working with the public and private sector to ensure that as coverage grows, all parts of Scotland continue to benefit from one of Europe’s most extensive charging networks.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to meeting the world-leading emissions reduction targets set in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019. Our update to the 2018 Climate Change Plan, published in December 2020, articulates our pathway to meeting these targets over the period to 2032.

The update to the 2018 Plan includes over 100 new policies and scales up the ambition of more than forty policies and proposals across all sectors. In line with the requirements of section 36 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, the policy package is also designed to make up for the excess emissions that arose from the previously missed 2017 and 2018 annual targets.

The updated Plan acknowledges that meeting all annual targets out to 2032 as part of a just transition to net-zero by 2045 will be not always be easy and is not for the Scottish Government to deliver alone, but will need to be a national endeavour across all sections of society and business. Furthermore, as the CCC have highlighted, UK Government action in areas that remain reserved will be crucial in ensuring we meet our targets. While we are also contending with significant uncertainties including those relating to exiting the European Union, the rate of technological advances and ongoing scientific revisions to the ways in which emissions are measured, we are absolutely committed to meeting our targets.

The Plan update includes a refreshed monitoring framework to support the learning by doing approach recommended by our stakeholders. Annual reporting to Parliament on progress, on a sector by sector basis, will begin this May.

The Scottish Government’s Community Land Team has provided detailed advice and guidance to the East Lochaber and Laggan Community Trust (ELLCT) regarding a possible community right to buy application over the land asset owned by the GFG Alliance. However the possible acquisition of private land by another party remains a matter of business between those two parties.

The Final Determination of charges for 2021-22 to 2026-27 by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland set out that over that period it would enable Scottish Water to invest £4.5bn (in 2017-18 prices). As referred to in the answer to S5W-36064 on 18 March 2021, Scottish Water’s Delivery Plan will include its forecast range of investment.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Scottish Water sets out its plans for investment each year in its Delivery Plan. Its Delivery Plan for 2021-22 and 2022-23 is currently being prepared and will be published when it is finalised in April 2021.

The Scottish Government is aware of some early work by the University of Dundee and Ninewells Hospital to treat a very small number of essential tremor patients through the use of a Transcranial Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound scanner (MRgFUS) on a trial basis.

The Dundee team have had frequent contact with The National Tremor Foundation (Scotland) and also carried out talks with local patient groups regarding the treatment.

It is imperative that before any new procedure is adopted into the NHS, it is first subject to rigorous clinical assessment to establish patient safety and efficacy. A robust evidence base will be key to any future application for national service designation through NHS National Services Scotland’s NSSC (National Specialist Services Committee) and NPPPRG (National Professional Patient and Public Reference Group) committees. These groups advise the Scottish Government on the establishment of national and specialist services.

In the meantime, NHS National Services Division are engaging with both the clinicians in Dundee and with commissioning colleagues in NHS England on how the treatment might be made available to eligible Scottish patients through a cross border referral process from April when it becomes available in England.

The Scottish Government has not carried out a condition-specific assessment on the impact of essential tremor. However, the Scottish Government recognises the importance of understanding and improving the lives of people with neurological conditions such as essential tremor.

While it is not condition specific, we have made our Neurological Framework for Care and Support a Programme for Government priority, with a vision to ensure that everyone with a neurological condition can access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms. We are investing £4.5 million over five years to implement the Framework’s seventeen commitments. The commitments include improving the provision of co-ordinated health and social care and support, developing sustainable workforce models and ensuring high standards of person-centred care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-35537 on 12 March 2021 All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-35537 on 12 March 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Vaccination of prison staff and prisoners will be consistent with the wider community and in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation clinical guidance, which advises that an age-based approach continues to be the best way to protect those most at risk.

Prison staff and prisoners are eligible for a vaccination at the same time as those in the community who fall into the same JCVI priority group. We anticipate reaching everyone on the JCVI priority list by mid-April, subject to supply.