Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to land reform and improving transparency of those who own and control land in Scotland is at the heart of our land reform objectives. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 introduced the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (RCI). The policy intention of the RCI is to ensure there can no longer be categories of land owner or tenant where, intentionally or otherwise, control of decision-making is obscured.

As well as the RCI, we fully supported UK wide emergency legislation in the UK Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act, introduced following the invasion of Ukraine last year, to improve transparency of overseas entities who own land in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK through the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE).

I refer the member to the question S6W-20630 on 29 August 2023. 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

To assist in engagement with public sector organisations, we have convened a Cross-Sector Working Group. This group met for the first time on 14 August. Organisations represented at the meeting were: Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers; Built Environment Forum Scotland; Chartered Institute of Housing; City of Edinburgh Council; COSLA; Fife Council; Heads of Planning Scotland; Historic Environment Scotland; Local Authority Building Standards Scotland; NHS Scotland Assure; Police Scotland; Scottish Funding Council; Scottish Fire and Rescue Service; Scottish Association of University Directors of Estates and Scottish Property Federation. This is an open group and other sectors are likely to join as RAAC is discovered within their estate.

A note of the meeting will be published on a resource page for the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety.

The legal use of electric scooters and decisions around their introduction is broadly a reserved matter for the UK Government. The UK Government has stated its intention to bring forward a new regulatory framework for vehicles such as electric scooters, however the timescales for this are unclear.

Enabling the use of electric scooters through such a regulatory framework would also require amendments to devolved legislation, therefore the Scottish Government are monitoring developments in this area and will continue to engage with the Department for Transport on this matter.

It is not illegal to sell electric scooters in the UK, however responsible vendors will give customers accurate information about the legal restrictions on their use.

The Scottish Government currently has no formal position on the regulation of electric scooters, however this position is currently under review.

The Lord Advocate is not undertaking a review of the legal feasibility of safe drug consumption rooms.

The Lord Advocate received information in relation to a proposed safe drug consumption room which would operate in Glasgow. The Lord Advocate was asked, if a safe drug consumption room of the type described in that proposal were to be established, whether the Lord Advocate would consider a Statement of Prosecution Policy, which would confirm that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute individuals for the possession of illegal substances within the confines of the described facility.

Such a statement would not be a ban on prosecution or decriminalisation of an offence, rather it would be an articulation of the way that the public interest considerations relevant to a prosecutorial decision would fall to be applied in a particular context.

All prosecution policy requires careful consideration. In this case in particular, further information has been sought in relation to the practical operation and policing of the facility.

The Lord Advocate’s consideration of the request is supported by officials within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Public Health Scotland currently publish a range of statistics relating to Primary Care services in Scotland: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/?ic=topics-primary-care&q=&fq=topics%3APrimary+care%23&sort=pdesc .

We continue to work with all partners to develop a clear and evidence-based approach to ensure robust data is available. A Primary Care Data and Intelligence Programme Board has been established to inform this development work going forward.

A substantial amount of progress has already been made, notably with the introduction of a new publication of General Practice activity data. This collaborative effort between ourselves, the profession, National Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland, was a significant step in our journey to improving access to General Practice data.

This is in addition to the continued investment in the national GP IT re-provisioning programme, which allows Health Boards the ability to offer new and advanced, modernised systems for General Practice in Scotland. This will enhance access to GP data, and enable quality data to be stored and reused many times for multiple purposes, to allow us to better understand and improve the provision of care.

The following table presents the budget for NHS estate maintenance in each of the last three financial years. It is the intention of the Scottish Government to double the NHS estate maintenance funding over the Capital Spending Review period of 2021-2026.

We recognise the hazard of asbestos and the risks to health it poses. However, asbestos is only dangerous when it is disturbed or in poor condition. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance states that it is safe for asbestos to remain in place if it is in good condition, well-protected and unlikely to be disturbed. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate.

The Scottish Government is providing the funding per the following table for the financial year 2023-24. Health boards can use this funding to manage and remove asbestos as and when it is appropriate to do so.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19616 on 6 July 2023. 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