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A first release of Official Statistics on Winter Heating Payment will be published on 6 June 2023. This will provide information on Winter Heating Payment, including the number of eligible clients and number of payments issued, up to 30 April 2023.

The Official Statistics for Winter Heating Payment can be found at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications

We welcome the focus on perinatal support in the report from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. Development of perinatal mental health services is a key priority for the Scottish Government to improve the wellbeing and experiences of women, infants and families.

Since 2019, our investment of over £26 million has delivered a substantial increase in statutory and third sector services across Scotland leading to:

o 11 new and 3 expanded Community Perinatal Mental Health Teams

o 10 new and 4 in development Infant Mental Health Services

o 9 new and 1 expanded Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention Services

During this period of significant expansion, some NHS Boards have understandably experienced a number of challenges including around recruitment. The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Development Adviser is regularly in contact with identified NHS leads to help identify and tackle such issues; and we continue to work closely with the Network to look at additional ways to put support in place.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to work with NHS boards to support them in managing their allocations and the successful implementation of perinatal and infant mental health services.

In March 2022, the Scottish Government agreed that the Delivering Equally Safe (DES) funding period should be extended by 18 months beyond September 2023, to allow suitable lead in time for a new funding model to be developed, following the conclusion of the Independent Strategic Funding Review.

The Scottish Government established the Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of violence against women and girls services to develop a new funding model to ensure victims have access to high-quality, accessible specialist support.

The Scottish Government is aware of the planned roll out of car park charges at a number of additional Forestry and Land Scotland recreation car parks as part of the agency’s sustainable forest and visitor management strategy. Equality mitigations already planned include keeping tariffs low, money-saving annual parking passes and free parking for Blue Badge holders. However, the Scottish Government is in discussion with Forestry and Land Scotland to see what further mitigations can be put in place to further reduce the impact on families at this time.

The Scottish Government has noted the report of the independent review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) as published on 12 May, including the recommendation that victims be automatically referred to a new Victim Contact Team (itself subject to a separate recommendation in the report) to be offered enrolment on the VNS, given information on the process, and their rights and entitlements.

As the report makes clear, a number of organisations have a role to play in delivering the current scheme (including the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Prison Service and the Parole Board for Scotland).

Therefore, the Scottish Government intends to consider the report’s recommendations (including the automatic referral recommendation) in collaboration with stakeholders in the current months to fully explore their implications. This approach is particularly important for recommendations that are likely to have a direct impact on victims. We intend to take forward these discussions in the coming months as a matter of priority, and to publish a formal response to the report in due course.

No finance options have been explored given that full dualling of the A77 was not recommended as an outcome of the South West Transport Scotland Study published in January 2020. Instead, options for targeted improvements and road safety measures were recommended and these were subsequently appraised and formed the basis of Recommendation #40 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review published in December 2022.

Transport Scotland is preparing to undertake an evaluation of the A77 Maybole Bypass Project which opened to traffic on 31 January 2022. The evaluation will be undertaken in line with Scottish Trunk Road Infrastructure Project Evaluation (STRIPE) Guidance, comparing conditions one year after (1YA) opening with forecasts of the impacts made during project design and development. The evaluation will consider scheme objectives; operation, including traffic flows and journey times, environment; safety; economy; integration; accessibility and social inclusion and cost to government. Transport Scotland is aiming to complete this work and publish the evaluation report on Transport Scotland’s website by March 2024.

The Scottish Government has noted the report of the independent review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) as published on 12 May. As the report makes clear, a number of organisations have a role to play in delivering the current scheme (including the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Parole Board for Scotland, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Prison Service).

It is therefore crucial that the Scottish Government considers the report’s recommendations (including the recommendation on information for victims in instances of temporary release where an offender might come into close proximity with a victim) in collaboration with these organisations, and other stakeholders. We intend to take forward these discussions in the coming months as a matter of priority, and to publish a formal response to the report in due course.

The Scottish Government recognises the strategic and economic importance of the A77 Trunk Road which was reflected in publication of second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) in December 2022. Under recommendation 40, safety, resilience and reliability improvements are to be made on the A77 strategic road corridor. This could include, but is not limited to, enhancing overtaking opportunities, widening or realigning carriageways and improving junctions.

In January 2022, resurfacing and lining works were completed at Dutchhouse roundabout. Whilst there are no current minor improvement schemes planned for the Whitletts or Dutch House Roundabouts at the moment, through our ongoing maintenance of the A77, a resurfacing scheme for the A77 Whitletts roundabout including new Intelligent road studs is currently planned for the 2024-25 financial year.

The Scottish Government fully recognise that the A77 plays a vital role in supporting the local economy through facilitating the movement of goods, connecting people to employment and education opportunities, as well as providing businesses with access to the labour market. The second Strategic Transport Projects Review recommended that improvements are made on the A77, which would increase connectivity through reduced journey times and increased resilience associated with improved safety. All of which is anticipated to have a positive impact in terms of promoting inclusive growth.