Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12273 on 5 December 2022. 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 .

Matters relating to the procurement of new vessels for Orkney and Shetland’s internal ferry services are the responsibility of those councils. Therefore any discussions with the Clyde Catamaran Group on this topic would be for Orkney and Shetland Island Councils.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy about the continuing discussions to renegotiate the Energy Charter Treaty, with a view to identifying and mitigating any particular impacts on Scotland.

The Scottish Government is aware of the concerns raised by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and others that International Investment Agreements, such as the Energy Charter Treaty, may lead to ‘regulatory chill’. That is why, in our Vision for Trade, we are clear that no part of a trade or investment agreement should limit the ability of the Scottish Parliament to regulate in devolved areas, or constrain much-needed action to achieve our net zero goal.

The Lord Advocate is constitutionally responsible for the investigation of sudden, unexpected and suspicious deaths in Scotland. These functions are exercised independently of government. It would therefore be inappropriate for Scottish Government to have any discussions with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) regarding the nature of its ongoing investigations.

The Scottish Government does not hold Cytosponge diagnostic service data broken down by individual Health Board, however the following press release provides detail on the national total delivered by NHS Scotland as at 15 November 2022: https://www.gov.scot/news/innovative-health-technology-helping-patients/ .

The £600 million funding set out in the Health and Social Care Winter Resilience Overview 2022-23 includes investment of £170 million for multi-disciplinary teams and £124 million to enhance care at home, supporting people to be treated in the community where clinically appropriate.

We have appointed a National Clinical Lead to drive and support the development and delivery of a new Strategy on Palliative and End of Life Care, supported by a small advisory group and a newly established strategy steering group, both of which include representatives of community and specialist palliative care nurses.

Nurses, amongst many multi-disciplinary staff, are crucial to the delivery of palliative and end of life care within the community.

The figure used for the gigawatt value of ScotWind in the statement that Scotland has over 40GW of potential offshore wind developments in the pipeline, subject to planning and consenting decisions, and finding a route to market, was 27.6 gigawatts. This gigawatt value is based on each of the developers’ proposed project capacity in their applications to Crown Estate Scotland in the ScotWind leasing round.

In accordance with Scottish Ministers franchising policy statement, appropriate assessment of a direct award to Serco Caledonian Sleepers Ltd. is being made and Ministers will inform Parliament when this assessment is concluded.

The statement that Scotland has over 40GW of potential offshore wind developments in the pipeline, subject to planning and consenting decisions, and finding a route to market, does not include (a) currently operational offshore wind projects and does include (b) estimated capacity for potential Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) leasing round offshore wind developments.

Scottish Child Payment offers financial support to families with children, and is paid as a top-up of certain qualifying reserved benefits, such as Universal Credit. Applicants must also demonstrate child responsibility to meet the qualifying criteria in full.

The regulations for Scottish Child Payment specifically define kinship care as a way of meeting child responsibility and so low-income families that are also kinship carers may be eligible for Scottish Child Payment if they meet all the eligibility criteria. We recently amended the definition of kinship care to ensure more low income kinship carers are eligible now we have rolled out Scottish Child Payment to children under 16. These regulations can be found at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2022/336/contents/made ..

Low income families that are also foster carers are not eligible for Scottish Child Payment. This is because children in foster care are considered looked after by the local authority and, as such, foster carers do not satisfy the legal responsibilities or rights that entitle them to child responsibility benefits. Foster carers receive allowances from local authorities to cover the needs of children living with them.