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The Inquiries into Fatal Accident and Sudden Deaths Act 2016 places a duty on a person to whom a sheriff’s recommendation is addressed to provide a response to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service within the period of 8 weeks after the respondent receives a copy of the determination.

The respondent must give the SCTS a response in writing either :

• setting out details of what the respondent has done or proposes to do in response to the recommendation, or
• if the respondent has not done, and does not intend to do, anything in response to the recommendation, the reasons for that.

The 2016 Act also place a duty on SCTS to publish responses to the recommendations set out in the determination.

Where a response is given the SCTS must

• publish the response in full,
• publish the response in part, together with a notice explaining that part of the response has been withheld from publication, or
• publish a notice explaining that the whole of the response is being withheld from publication.

The SCTS may withhold the whole of a response from publication only if representations are made to that effect. If no response is given by the end of the 8 week period the SCTS must publish notice of that fact.

Implementation of FAI recommendations are monitored by the annual statistics. The Scottish Parliament receives a copy of the report annually. All responses to recommendations are published and are in the public domain which includes respondents saying what has been done and if the answer is nothing, then explaining why.

The Scottish Government expects all public bodies to respond appropriately to the recommendations of a Fatal Accident Inquiry.

The total rolling stock (a) is currently 350 trains, made up of 1,039 carriages, leased by Abellio ScotRail. These operate around 2,000 weekday services, providing capacity (b) of 551,000 seats across the ScotRail network on a weekday basis. Saturday capacity is approximately 507,000 seats; Sunday capacity is approximately 295,000 seats.

The proposed May 2022 timetable, which is subject to review of consultation responses, would require approximately 593,000 seats per weekday, around a 17% increase on the current timetable. Sufficient rolling stock will be provided to deliver this.

Determinations by Sheriffs are a matter of judicial independence and it would not be appropriate for Scottish Government to comment on specific determinations or the approach of the judiciary in general. The Sheriff has heard the evidence and is the only one in a position to decide if recommendations are necessary. In individual cases, the Sheriff may conclude, given the particular circumstances, that no recommendation should be made.

Whilst statistical data in this report points to differences between Sheriffdoms in the rate of making findings, the report noted that ‘The numbers here are too small to assess statistical significance and therefore qualitative investigation will be a priority of future research.’

We welcome this future research and will give consideration to the findings.

As a Government, we take deaths in custody very seriously, which is why the former Cabinet Secretary for Justice asked the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland to undertake two independent reviews on deaths in custody.

Fatal Accident Inquiries play a significant role in ensuring there are systems to safeguard and protect those held in legal custody. However, they are just one part of the system for scrutinising deaths in custody. In addition, the prison service, with the NHS and other relevant organisations, carry out a Death in Prison Learning Audit and Review meeting normally within 12 weeks of all deaths in custody. This provides a system for recording any learning and identified actions from individual incidents.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) is a public body and, as such, are bound by the Scottish public procurement regulations and must competitively tender projects of this value. CMAL ensured they followed the procurement regulations; considering quality, value for money and the timely delivery of vessels to serve our island communities.

In line with normal procurement practice, Scottish Government Ministers had no role in the process or in assessing the bids. No meetings between CMAL and Ministers have taken place specifically to discuss the tender process for the new ferries earmarked to replace current vessels serving Islay.

Transport Scotland officials hold regular working group meetings with CMAL along with CalMac and have done so from January 2019 when the project was initiated. These regular meetings are still ongoing.

Sport scotland has not made any award of funding to the development of a tennis facility at Park of Keir. Any decision on whether to award funding to this project will only be taken on completion of a full application by the applicant and following a sport scotland assessment process. This assessment process would consider among other issues the strategic need and demand for a facility, the impact it will have on sport and physical activity and whether the project is financially viable in capital and revenue terms.

The following table summarises the rejected Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) applications, specifically Organic Farming, that have been appealed. It records the number of applications that were (a) upheld following appeal and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

Please note that the 2020 round was not open to new applications, rather a one year’s extension was offered to all Management options that were due to end in 2020. Not all businesses accepted the offer. 63 Organic applications were offered an extension with 55 applications accepting.

The 2021 round that closed at the beginning of July 2021 was also extended. These applications are still being assessed.

The following table summarises the number of Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) applications received, applying specifically Improving Public Access (IPA), and of those how many were (a) were approved and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015. The figures below exclude those applications that were submitted then subsequently withdrawn by the businesses concerned.

Please note that the 2020 round did not include the IPA option and that the 2019 round was not open to new applications, rather a one year’s extension was offered to all Management options that were due to end in 2020. Not all businesses accepted the offer. Improving Public Access is not a Management Option, it is capital only, and as such was not included in the round.

The 2021 round that closed at the beginning of July 2021 was also extended. These applications are still being assessed.

1Excludes those applications that were submitted then subsequently withdrawn by the businesses concerned.

* Application type not included in Round

The following table summarises the number of Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) applications received, applying specifically for Organic Farming options, and of those how many were (a) were approved and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015. The figures below exclude those applications that were submitted then subsequently withdrawn by the businesses concerned.

Please note that the 2020 round was not open to new applications, rather a one year’s extension was offered to all Management options that were due to end in 2020. Not all businesses accepted the offer.

The 2021 round that closed at the beginning of July 2021 was also extended. These applications are still being assessed.

1Excludes those applications that were submitted then subsequently withdrawn by the businesses concerned.

I fully understand that those with MS and other long term neurological conditions may need support to cope with potential impacts upon their mental wellbeing.

Over the past 13 months we have invested over £300,000 to projects which specifically aim to improve the health and wellbeing of people with MS in Scotland.

Improving timely access to local care and support for mental health is an existing priority. As of 1 January 2021, through action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund, 193 additional Mental Health Worker posts have been created in GP settings.

We have also made a longer term commitment that by 2026, every GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service, funding 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and offer social prescribing opportunities on a wide range of services such as arts and cultural activities, green space, physical activity and leisure. Later this year, and on the basis of local plans submitted by Integration Authorities, we will start providing funding to begin national implementation of a new model for Mental Health in Primary Care.

The following table summarises the number of Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) applications received, applying specifically for Slurry Storage and of those how many were (a) were approved and (b) are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015. The figures below exclude those applications that were submitted then subsequently withdrawn by the businesses concerned.

Please note that the 2015 round did not include a Slurry Store option and that the 2020 round was not open to new applications, rather a one year’s extension was offered to all Management options that were due to end in 2020. Not all businesses accepted the offer. Slurry Store is not a Management Option, it is capital only, and as such was not included in the round.

The 2021 round that closed at the beginning of July 2021 was also extended. These applications are still being assessed.

1Excludes those applications that were submitted then subsequently withdrawn by the businesses concerned.

* Application type not included in Round.