Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has committed to invest £10 million over this parliamentary term in our Programme for Government. As part of our commitment to increasing opportunities for disabled people, this funding will increase the number of changing places toilets across the country and support mobile changing places to allow people easier access to outdoor venues and events across Scotland.

Funding will commence in FY 2022-2023 and will be delivered in phases over the course of the parliamentary term. The first phase of work, currently being undertaken, is to develop the plans for the Changing Places Toilets Fund to ensure that the toilets which are built are fit-for-purpose. Further information will be available in due course.

Work on the Global Affairs Framework is continuing and the Framework will be published in due course.

Ash dieback is impacting rural and urban landscapes and ecosystems. Current evidence indicates that at least 50% – 75% of Scotland’s approximately 11 million mature ash trees could be lost to this disease over the next two decades.

a) Environmental impacts: Ash trees play an important role in Scottish ecosystems, and support many other species such as invertebrates, birds and lichens. Ecosystem continuity is a key concern for the long-term recovery of affected landscapes.

b) Financial impacts: Current estimates suggest that ash dieback could potentially cost Scotland in the range of £4 million - £20 million per annum as the disease progresses.

c) Other impacts: The safety of arboricultural and forestry professionals as well as the public is a central emerging issue, as ash dieback and associated secondary pathogens can lead to tree brittleness, potential branch shedding and root weakness. Priority needs to be given to ash trees showing significant health issues in higher risk locations such as near public roads, paths, railways and utilities infrastructure.

i) Action Scottish Government is taking:

Scottish Forestry convened the Ash Dieback Risk Group in January 2020. The group, which brings together expertise from local authorities and sectors such as forestry, transport, utilities and nature conservation, was formed to provide a forum for sharing experience and coordinating actions, and to help advise the Scottish Government on policy development relating to the management of ash dieback.

ii) Support the Scottish Government has offered to relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, to deal with ash dieback:

Scottish Forestry has worked with The Tree Council to produce a Scottish Toolkit for Ash Dieback Action Plans to help Scottish local authorities, public bodies and other large-scale land owners and managers to prepare their own Ash Dieback Action Plans in response to the inevitable safety and environmental issues that affected trees will create.

Whilst there was no new evidence in the James Hutton Institute report to suggest a significant risk to human health or wellbeing in respect to the use of sewage sludge, my officials will continue to engage with both SEPA and Scottish Water regarding the report, to ensure the risk assessment and appropriate, recommended mitigations are in place.

The legislative changes recommended by the review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland (The Sludge Review), are being introduced via the Integrated Authorisation Framework regulations, which are currently being progressed and will be consulted on in the coming months.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. This would be a matter for individual Health Boards.

Connectivity packages are being procured by individual local authorities to ensure they can be used in line with local digital learning strategies. We do not have detailed information on how they are being procured across all areas and decisions on their use and distribution are taken by councils themselves.

The available information is provided in the following tables.

People aged 25-50 and 51-75, convicted for Dangerous and careless driving offences (where main crime), 2015-16 to 2019-20.

The High and highly bonded report has a Britain-wide focus and makes no mention of Scotland. Nonetheless, we fully recognise the need to address the use of drugs in Scotland. January marked the first year of the National Mission to save and improve lives affected by problematic drug use. Over the last year our main focus has been on laying the groundwork so that we can focus on delivering change that will make a real and tangible difference to people's lives.

In January 2020 the First Minister set out clear priorities of the National Mission: to wrap support around people who are most at risk through fast and appropriate access to treatment, increased access to residential rehabilitation, better support after non-fatal overdoses, and recognising the vital role of frontline organisations.

I am unable to provide this information because screening systems across Scotland do not have a flag for homeless status.

The Government is clear that the intended purpose of the revised payment arrangements from April 2022 is to recover NHS dental services to ensure that NHS dental contractors can provide necessary care to patients.

NHS dental contractors will therefore receive a multiplier payment in addition to the value of their actual item of service claims. This is part of a blended system of payments which also includes allowance payments, capitation and continuing care and direct reimbursement of expenses such as rental costs. The multiplier arrangement is a fair and equitable response to the current situation of restrictions facing dentistry by returning discretion of earnings back to independent NHS dental contractors.

Every three months the value of the multiplier will be set against concurrent infection, prevention and control restrictions, levels of dental activity and other budgetary considerations at the time of the review point. The purpose of these revised arrangements is to continue to provide appropriate financial support to NHS dental contractors and is therefore assisting in ongoing business planning.