Seòmar agus comataidhean

It is not possible for the Scottish Government to quantify nor confirm the total mileage of all roads constructed anywhere and by anyone for these purposes in each of the last ten years. However, on Scotland’s national forests and land, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) constructs roads for use on a multi-purpose basis e.g. timber transport, tree planting, environmental improvement works, recreational access. FLS does not hold data that ascribes a particular use to sections of forest road, nor does it hold specific data as to what lengths of road have been constructed by windfarm developers. Over the past ten years levels of forest road construction by FLS have been as follows:

2012: 46 Miles

2013: 52 Miles

2014: 43 Miles

2015: 34 Miles

2016: 37 Miles

2017: 37 Miles

2018: 44 Miles

2019: 32 Miles

2020: 27 Miles

2021: 24 Miles

The Scottish Government already offer bespoke and targeted advice and support to rural, remote and islands communities through a number of its delivery programmes, and the Heat in Buildings programme will take into account the distinct challenges facing these communities. The Scottish Government launched on Wednesday 15 December a further funding call to support heat decarbonisation and energy resilience in Scotland’s more remote, rural and island off electricity grid networks. Information on this can be found on the website, by accessing this link.

The Scottish Government currently provide support for community groups and organisations to explore their renewable heat options through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) delivered by Local Energy Scotland on the Scottish Government’s behalf. CARES provides advice and support including funding support (grants and loans) to community groups and organisations, rural SME’s, and other eligible organisations seeking to explore their renewable energy options.

The Scottish Government will be consulting in 2022 on its draft Islands energy strategy. This will set out an approach to decarbonisation for Scotland’s island communities that will support them to develop renewable energy solutions that promote resilience, enhance sustainability and meet their energy needs now and in the future. As part of this work, where not already in place, the Scottish Government intend to explore the evidence base and options for an islands specific uplift, as part of our commitment to provide additional support for rural and island homes for heat and energy efficiency.

Under criminal proceedings statistics, the category of homicide contains a wide range of different criminal offences. The offences include murder, culpable homicide through to causing death by careless driving.

Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court within the overall legal framework. The court will take into account the full facts and circumstances of a case before deciding sentence.

The latest available information is for the financial year to 2019-20. Our records show that in 2017-18 and 2018-19 there were 3 people and 6 people respectively, who were convicted of homicide in a Sheriff court who received a fine, as a main penalty. All of these convictions relate to the offence of causing death by careless driving. There were no Justice of the Peace Court fines imposed in respect of homicide offences nor any of the items listed (c) to (f) issued for homicide.

Information on the main penalty issued for a crime prosecuted in a Scottish court can be found in table 8a of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistical bulletin, which can be viewed here: Criminal Proceedings in Scotland statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

The Scottish Budget provides additional funding of £387 million for frontline NHS Boards in 2022-23 and continues to ensure that no Board is further than 0.8% from its target funding allocation.

In 2022-23, NHS Grampian will receive additional investment of £26.7 million, and this will take the Board’s overall funding in excess of £1 billion for the third consecutive year. Since 2015-16, NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £56 million specifically to support the Board's movement towards NRAC parity.

We set out our commitment to establish an independent taskforce to consider whether the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Scottish SPCA) should be given extra powers to investigate wildlife crime in both the 2021-22 Programme for Government and in our Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme.

The taskforce’s role will include due consideration of the potential implications of any proposed changes to the powers of the Scottish SPCA. The taskforce will report back by the end of 2022.

We will set out the remit of the taskforce in more detail in due course.

The information requested on how many specialist osteoporosis nurse positions are (i) filled and (ii) vacant by NHS Board is not centrally available.

Numbers of radiography staff have increased from 1,836.8 WTE to 2,507.7 WTE since September 2007 - a 36.5% increase.(September 2007 - September 2021).

Information on how many radiographer positions are (i)filled and (ii)vacant by NHS Board, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

As stated in the answer to question S6W-04876 on 20 December 2021 we have committed to establishing an independent taskforce to consider investigatory powers of the Scottish SPCA. The taskforce’s remit will cover the Scottish SCPA’s role in investigating wildlife crime and will involve engaging with the Scottish SPCA, alongside other relevant stakeholders, as it conducts its review.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has regular discussions with stakeholders, including the Scottish SPCA at both official and Ministerial level. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders as work on the taskforce develops.

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

Teachers’ pay negotiations are a matter for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), comprising membership from local authority employers, teacher unions and Scottish Government.

The last SNCT pay negotiation meeting was held on 17 November. The next meeting will be arranged at the appropriate time.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a fair pay offer for teachers and remains committed to working with our partners in the SNCT to bring these discussions to a successful conclusion.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04922 on 17 December 2021. 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