Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-04357

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the pay deal reportedly agreed between the RMT trade union and Abellio ScotRail, whether it will instruct Serco Caledonian Sleeper to negotiate a pay deal for its workers that (a) provides parity with the pay deal agreed for ScotRail workers and (b) is not contingent on any efficiency measures being put in place.

The pay deal between the RMT and Abellio ScotRail was rightly negotiated between the operator and staff representatives, and the same applies to Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited (SCSL) and the RMT.

Scotland’s railway faces significant financial challenges and it is only right that discussions around efficiencies, addressing ideas both from the business and the union, should form part of the dialogue around funding a pay deal.

We understand that, following discussions, SCSL made a pay offer which RMT’s Scottish leadership had confirmed would be acceptable. It is disappointing that the pay offer was then rejected, not least because when considered with the pay increase already awarded last year, the combined rate was as good as or better than any other deal for train operating company staff in the rail industry.

Question reference: S6W-04420

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payments have been made in each year since the scheme was established.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish information as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods’. This includes information on the value of payments issued for Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payments each month.

Number and value of Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payments issued, by year

	Number of payments issued	Value of payments issued
2018-19 (10 th December to 31 st March)	10,675	£4,072,200
2019-20	15,875	£6,638,100
2020-21	16,315	£6,942,600
2021-22 (1 st April to 31 st August)	7,755	£3,238,914

*NOTE: The Pregnancy and Baby Payment provides eligible families with £606 for a first child and £303 for any subsequent children. Prior to 1 April 2021, the value of the payment was £600 for a first child and £300 for a subsequent child.

The latest Official Statistics, covering the period from 10 December 2018 to
‎ 31 August 2021, were last published on the 26 October 2021 and are available from:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/best-start-grant-and-best-start-foods-high-level-statistics-to-31-august-2021

Question reference: S6W-04366

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with tenants’ unions, including Living Rent, regarding its proposed rented sector strategy.

As we committed to in Housing to 2040 , tenant participation is at the heart of our work to develop the Rented Sector Strategy. Alongside meetings with tenants and tenants’ groups, we are working in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Tenants Information Service and the Tenant Participation Advisory Service to understand tenants’ lived experiences and hear their views.

The Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights met with Living Rent in September to discuss a range of issues, and going forward, we will also look at the wider role of tenants’ unions across Europe.

The Draft Rented Sector Strategy Consultation will be published by the end of 2021 for a full 12 week public consultation, at which point tenants and tenants’ groups will have further opportunity to provide their views. We will also undertake further engagement with tenants groups during the consultation period and on the lead up to publishing a final version of the Strategy in the latter part of 2022.

Question reference: S6W-04355

Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many electric cars have been sold in each of the last five years, how the percentage of cars that are electric compared to those that use other fuels has changed over the last five years, what incentives will be put in place to encourage drivers to switch to electric cars and what (a) funding and (b) support is being provided to (i) local authorities and (ii) businesses seeking to install electric charging points.

The Department for Transport (DfT) publish annual figures on their website on the number of Electric Vehicles (EV’s) registered in the UK, a link can be found here Cars (VEH02) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . This data does not provide a breakdown of EV’s registered per region, data is only available per region on the total number of vehicles registered across all propulsion groups.

The following table which includes the total number of EV's registered in the UK over the last 5 years and the market share they represent.

Year	BEV/Unknown (Thousands)	Market Share	Non-BEV/Unknown (Thousands)	Market Share
2016	10.7	0.40%	2713.1	99.60%
2017	14.0	0.50%	2550.3	99.50%
2018	15.8	0.70%	2378.2	99.30%
2019	38.1	1.60%	2308.5	98.40%
2020	108.0	6.50%	1548.4	93.50%

BEV - Battery Electric Vehicles, Unknown - Ultra Low Emission Vehicles not Petrol/Diesel.

Since 2014 the Scottish Government has supported decarbonisation of fleets in local authorities. As part of our overall Fleets funding of almost £50 million we have provided over £30 million of funding to local authorities to enable the procurement of over 2,300 zero and ultra-low emission vehicles as well as charging and refuelling infrastructure.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government through the Energy Saving Trust (EST) have funded the Low Carbon Transport Loan (LCTL) which provides an interest free loan to support individuals and businesses across Scotland purchase new EV’s. To date this scheme have helped over 5100 individuals and businesses across Scotland make the switch to ultra-low emission vehicles by providing loan funding of over £140 million.

The Scottish Government has made grant funding available for installing Domestic (Home) Chargepoints. Since this scheme launched the Scottish Government has supported the installation of almost 12,000 domestic chargepoints to a value of almost £10 million.

The Scottish Government has made grant funding available through the Business Chargepoint Fund to support organisations install EV charging infrastructure on their premises for use by occupiers, staff and visitors. Since 2011 the Scottish Government through this fund has supported almost 1300 businesses with grants worth over £9 million to install EV chargepoints.

To further support the uptake of EV’s, the Scottish Government has invested over £50 million in the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) network, which now has over 2000 publicly available chargepoints located around Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-04422

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for benefits have been rejected by Social Security Scotland, broken down by the type of benefit that was applied for.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish official statistics publications on each of the devolved benefits at:https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications

For benefits where clients can apply to Social Security Scotland, published statistics include information on the number of applications received and the outcomes of applications, including the number that have been rejected. The latest publication for each benefit can be found at:

Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods statistics to 31 August 2021

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/best-start-grant-and-best-start-foods-high-level-statistics-to-31-august-2021

Funeral Support Payment statistics to 30 September 2021

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/funeral-support-payment-high-level-statistics-to-30-september-2021

Young Carer Grant statistics to 31 July 2021

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/young-carer-grant-high-level-statistics-to-31-july-2021

Job Start Payment statistics to 30 September 2021

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/job-start-payment-high-level-statistics-to-30-september-2021

Scottish Child Payment statistics to 30 June 2021

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/scottish-child-payment-high-level-statistics-to-30-june-2021

Question reference: S6W-04353

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been an underspend of the social security budget in this financial year and, if so, how much the underspend is, and how it compares to initial forecasts.

The overall social security budget for the 2021-22 financial year was set in January 2021, at almost £4 billion. This includes £3.5 billion for demand-led benefits expenditure, and almost £0.5 billion for Social Security Programme implementation investment and Social Security Scotland operating costs.

The Scottish Government has put in place robust processes to manage the risks associated with demand-led expenditure on this scale and the potential impact any variations could have on the wider Scottish Budget. After the financial year has ended, our Budget position will be presented to Parliament in the Provisional Outturn statement and confirmed in the 2021-22 consolidated accounts in the normal way.

Question reference: S6W-04362

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Police Scotland and (b) the Scottish Police Authority, regarding the policing of protests during COP26.

Question reference: S6W-04393

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of its commitment to provide 1,000 additional staff members in primary care mental health services, including (a) which roles it expects to provide, (b) by what date recruitment for the roles is expected to begin and (c) by what date all 1,000 additional staff are expected to be in place.

The Scottish Government will hold a debate in the Scottish Parliament before the end of the year to set out its plan to deliver this commitment.

The plan will detail how every General Practice across Scotland will have access to a Mental Health and Wellbeing Service by April 2026, creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and help direct social prescribing.

Question reference: S6W-04303

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) reported incidents of, (b) prosecutions for and (c) convictions for wildlife crime there have been in each of the last five years.

(a) The latest available information for Recorded crime data is for the financial year 2020-21 and is presented in the following table:

Wildlife crime Recorded by Police Scotland, 2016-17 to 2020-21

Financial year	Total
2016-17	231
2017-18	236
2018-19	171
2019-20	198
2020-21	308

Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics Dataset

(b)(c) The latest available information for criminal proceedings is for the financial year 2019-20 and is presented in the following table:

People proceeded against in Scottish courts for wildlife crimes, where main charge, 2015-16 to 2019-20

Financial year	Total prosecuted	Total convicted
2015-16	25	20
2016-17	23	22
2017-18	29	25
2018-19	15	10
2019-20	12	11

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable for a number of reasons. Recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings. Crimes and offences alleged to have been committed by children under 16 years old are also generally dealt with through the children’s hearings system rather than through the courts.

Question reference: S6W-04199

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether any pharmacy has breached their NHS contract in the last 12 months and, if so, how many have done, and for what reason.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of pharmacies that have closed over the past 12 months nor reasons for closures. The provision of community pharmacy pharmaceutical care services are the responsibility of territorial Health Boards as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, including pharmacy closures. Each Health Board holds separate data on those community pharmacies that have been unable to deliver pharmaceutical care services due to closures.

Any challenges faced by community pharmacies in ensuring the safe and effective dispensing of treatments should be discussed with the local Health Board to minimise impact and risk to patients.

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