Seòmar agus comataidhean

We are actively supporting economic recovery in the North East and have provided close to £100 million to support businesses and additional funding of almost £150 million to councils to help achieve that. We are also investing £157 million in the Aberdeen City Region and Moray Growth Deals, and over £14 million to develop the skills needed to support regional economic recovery.

Alongside this, we have recently confirmed our intention to commit £500 million capital over the next ten years to support the Just Transition of the region and Moray to support energy transition, create jobs and maximise the region’s future economic potential.

We currently provide £42 million annually to local authorities through the flood component of the general capital grant. We are committed to providing an extra £150 million to the flood component over the next five years. This is a 70% increase to the flooding budget from £210 million to £360 million. We are working with SEPA and local authorities to decide the best way of allocating this additional funding.

A portion of the current flood component allocated to the City of Edinburgh Council can already be used for projects to reduce surface water flooding. SEPA prioritise flood risk management actions across Scotland every 6 years. 80% of the current funding is set aside for 40 large scale flood protection schemes, and 20% is divided amongst the 32 local authorities for other actions to reduce flood risk, including from surface water. A number of local authorities are undertaking studies to identify why surface water flooding is a problem in a given location and how it might be resolved.

SEPA are currently prioritising new flood risk management works based on information submitted by local authorities for the period 2022-2027. A number of surface water schemes or works have been put forward as part of this process.

Ministerial decisions will be informed by the recommendations of the joint Scottish Government/COSLA working group that is currently considering these issues.

The Scottish Government first established firm annual peatland restoration targets in 2018 in its report Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies 2018-2032 (RPP3) .

Based on a 1990 baseline, this set a commitment to restore 50,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2020 (including 10,000 hectares in 2017-18 and 20,000 hectares per year thereafter) as the first phase of a longer target to restore 250,000 hectares by 2030.

This implies a total restoration target of 70,000 hectares between 1990 and April 2021. Against this target, around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990 as shown in the following table. Annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot.

Lateral Flow Devices (LFDs) used in the National Testing Programme are routinely evaluated and reviewed to detect early signals of changes in performance with emerging variants to ensure they can detect new variants of concern as soon as possible after they are identified.

LFDs that have passed validation at UKHSA Porton Down are currently being assessed against the Omicron variant, with priority being given to the LFDs currently deployed in the UK National Testing Programme.

LFDs used in the National Testing Programme have been evaluated against, and successfully detect the Delta variant, which is currently the dominant variant in Scotland.

Following treatment for breast cancer, women are followed up by the symptomatic breast service annually, commonly for at least 5 years. After that, women who are aged between 50 and 70 years are invited to attend the Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) every 3 years. Women who are aged 71 years or over following discharge from symptomatic breast cancer treatment and follow up appointments can ordinarily self-refer to the SBSP once every 3 years; however, self-referrals for women in this age-group are currently suspended due to capacity challenges in the programme associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of women who had breast cancer and self-referred into the SBSP following treatment is not routinely collected or reported, and therefore the Scottish government cannot provide this information.

(a) In terms of Scottish Government support, we have set out our commitment to people with a learning disability, including those with Down’s Syndrome, and their families through the Keys to Life Learning Disability strategy and the Towards Transformation Learning Disability and Autism Plan . Both plans focus on outcomes intended to ensure people with a learning disability live healthier lives, enjoy choice and control over the services they use, and are supported to be independent and active citizens.

To this end, we have committed to introducing a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill as part of the Programme for Government. This Bill will ensure that the rights of people with Down’s Syndrome, among others, are respected and protected. Additionally, we will create a Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodiversity Commissioner to champion the new law.

The Scottish Government works closely with a range of third sector partners and funds Down’s Syndrome Scotland as delivery partners in achieving the Keys to Life Learning Disability strategy and the Towards Transformation Learning Disability and Autism Plan as well as to allow them to provide direct support to people with Down’s Syndrome and their families.

Additional funding was also awarded to develop changes in Down’s Syndrome Scotland’s programme of work during COVID-19 and supporting families through the pandemic and the recovery phase, including their vital helpline.

(b) Whilst the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, it is for the regional health & social care partnerships to determine the level of services that are required to meet local needs and to arrange an appropriate and suitable range of services to meet these local needs, as mandated under statute in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act. The Scottish Government expects that the needs of people with Down’s Syndrome are identified, acknowledged and met, ensuring positive outcomes are achieved.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04721 on 8 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 .

Business births, deaths and survival rates - based on VAT/PAYE registrations and de-registrations - are produced by the Office for National Statistics within their Business Demography publications. Data are not published for parliamentary regions, however data are available by local authority area. Data are not available on a monthly basis, only on a calendar year basis. Tables 2.1(a), (b) and (c) at the link below provide the business deaths by local authority areas, in Scotland, for 2015 to 2020.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable

Additional funding of £10.881 million has been provided to Edinburgh City Council for the remainder of the financial year 2021-22. These additional funds are to support: the standing up of interim care arrangements (£3.567 million); enhancing multi-disciplinary team working (£1.784 million) and expanding care at home capacity (£5.53 million).

The Scottish Government will continue to build on the discussion and networking that was in place before and was developed through the Glasgow Climate Dialogues at COP26. This includes hearing directly from partners in the Global South and working in collaboration on shared issues.

As European co-chair, Scotland is committed to promoting values of justice and inclusivity within the Under2 Coalition. This includes championing dialogue with and response to the interests of members from the Global South.

The Just Transition Alliance the Scottish Government established at COP26 will act as a vehicle for discussion, knowledge sharing and action across Coalition members on issues of voice, inclusion and fairness.