- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects on thefts from railway infrastructure, and how this is used to inform prevention strategies.
Answer
This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Responsibility for such information rests with Network Rail and rail operators.
- Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve NHS Scotland’s data and information-sharing infrastructure.
Answer
COSLA and the Scottish Government published Scotland’s first Data Strategy for Health and Social Care in February 2023. The Strategy outlines a number of key developments for improving technology and infrastructure to improve the care and wellbeing of people in Scotland by making best use of data in the design and delivery of services
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported link between increases in plant imports and the rise of tree diseases such as ash dieback, what steps it is taking to support the tree nursery sector to grow all native species of trees and shrubs to deliver on commitments to expand native woodlands.
Answer
Scottish Forestry has worked closely with forest nursery sector representatives to identify solutions to improve the sector’s resilience. The Forestry Grant scheme was expanded in 2017 to cover forest nurseries which they have used to invest in their equipment to increase production. This increase in productive capacity supports both native and non-native species. The Scottish Government undertakes plant health inspections of forest nurseries which are conducted by Horticulture and Marketing Unit (SASA). There is also a system of plant passports that allows the internal movement within GB of regulated plants and plant products to be traced.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to upscale seed sourcing of native species of trees, in light of reports that existing nursery grants do not extend beyond nursery infrastructure.
Answer
Through the Forestry Grant Scheme, administered by Scottish Forestry, grants are available to assist with the purchase of capital items that support nursery production and seed supply businesses. These measures are made available to encourage increased production within the nursery and seed supply sectors to help delivery of the Scottish Government's ambitious woodland creation target.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason vocational programme funding support for trainee educational psychologists is reportedly lower, at £15,000 plus tuition fees, than for trainee clinical psychologists, at £37,338 plus tuition fees.
Answer
Trainee educational psychologists enrol as students and do not have an employment contract. Students are allocated a placement in Local Authorities to gain experience and to gather evidence so that they can complete their coursework. The grant for educational psychologist trainees, in addition to tuition fee funding, is not income assessed and is provided to help towards living costs associated with studying.
In Scotland trainee clinical psychologists are recruited through a UK clearing house system to NHS employment on nationally evaluated NHS Agenda for Change band 6 job roles in common with their peers across the UK. NHS Education for Scotland provides funding for salaries to NHS Scotland Boards via service level agreements and funding for fees to university programme providers. The training is a three year postgraduate doctoral programme and Clinical Psychology trainees provide clinical services during training as part of supervised and assessed practice, including contributing to the NHS Scotland Psychological Therapies waiting time standards.
In partnership, the Scottish Government and COSLA provide £2m investment per year to deliver the training programme for educational psychologists.
- Asked by: Annie Wells, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what data will be (a) collated and (b) published from the safer drug consumption facility, The Thistle.
Answer
Data generated from the day-to-day running of the Thistle Service will be recorded and collated by Glasgow HSCP alongside a range of routine data from other Health and Social Care services to enable a comprehensive evaluation. This includes data to assess:
1.Extent to which people use the service,
2.Interventions provided within the service (such as reviews of injecting practice, peer support and referrals into drug treatment); and
3.Public Health outcomes such as incidence of drug overdose, Accident and Emergency attendances and drug deaths, uptake of testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C and engagement in addictions treatment and care.
Data collated for evaluation will be published in due course in aggregate form. The format and timeline for these publications has not been set but likely to consist a full evaluation report which will be published in a few years’ time as well as an interim report which will be produced in the nearer term.
- Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported link between increases in plant imports and the rise of tree diseases such as ash dieback, what steps it is taking to support the tree nursery sector to increase the quantity that it produces of species of northern and western provenances, and mountain woodland species.
Answer
Scottish Forestry is working with partners to develop a project that will provide the small scale nurseries that specialise in native species of northern and western provenances with more resilience. The aim of the project is to share best practice, provide training and share resources where possible. The outcome is to ensure that the supply of harder to source tree stock is increased and more robust.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what formulation is used when setting the value of the living grant for trainee educational psychologists; whether inflation is taken into account, and whether this has been reviewed since the grant was introduced in 2018.
Answer
In partnership, the Scottish Government and COSLA provide £2m investment per year to deliver the training programme for educational psychologists.
The formulation for this investment takes into account the number of students, the tuition fees paid for each student, individual membership to the British Psychological Society and an allocation to help students with living costs associated with studying.
The living costs grant is not income assessed, is not indexed to inflation and does not need to be paid back.
The grant has been reviewed since 2018 and the amount was agreed with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the average grant rate was for a social new-build property delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) the first half of 2024-25, broken down by (i) local authority and (ii) registered social landlord new builds.
Answer
The following table provides the average grant rates for Registered Social Landlord (RSL) and Local Authority social rent new build homes approved through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) between April 2022 and end September 2024.
Financial Year | RSL Social Rent New Build Homes Average Grant per Home (£ million) | Local Authority Social Rent New Build Homes Average Grant per Home (£ million) |
2022-2023 | 0.120 | 0.095 |
2023-2024 | 0.140 | 0.113 |
2024-2025 | 0.134 | 0.104 |
Please note this table is based on management information and that RSL social rent new build homes approved using Charitable Bond Donations have been excluded from these figures.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 22 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding its announcement that it will deliver 8,000 new affordable homes in 2025-26, how many of these properties will be (a) social new-builds, (b) acquisitions, (c) other affordable properties and (d) voids brought back into use.
Answer
The 8,000 homes figure attached to 2025-2026 funding is an estimate of the equivalent homes that could be supported by the budget in 2025-2026. The 2025-2026 budget will fund the completion of existing project commitments as well as new project approvals, including voids and acquisitions, and new build starts. We do not therefore have a breakdown of the 8,000 homes figure.