Seòmar agus comataidhean

The answer to S6W-28648 stated that 3,308 certificates of exemption for XL Bully dogs have been issued to dog owners by the Scottish Government during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 July 2024. This reflected the number of exemptions issued when the PQ answer was developed and there can be a short time lag between an answer being drafted by the Scottish Government and the PQ being answered.

The figure that was provided by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Sun newspaper was that, as of Thursday 1 August, there have been 3,342 applications for exemption certificates for XL Bully dogs approved.

The difference in figure is explained by the time-lag noted above meaning that 34 additional manually produced exemption certificates issued by the Scottish Government after 31 July 2024 were included in the figure given to the Scottish Sun, but not in the PQ answer.

It may be helpful to be aware that the Scottish Government is continuing to work through a small number of cases where XL Bully dog owners have met the legal requirement to apply before 31 July 2024, but still require to provide additional information in order for their exemption application to be processed and granted.

The introduction of Air Departure Tax (ADT) was deferred due to state aid issues raised in relation to replicating the existing Highlands and Islands exemption that currently exists under Air Passenger Duty. As of January 2023, Scottish Ministers have a responsibility to ensure all subsidies – including tax exemptions – comply with the UK Government’s subsidy control regime introduced in the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

A referral to the Subsidy Advice Unit at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is necessary where a subsidy has a greater potential to lead to undue distortion and negative effects on competition or investment within the UK, or on international trade or investment. The Scottish Government has not yet had any specific discussions with the CMA regarding a future referral of a prospective Highland and Islands exemption but has had high-level discussions regarding the process through which a referral could be made. Prior to introducing ADT, the Scottish Government will assess whether a prospective Highlands and Islands exemption requires a referral to the CMA.

The Scottish Government continue to explore all options to implement ADT in a way that protects Highlands & Islands connectivity and complies with the UK Government’s subsidy control regime. The UK-wide Air Passenger Duty will continue to apply in Scotland until ADT is implemented.

The Scottish Government recognises the significant and wide-ranging impacts of the decision by Bakkafrost to temporarily close its Arnish Harvest Station and Marybank Processing Facility in Stornoway.

I met with representatives of Bakkafrost Scotland on 12 July and highlighted the importance of the aquaculture sector to the islands and the negative impact on jobs, the local communities and supply chains and asked whether any further support could be provided to reverse this decision. Officials from the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have continued in dialogue with the business over recent weeks to consider all viable options to ensure that high value jobs are secured in the region.

The Scottish Government is making arrangements to speak with Bakkafrost’s senior management team, based in the Faroe Islands, as soon as possible to explore ways to mitigate the effects of this decision.

The Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) team has met the company to offer its full range of support to any employees who may be facing redundancy. PACE organised a group meeting for affected staff which was held on 7 August, with further CV/Employability workshops held on 14 and 15 August and a Jobs Fair on 16 August.

The Scottish Government has no plans to change its visual identity from the current saltire.

The Scottish Government has not made such an assessment. These are operational matters for Scottish Canals as part of their Asset Management Strategy work and responsibility to maintain and develop Scotland's canal network.

Over the past 10 years, there has been a 50% increase in consultant oncologists, from 94.8 WTE (whole time equivalent) in March 2014, to 142.6 WTE in March 2024. We have also increased consultant radiologists by 31.9%, from 288.2 WTE ten years ago (March 2014) to 380.1 WTE in March 2024.

In addition to this, we have been increasing the number of available specialty training places for junior doctors in Radiology and Oncology training programmes, and more junior doctors are joining NHS Scotland than ever before, with more than 1,100 specialty trainees recruited throughout 2023.

To specifically support scope based diagnostics, the National Endoscopy Training Programme has been established within the NHS Scotland Academy to commission and deliver endoscopy training to a wide range of learners from different professional backgrounds, with representatives from every mainland health board in Scotland.

This ensures the availability of appropriately trained endoscopists and endoscopy support staff to deliver safe, high quality endoscopic investigations for Scotland’s patients. To date this has supported 80 trainees to complete Basic Skills courses, 137 trainees to attend upskilling courses, 54 trainees to attend immersion training at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital, and 113 trainees to develop their ability to recognise lesions, primarily to support improved cancer detection.

We have also funded NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop a non-medical endoscopy programme. Since 2021, 53 places in total have been made available for non-medical endoscopy training and 20 places have been made available for non-medical cystoscopy training.

Since 2021, Scottish Government has provided three permanent CT scanners to support core diagnostic imaging capacity within Boards, including a mobile CT pod which is deployed flexibly to Boards that require additional capacity. One further mobile CT and seven mobile MRI scanners are also being used across multiple NHS Boards to provide additional capacity and earlier diagnosis efforts.To specifically support scope-based diagnostics we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan backed by £70 million. The plan focuses on key areas including infrastructure. Funding has been allocated to extend the use of mobile endoscopy units for 24-25 to provide additional capacity.Further to this and despite the extremely challenging capital funding position, we are committed to continued investment in our capital radiotherapy replacement programme. We intend to invest more than £65 million over the next 3 years for this programme.We continue to invest in cancer services across NHS Scotland, with £11.3m recurring funding provided to Health Boards in 2024-25 to support cancer waiting times improvements, focusing efforts on the most challenged tumour types.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS currently share information regarding the number of individuals released under Emergency Early Release (ER) on the SPS website. Further work has commenced on an analysis of the entire ER tranche data, and the SPS hope to be able to publish a full data report, which will be available on the SPS website by the end of August.

SPS continue to be as open and transparent as possible, whilst continuing to meet our statutory obligation to ensure that those in our care have their personal information protected; as such we have taken the decision not to publish a breakdown of establishments of those released under the ER scheme as some of the data could relate to a small group of individuals, which may lead to their inadvertent identification. SPS will however, share information that does include individual local authorities and health boards as part of the released data set.

The Scottish Government has subsidised the temporary removal of ScotRail peak fares for twelve months in a move to encourage modal shift from private car to rail while making rail travel more affordable and accessible over the pilot period. The cost of the full year subsidy was approximately £40m.

The success of the pilot has been measured through analysis, which uses daily patronage data (from April 2022 to start of July 2024) covering the period before and nine months of the pilot.

This analysis shows that while there has been a limited increase in the number of passengers during the pilot, it did not achieve its aims of encouraging a significant modal shift from car to rail. In light of the financial challenges facing the Scottish Government and the level of additional and continuing subsidy that would be required to continue the pilot versus its contribution towards tackling climate change with modal shift from car and tackling child poverty which are key Scottish Government missions, the pilot will end on 27th September 2024.

The pilot primarily benefitted existing train passengers and those with medium to higher incomes and although passenger levels increased to a maximum of around 6.8%, it would require a 10% increase in passenger numbers for the policy to be self-financing. The pilot will have been welcome in saving many passengers hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds during the cost of living crisis but this level of subsidy cannot continue in the current financial climate on that measure alone.

I am aware, however, that a significant minority of people cannot choose when they travel to and from work who did and would benefit from lower priced rail travel and who might find the return to peak fares challenging. I can therefore announce the introduction of a 12-month discount on all ScotRail season tickets and permanently amending the terms of flexipasses to allow for 12 single journeys for the price of 10, used within 60 days, equivalent to a 20% discount for those who travel less frequently.

For example, prior to the pilot someone travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow would have paid £28.90 for an anytime return. They will now pay £31.40 for an anytime day return but with the 20% discount this reduces to £18.52 if they use an annual season ticket to travel at least 4 days per week or £21.25 if using a flexipass for a return journey. Weekly and monthly season tickets are also available with the 20% discount which offer savings over buying tickets on a daily basis.

Prior to the pilot, someone travelling between Barrhead and Glasgow would have paid £6.60. While this will increase to £7.20 for an anytime day return it reduces to £4.06 if they use an annual season ticket to travel at least 4 days per week. Someone using a flexipass on the same journey will pay £4.85 for a return journey.

Super off-peak tickets will also be reintroduced.

The final evaluation of the Pilot is available on the Transport Scotland website.

The Scottish Government would be open to consider future subsidy to remove peak fares should UK budget allocations to the Scottish Government improve in future years.

Making public transport easier for people to use is crucial in driving forward a greener, fairer Scotland, enhancing equality, growing the economy, and supporting communities.

With this in mind, I am pleased to announce the publication today of the Scottish Government’s updated strategy on smart, digital, integrated ticketing and payments.  https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/smart-digital-integrated-ticketing-and-payments-delivery-strategy-2024/

This strategy builds on the enhancements progressed since its first iteration published in 2018, such as enabling universal smartcards to be used across operators, supporting the provision of contactless payment to be available on 98% of buses in Scotland, and delivering smart concessionary travel for young people and on our ferry services to Orkney and Shetland. Technological advancements since 2018 have opened a vast array of new opportunities to rethink and evolve how we can continue to encourage use of sustainable public transport, and address the change in travel patterns and public expectations witnessed in the years following the pandemic.

It complements the delivery of my wider transport priorities and provides a refreshed vision, To increase the use of sustainable public transport by providing smart and integrated ticketing, payment, and journey planning data enhancements, contributing to a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland.

The strategy also aligns with the new National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board three year Work Programme, which is being published today as well, outlining the advice that will be provided to Ministers on the future of smart ticketing in Scotland. All of these actions seek to support the improved accessibility, availability and affordability of public transport.