Seòmar agus comataidhean

As required under section 2C of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, the Scottish Government plans to request advice from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) on the appropriate value of the international aviation multiplier, and other advice about emissions targets, within 5 years of the last request for this advice on 19 April 2022. In response to the most recent request, the CCC’s first five-yearly review of Scottish emissions targets, published in December 2022, does not recommend the use of a multiplier to reflect the non-CO2 climate change impacts of emissions at altitude from international aviation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24785 on‎ 5 February 2024. 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 .

As part of the Minister led roundtable on spiking, which is due to next meet in February, the concerns around vape spiking has been and continues to be discussed. As part of that process, Police Scotland regularly report on current activity and have advised that there is nothing to suggest that this is an emerging trend and that there are no confirmed spiking via vape reports in Scotland. We are alive to recent media reports highlighting the new dangers of “vape spiking” in England and Wales which will be kept under regular review.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Houses of Multiple Occupation, which includes purpose built student accommodation, are subject to the provisions in The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 which requires that duty holders carry out a fire safety risk assessment of relevant premises to identify any risks to the safety of persons caused by fire, including the risk posed by combustible cladding.

The Scottish Government has produced guidance for those who have responsibility under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 for ensuring fire safety in such buildings in Scotland: Fire safety - existing premises with sleeping accommodation: practical guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has not provided funding for the Friends of the Edington Hospital.

Alcohol & Drugs Action received funding from the Scottish Government’s National Development Project Fund (NDPF) from 2019 to 2021. High-level NDPF objectives are set out in Grant Offer Letters, and are as follows:

• Recruiting staff to mentoring and supervision roles
• Staff Mentoring roles / training and Recovery Group Peer-led Activity (range, location)
• Advocacy role (training)
• Develop further Peer Volunteer roles (Hospital, Housing, Justice settings)
• Deliver activities in identified key settings
• Evaluate effectiveness of mentor / supervisory aspects
• Evaluate effectiveness of at-risk engagement with services/support
• Adjust and further develop activities as required

Whilst Scottish Government did not directly set the objectives, the Corra Foundation administer funds on our behalf. The Challenge Fund, in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and the National Drugs Mission Funds, from 2021-22, to third sector and grassroots organisations. Alcohol & Drugs Action is a recipient of these funds and details of the projects are available at: Grant holder data - Corra Foundation

The Shetland Folk Festival Society has not received any direct funding from Scottish Government since 2019.

The Shetland Folk Festival Society has received two awards through the Creative Scotland (CS) National Lottery Open Fund since 2019, totalling £24,000.

The CS Open Fund has had three iterations since Shetland Folk Festival Society’s award in 2019 and the criteria for the fund has evolved in-line with CS’ strategic and funding priorities. Full details on these funding programmes are available on Creative Scotland's website.

The Shetland Folk Festival Society also received £21,000 from EventScotland’s National Events Funding Programme in 2022. The KPIs agreed in the funding contract were as follows:

1. Attract at least 8 bands to Shetland to perform at the event

2. Attract an audience of around 6,000 visitors to the event

3. Attract 32% of visitors from outwith the event region

4. Carry out a scaled back community / rural programme in line with local opinion

5. Demonstrate how the event has helped boost community confidence to attend events

As outlined in the Pain management service delivery framework: implementation plan update , we are working with Public Health Scotland to improve how we capture and report national data on patients with chronic pain. The current focus is to review and improve waiting times data for first appointments.

Similar to other specialities, Chronic Pain services in Scotland are currently unable to gather electronic data on return appointments in a consistent manner. On completion of the current work around improving data collection for first appointments, we will begin to consider the feasibility: the costs, accuracy and utility of collecting and reporting national data on waits for return appointments.

Local recruitment is the responsibility of the Health Board however, the Scottish Government actively supports health boards across Scotland to plan locally for service need and for service delivery.

Following our £40 million investment from 2014-2018 to recruit an additional 500 Health Visitors, Health Visitor numbers have remained largely stable. Workforce numbers are published quarterly by NHS Education Scotland (NES) in the National NHS Workforce Statistics.

We continue to work closely with Health Boards to monitor the delivery of the Universal Health Visiting Pathway and to best ensure young families get the support they need.

As the Scottish Government has not provided any funding directly to Fife Alcohol Support Service from 2019, no objectives have been set.

However, since 2021, the Corra Foundation has administered the National Drugs Mission Funds to over 300 third sector and grassroots organisations on behalf of the Scottish Government. Fife Alcohol Support Service is a recipient of these funds and details of the projects are available at: Grant holder data - Corra Foundation