Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that legal assistance continues to be available to all those facing legal concerns. In our Programme for Government we committed to engage with the legal professionals and other stakeholders to review the Legal Aid system, and to introduce a Legal Aid Reform Bill in this Parliament, to deliver a system that is flexible, easy to access and that meets the needs of those who use it.

The Scottish Government consulted on legal aid reform in 2019 and has stated its willingness to take forward supported recommendations that will deliver an enhanced system of legal aid across Scotland and reiterated its commitment to retaining a demand led Fund to support a wide scope of actions. Particular consideration will be given, during the development of the Bill, to how more targeted and planned interventions can support user need and align with identified government priorities. There is real value for both users and providers in achieving a user-focused and diverse delivery model; users can access appropriate interventions at the right time, and providers can better target their expertise to those who require it.

The following electric vehicle charging points have been installed at Core Scottish Government buildings or premises in each of the last four financial years, including 2021-22 to date

2018-2019

Dumfries

2 x wall mounted smart sockets

Thurso

2 x wall mounted smart sockets

Bonnington, Edinburgh

8 x wall mounted smart sockets

Saughton House, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual charging post

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual charging post

2019-2020

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

6 x 7kW dual outlet

1 x 50kW triple outlet

1 x 22kW dual outlet

Saughton House, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual outlet

4 x 7kW dual outlet

Marine Lab, Aberdeen

4 x 7kW dual outlet

2 x 22kW dual outlet

Faskally

1 x 7kW dual outlet

Cameron House, Oban

2 x 7kW dual outlet

1 x 22W dual outlet

Longman House, Inverness

2 x 22W dual outlet

Atlantic Quay, Galsgow

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

Tankerness, Orkney

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

Stornoway

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

2020-21

Projects delayed due to Covid.

2021-2022

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

1 x 22kw dual outlet

Saughton House, Edinburgh

2 x 22kw dual outlet

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.

The scope of legal aid will be considered as part of the development of a Bill, and I refer to my response to S6W-04609 on 8 December 2021 which provides information on the Scottish Government’s plans to reform legal aid. The Scottish Government has previously committed, in its response to the Independent Review on Legal Aid by Martyn Evan, that legal aid will continue to be available for a wide range of cases and proceedings.

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

GP practice records show lists of acute and repeat prescribed medication lists during consultations with quantities of medication prescribed. Over ordering of repeat medication (or repeated consultations for acute prescriptions) are therefore visible on the acute and repeat prescribing sections of the medical records. It is therefore possible to add minimum days before reordering of monthly repeat medications to help prevent medication being ordered early or alert future prescribers to the potential for suspected addiction. ‘Special notes’ can be added or alerts to the patient record in daytime practice to inform prescribers of previous medication seeking behaviour or suspected addiction to pain medication. This information can be added to the patients ‘Special notes’ to be visible to Out of Hours services. Scottish Government is developing tools to accurately display prescribing habits to clinicians during consultations in order to help identify medication (including analgesic) over/under use.

David MacBrayne Ltd is a Relevant Authority under the Islands Act. It is for individual bodies to consider their responsibilities under the Act when carrying out their activities.

CalMac Ferries ltd is not listed as a Relevant Authority in the Act, and is therefore not subject to the same duties under the Act.

This information is not routinely recorded at present. The Scottish Government has commissioned Directors of eHealth in NHS Boards, working with others, including Public Health Scotland (PHS), to work to improve the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) digital infrastructure. This will enable the recording and extraction of the full CAMHS and Psychological Therapies (PT) National Dataset (CAPTND), which contains equalities characteristics of patients accessing these services.

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).

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

The Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) does not contain a standalone Peatland Restoration option. AECS contributes to peatland restoration indirectly, mainly through the funding of certain capital items.

As there is no AECS contract data regarding the area of peatland under management it is not possible to report on the area of peatland restoration contribution related to AECS.