Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

1. It is anticipated that the replacement for HMP Barlinnie (HMP Glasgow) will be completed in 2026.

2. HMP Glasgow is estimated to open during 2026. A Planning Permission in Principle application was submitted to Glasgow City Council in December 2019 who subsequently approved the application and issued the planning decision notice, in August 2020. Full details of the application are publicly available on Glasgow City Council’s Planning Portal.

On parts (a) and (b) of the question - this information is not held by the Scottish Government.

On parts (i), (ii) and (iii) of the question - we do not give specific financial support to windfarms, but have supported offshore wind innovation via grant funding totalling over £9.5 million since 2014, to initiatives which help towards the reduction in cost of this technology.

This includes almost £8 million to the Carbon Trust to support the Offshore Wind Accelerator and Floating Wind Joint Industry Project - programmes which utilise a market-led approach to address technical challenges in order to lower the levelised cost of energy. We have also provided £1.5 million to the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, to match fund a number of projects in partnership with industry and the Welsh Government through their Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence. These projects explored barriers and opportunities for floating wind in Scotland across innovative areas including oil platform electrification using floating wind, floating substructure fabrication in Scotland, and mapping the Scottish supply chain.

The recording of information on the lobbying register is a matter for regulated lobbyists in line with the requirements of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016.

All Ministerial engagements are proactively published by the Scottish Government and are available at the Gov.scot website .

Any changes to the lobbying register would be a matter for the Scottish Parliament to consider in the first instance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01556 on 4 August 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 .

The Scottish Government has spent £16,959,406.60 supporting the fishing industry since 1 January 2021. This is made up of residual EU and domestic project funding as well as the support through the Seafood Producers Resilience Fund.

Following the implementation of high risk human papillomavirus (HPV) primary screening in March 2020, the screening interval for all participants where HPV is not found in their sample will be five years. The five year interval will apply to women only once they have been screened using the hr-HPV primary screen and received a negative result. Women who receive a positive result will receive more frequent screening depending on what cell changes are found in cytology.

The Scottish Government published the Rural Payment Strategy Timetable for 2020 scheme year payments in November 2020 with payments to farmers and crofters starting in December 2020, the earliest point since 2015.

All elements of the 2020 payment strategy were successfully delivered by 11 June 2021, two weeks ahead of schedule. By the regulatory deadline of 30 June 2021, over 99% value across all schemes had been paid with a value of over £530 million delivered to the rural economy.

The second payment of convergence funds and the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme provided a further £76 million.

In respect of the 2021 Payment Strategy, the strategy, announced on 12 February 2021, sets out our intention to match our 2020 payment performance.

In total over £660 million in ongoing agricultural support was approved as part of the 2021-22 Scottish Government budget.

Initial estimates suggest that 5,786 invitations have not yet issued to people affected by the pause, but it should be stressed that this will be for a range of reasons, including participants being excluded from the programme after it restarted, or taking the opportunity to be screened at their GP ahead of their scheduled prompt to make an appointment. Data on patients who had their routine cervical screening test delayed and have (a) now received a test, (b) referred for further investigation is not routinely available at present.

Public Health Scotland will release their annual statistical report on the cervical screening programme on 1 September 2021.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days”.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish information as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods’. This includes information on the number of applications authorised for payment and the value of payments issued in each local authority area.

Information on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods was last published on the 27th July 2021 and provided information up to the 31st May 2021. This publication is available from:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-start-grant-and-best-start-foods-high-level-statistics-to-31-may-2021/