Chamber and committees

It is important to be clear that there has been no change in the Scottish Government’s policy on the remuneration arrangements for independent contractors or those working within a primary care settings participation in the COVID Vaccination programme.

The Scottish Government wrote to Health Boards on 5 March 2021 to ensure that the original policy was being properly implemented. Following this, a number of Boards adapted their approach.

The Scottish Government hold regular meetings with Community Pharmacy Scotland, the recognised representative body of community pharmacy contractors in Scotland as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and over the last 12 months, Scottish Government officials and Community Pharmacy Scotland representatives have met on a bi-weekly cycle to discuss a range of issues related to the community pharmacy network in Scotland.

In the last 12 months, Scottish Government officials have met with the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists on two occasions and the Pharmacists Defence Association on two occasions.

The financial support we have made available to businesses has, in the main, been predicated on the restrictions in place on specific businesses through legislation agreed by the Scottish Parliament rather than on sectoral classifications. Businesses were grouped by sectoral classification for the purposes of distributing the January Top up Grant and the Business Restart Grant but these grants were similarly awarded based on the impact of Regulations.

Eligibility for support can be found on the Scottish Government’s website including those businesses classified as Retail, Hospitality and Leisure businesses for the purposes of determining these top up payments. As Kennels and Catteries were not required to close or subject to any specific legislative restrictions on their operations, they were not eligible for support through the Strategic Framework Business Fund or associated schemes.

We did, however, set up the £120 million Local Authority Discretionary Fund specifically to support those businesses which were financially impacted due to COVID but did not qualify for other forms of financial support.

The emissions reduction targets set in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, as amended by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, constitute the most ambitious framework of emissions reduction in the world.

The extremely stretching statutory framework set by all parties in the Scottish Parliament places specific duties on Scottish Ministers in the case that emissions reduction targets are missed. In particular, triggers a duty on Ministers to bring forward – as soon as reasonably practicable after such a target outcome has been reported - additional policies and proposals to compensate in future years for the excess emissions arising from the missed target.

This approach ensures that the total amount of Scottish emissions over the lifetime of the targets in the Act will remain no greater than would have been the case if all of the annual targets had been exactly met.

The Scottish Government's new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone' will be published later in 2021. The strategy will set out a series of actions to deliver further air pollution reductions over the next five years. These actions include work being progressed across Government which will benefit air quality, such as continuing to take forward introduction of Low Emission Zones in Scotland's four largest cities, a £500 million funding commitment to active travel over the next five years and a reduction in motor vehicle kilometres by 20% by 2030.

We will also take forward proposals to control the sale of the most polluting domestic fuels, produce a code of good agricultural practice for improving air quality in Scotland and develop a public engagement strategy on air quality. At the same time we will ensure that the strategy integrates fully with other Government plans and strategies that have implications for air quality, such as the Climate Change Plan update, the National Transport Strategy 2 and National Planning Framework 4.

The new strategy will build on the achievements of Scotland's first air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland - The Road to a Healthier Future' which set out a series of 40 actions to improve air quality, 36 of which have been fully completed and the remainder carried over to the new strategy.

In May 2018, we reached a joint agreement with local authorities to set the school clothing grant at a national minimum level of £100 per eligible child or young person.

The following table provides information about the value of school clothing grants provided by local authorities in 2017-18, the year before the national minimum school clothing grant was introduced, in comparison to the amounts paid for the 2020-21 school year.

In June 2021 we reached an agreement with local authorities to increase the national minimum school clothing grant level further. The new national minimum level has been set at £120 for each eligible child in primary school and £150 for each eligible young person in secondary school for the 2021-22 school year. Information about the value of school clothing grants set by local authorities for 2021-22 is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government understands that Historic Environment Scotland (HES) wrote directly to Mr Sweeney on 24 June 2021.

HES assessed this property in 2017, and it was found to not meet the criteria for listing at that time as it was not a notable example of its building type and its setting had been altered. HES held subsequent discussions with the Sir John Stirling Maxwell Trust and Glasgow City Heritage Trust during 2020 regarding the best ways to retain and reuse the building.

As Scotland's lead public body for built heritage Historic Environment Scotland (HES) investigates, cares for and promotes Scotland’s historic environment. Part of those duties is responsibility for designating listed buildings. The role of Scottish Ministers in designations largely relates to strategic oversight in matters of national importance. It should be noted that Minsters' powers are used sparingly as HES retains the considerable experience and expertise which is more appropriate to assess applications on a case-by-case basis.

The Scottish Government's new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone' will be published later in 2021. Any proposals for implementing a ban on domestic coal use will be set out in this strategy.

The Scottish Government, working with Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) and other partners, developed a vision and action plan to support sustainable, green datacentres, terrestrial digital connectivity and international subsea fibre connectivity in Scotland.

Scotland’s Vision and Action Plan for Green Datacentres & Digital Connectivity was agreed by Ministers on 09 March 2021 and launched by Mr Wheelhouse at the Rural, Economy and Connectivity (REC) Committee on 17 March 2021: Green datacentres and digital connectivity: vision and action plan for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

This provides a roadmap for this important sector – considering the supply and demand for data hosting facilities across the country and in support of Scotland’s wider digital ambition.

We are in the process of setting up a Cluster Management Organisation (CMO) which will look at supporting the growth of Scottish Datacentres - enhancing links with other existing and emerging cluster groups in Scotland, for example: Scotland’s Data Cluster, Scotland’s Cyber Cluster, Technology Scotland etc.

The response provided to S6W-00515 confirmed the Scottish Government’s position with the UK Government's Events Research Programme. In common with the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government did not hold events as part of the ERP.

Specific procedures that were part of the ERP, for example testing as means of entry to EURO 2020 matches, were considered for the event in Scotland as part of our gateway process for flagship events – however, clinical advice cautioned against mandatory testing and checking on arrival, in this instance, as the knock-on effect on flow may have created more risk of mixing.

The final report of Phase 1 of the UK Government's ERP has now been published – Events Research Programme: Phase I findings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) – and we will continue to engage with the UKG and on a 4 Nations basis, with the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, to identify learnings from the ERP and help inform the route ahead for the events sector.