Chamber and committees

The information requested is shown in the following table for 2018-19 to 2020-21, the latest complete financial year available.

Data for 2020-21 demonstrates that NHS Board allocations slightly exceeded the original planned budget, the balance of which was off-set by other mental health programme budgets.

Letters of Guidance are issued by the Scottish Government to its public bodies annually. The letters set clear Ministerial expectations on our priorities for the year ahead.

The letters to both Skills Development Scotland and to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will have a clear emphasis on the need for shared working on skills planning; recognising the commitment as set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the SFC Review of Coherence and Sustainability to build capacity and a more systematic approach to the way we collectively plan coherent tertiary education and skills provision and investment, so that it responds better to current and future needs. The Letters of Guidance will draw on the Shared Outcomes Framework that is currently being developed and which will set out clearly the intent for collaborative projects, connected to the National Performance Framework and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation priorities, and include milestones, objectives, impacts and measures for each of these projects.

We expect that the letters will be issued in Spring 2022 once the budget for 2022-23 has been approved by parliament.

Scottish Government guidance ‘Visiting in Maternity and Neonatal Settings During COVID 19 Pandemic’ is intended to support maternity and neonatal units in developing local guidance for visiting. It sets out that, as a minimum, women may have one supportive person accompanying them to all antenatal appointments, and one additional visitor (adult or child) may also attend subject to local risk assessments and physical distancing. In the event of an active outbreak management scenario, Boards may restrict visiting to essential visits only, which would allowone supportive person to accompany a pregnant mother to the booking scan, 20 week scan and any emergency appointments. These additional restrictions should be time-limited during management of an active outbreak.

The Scottish Government would encourage pregnant mothers to discuss any individual requirements with their midwife who will be able to advise further on local policy.

The Non-Domestic RHI (NDRHI) scheme closed to new applicants on 31 March 2021. The Domestic RHI (DRHI) scheme is set to close on 31 March 2022. The Scottish Government has set out in its Heat in Buildings Strategy a number of grant schemes which will continue to support the deployment of zero emission heating systems post RHI closure.

In total, the Scottish Government has committed £1.8 billion for heat decarbonisation for this parliamentary session, which will be delivered through various delivery schemes. This includes a £400m successor programme to the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, which will be launched early this year. It will provide funding to heat projects such as large scale heat pumps and heat networks whilst also prioritising new technologies for decarbonising multi-tenure buildings and retrofitting whole buildings with low carbon heating systems.

Support for homeowners to install zero emissions heating systems and improve energy efficiency is available through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback Scheme, which offers interest-free loans with up to 75% cashback. Scottish Ministers have committed to continuing our loans-with-cashback schemes for homeowners and SME businesses to support energy efficiency and zero emissions heat improvements, and will replace the cashback offer with a grant scheme during 2022-23.

I meet jointly with the Chairs and Chief Executives of both agencies to discuss progress in collaborative working on skills every 6 weeks.

This is supported by an assurance group, chaired by Senior Civil Servants and including the Senior Responsible Officers for all collaborative skills projects.

A Shared Outcomes Framework that defines the collaborative projects, sets out strategic objectives, key milestones, deliverables, impacts and measures is currently being developed by the Scottish Government and both agencies to enable more effective monitoring and reporting of joint action in this area .

There is public guidance available – the Eatwell Guide – to help people make healthier food and drink choices and which is supported by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). The Eatwell Guide has been assessed by the Carbon Trust as having an appreciably lower environmental impact than the current UK diet. To expand the value of the Eatwell Guide, FSS have recently published Eat Well, Your Way , an online resource which translates Eatwell Guide advice into practical tips and advice. The resource highlights dietary changes which can impact sustainability and FSS plan to further embed sustainability in the resource in the coming year.

We recognise that the public have an interest not only in where their food comes from, but how it is made and whether it is produced in an environmentally sustainable way. For this reason, we currently working with members of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership to carry out initial scoping work on a single marketing brand for Scottish food and drink produce, Sustainably Scottish. This brand would be available to Scottish based producers, manufacturers and suppliers who can satisfy stringent criteria on provenance and low carbon operations.

We have set up an Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board to work with farmers and crofters as we develop future policy and to support them to produce food in a way that benefits nature and the climate. To support that vision we have set up a National Test Programme, supported by £51m of Scottish Government funding, to transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

This range of initiatives, and others, contribute to Scotland being a Good Food Nation. The Good Food Nation Bill will provide an over-arching framework for clear, consistent and coherent future Scottish food policy and will put in place measures to ensure that reliable access to nutritious, locally sourced, locally produced, good quality food is a practical everyday reality for everyone in Scotland.

We welcome the 4 key recommendations in the report from Endometriosis UK and work is already underway to implement each of these.

Diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis must improve and that is why the Scottish Government has made it a priority in the Women’s Health Plan. We are committed to improving access for women to appropriate support, diagnosis and the best treatment for endometriosis.

The first meeting of the Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board took place on the 25 January and will ensure progress of the Women’s Health Plan is achieved at pace and implemented effectively. The Scottish Government will also publish a Women’s Health implementation plan by Spring this year, which will set out more detail around how the actions will be implemented. The report from Endometriosis UK will help inform our implementation plan.

Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. As long as they act lawfully, it is up to each local authority how it manages its day-to-day business and decision making processes. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently.

New regulations, which came into force on 9 November 2020, require Scottish public bodies from November 2022 to report on how they will align spending plans and use of resources to contribute to delivering their emissions reduction targets.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

We know that some homeowners may not be able to meet the cost of fitting the necessary alarms which is why we provided £500,000 through Care and Repair Scotland to help elderly and disabled people. We have also made available a further £500,000 to Care and Repair to extend this support beyond 1 February 2022.

This is in addition to the £1m funding provided to SFRS for its Home Fire Safety Visit programme to owner occupied properties assessed to be at high risk from fire.

We also provided £15m loan funding to social landlords to support them to fit compliant alarms for all tenants.

Flexibility is built into the existing legislation through a provision setting out that the work should be done “within such period as is reasonable in all the circumstances”, allowing flexibility for home owners unable to install alarms by 1 February 2022.

This information is not held centrally. You may wish to contact the Health Boards for the four NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland who may be able to provide this information. Contact details for each Health Board is set out below.

NHS Grampian – for the Aberdeen Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: [email protected]

By Post:

NHS Grampian
‎ Summerfield House
‎ 2 Eday Road
‎ Aberdeen
‎ AB15 6RE

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – for the Glasgow Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: [email protected]

By Post: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Board Corporate Headquarters

JB Russell House

Gartnavel Royal Hospital

1055 Great Western Road

GLASGOW

G12 0XH

NHS Lothian – for the Edinburgh Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: [email protected] By Post: Lothian NHS Board

Waverleygate

2-4 Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

EH1 3EG

NHS Tayside - for the Dundee Assisted Conception Unit

By Email: [email protected]

By Post: Information Governance

Maryfield House (South)
‎ 30 Mains Loan
‎ Dundee
‎ DD4 7BT