Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to providing revenue funding to the Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) and revenue budget allocation was provided in the 2024-25 Scottish Budget. Budget allocations are subject to Scottish Government in-year spend controls and assurance processes, and allocations will be communicated to all RTPs directly in the coming months.

The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) general capital support budget allocation is funded through the Local Government Finance settlement. A decision was taken to pause funding for 2024-25, given the current financial constraints, with a view to keeping under review in future years. Transport Scotland and SPT are in dialogue about the impact of this decision and maintaining their forward investment programme. These discussions will also explore the opportunity to utilise reserves currently held by SPT, and the impact of any use of reserve balances or re-phasing of capital funding, on SPT's forward maintenance and investment programmes.

The Scottish Government draft budget for 2024-25 allocates £0.5 million in revenue funding to Clyde Gateway. There is currently no capital budget specifically allocated to Clyde Gateway. Ministers have, however, yet to determine how the remaining budget within the portfolio will be prioritised.

Any decisions on whether to introduce screening programmes in Scotland are guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises Ministers and the NHS in all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy. The UK NSC last reviewed adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) in 2021 and did not recommend screening for this condition. Further information regarding the reasons for this decision can be found on their website.

The UK NSC is expected to review ALD screening again in 2024-25. Should the UK NSC recommend screening for this condition, the organisations that oversee screening in Scotland, including the Scottish Screening Committee, will advise Scottish Ministers on introducing and implementing an ALD screening programme.

Public sector support for research and development does not sit within the Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy portfolio. This support is directed and delivered by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

SFC strategic initiatives, such as Alliances for Research Challenges, Innovation Centres, and Research Pools, aim to harness our research and knowledge exchange capabilities across a number of priority areas, including Life Sciences.

The Scottish Government continues to support high-quality research and innovation across Scotland, and has increased the investment in higher education capital to over £350m for 2024-25.

Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO). CSO provides funding support through NHS Research Scotland who are currently supporting 13 Brain Tumour Clinical studies with over 190 patients recruited.

Additionally, Scottish Enterprise are an active investor and collaborative partner supporting the life sciences sector.

The Scottish Government has always recognised the importance of our international links and we want to develop Scotland’s direct connectivity to China to help build strong links for business and exports, as well as make it easier for visitors and students to come and experience Scotland.

Transport Scotland’s Aviation Team, along with VisitScotland and Scottish Development International, met a number of airlines from China at the World Route Development Forum in October 2023, to discuss future opportunities. These discussions are, however, commercially sensitive and I cannot share specific details.

To help secure new connectivity between Scotland and China, the Scottish Government will continue to work with Scotland’s airports to consider what support and information we can provide to help build the case for future routes.

The application for a mixed use development consisting of residential and commercial units at a site bounded by Candleriggs, Ingram Street and Albion Street in Glasgow, is currently with a Reporter at the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) of the Scottish Government.

The application was called in by Scottish Ministers on 27 February 2023 in view of the proposal raising issues of importance requiring scrutiny at a national level.

The reporter is currently in the process of finalising their report and recommendations to Ministers and is aiming to submit this by the end of February 2024. It will then be for Scottish Ministers to consider the reporters recommendations and all other submissions made on the application before making their decision. Scottish Ministers will aim to make a decision on this application as quickly as possible following receipt of the report.

The expansion of Hospital at Home is already supporting Boards maximise capacity to meet demand and helping more people receive care at home or as close to home as possible, where clinically appropriate – which is relieving pressure on the front door of our A&Es. Early feedback from NHS Boards indicates good progress is being made in terms of increasing Hospital at Home capacity in key areas.

The Scottish Government has identified nine priority areas within our values-led Inward Investment Plan, including the decarbonisation of transport, and we would consider the Scottish aspect to an investment from Chery Automobile Co Ltd into the UK.

Engagement with individual companies is the remit of our economic development agencies collectively through Scottish Enterprise’s international arm, Scottish Development International (SDI), which has operational responsibility for attracting inward investment. The Scottish Government works with its enterprise agencies to ensure robust due diligence is undertaken on potential inward investments.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23954 on 9 January 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 .

While delivery of investments in new vessels and port infrastructure is being progressed, this Government has authorised a six month extension to the current charter of MV Alfred. The primary focus of the vessel MV Alfred is for resilience purposes. However, this will help mitigate the impact of disruption or where certain islands are reduced to single vessel service.

Delivering six new major vessels to serve Scotland’s ferry network by end 2026, is a priority for this government of which four are for Islay and the Little Minch routes and two are for the Ardrossan-Brodick/Campbeltown route.

Transport Scotland is also working with CMAL and CalMac on further vessel projects and programmes including the Small Vessel Replacement Programme.

Additional funding has been committed for enhanced maintenance of vessels and CMAL and the operators continue to work to identify potential additional second hand tonnage to support the fleet.

As is the case at present and within the remit of the current contract, there are measures to which we hold the operator accountable for and apply performance measures where applicable.