Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to the decarbonisation of the transport sector in a sustainable way to deliver a just transition. Our Climate Change Plan includes a commitment that by 2032, 30 per cent of Scottish Government owned ferries will be low emission. Many ports across Scotland have already published plans committing to decarbonising their operations, including the introduction of shore power.

The Scottish Government is working with Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd to increase the availability and use of shore power on the ferry routes it directly supports.

As shipping policy is reserved, we are committed to working with the UK Government and other governments to support decarbonisation proposals both at a UK level and legislation to decarbonise the shipping sector globally through the International Maritime Organisation. It is vitally important that the UK Government, and all other governments, prioritise the decarbonisation of industries beyond current spending periods and in response to the Climate Emergency.

National Grid connection issues have been raised by port operators in Scotland as a significant barrier to installing shore power, so work to improve these connections is imperative. We note that the UK Government has committed to publishing an action plan later this year on accelerating new grid connections, including grid connections that may support shoreside electrical power at ports. We would intend to work closely with the UK Government on these matters to ensure that circumstances in Scotland, especially those prevalent at our more remote ports, are given proper consideration.

The Scottish Government fundamentally disagrees with the principle of the UK Government making decisions in devolved areas. Though the funding of Scottish projects is welcome, this ought to be channelled through the Barnett formula, allowing Scottish Ministers and Councils to make independent decisions about its use. By cutting across devolved policies, it results in unnecessary fragmentation and confusion for local authorities and partner agencies. Overlooking Scotland’s unique economic needs, and largely ignores rural, and sparsely populated regions.

The £2m programme commitment was initially set out in the digital health and care delivery plan and aims to benefit more than 2,000 people by providing devices and building digital skills and confidence to access growing online services such as digital therapies.

As part of this, an initial £600,000 “Digital Pioneers” project funding call was issued in April 2023 . An announcement will be made on the Digital Pioneer projects who have been selected shortly.

The Workforce Action Plan and Delivery Plan which support the Scottish Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy will be published in Autumn 2023.

The Scottish Government is working to issue the Primary Care Improvement Fund allocation letter to all Health and Social Care Partnerships as soon as practicable and by end of August 2023 at the latest.

We are committed to replacing HMP Barlinnie with HMP Glasgow which is being designed to deliver safe and secure accommodation, with maximum possible benefit and opportunity to those who live and work there, as well as surrounding communities.

Time-scales for the replacement prison will be set out once a final design is available and transition plans will be developed closer to the date of transition.

When planning to decant a part of, or an entire prison, SPS will communicate and consult with the affected population, and ensure that each individual’s needs are taken into account when considering the relocation. For affected staff, individual needs and requirements are also taken into account before any change in their working location.

The Scottish Government is currently working closely with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to improve the data landscape across the NHS Health Boards in Scotland. Comprehensive data is vital to enable Boards to plan services and create appropriate care pathways. Many individuals accessing services do not initially have a diagnosis, but instead have general presentations.

In April 2019, to better understand the prevalence of specific conditions, referral outcomes, and patient demographics, the Scottish Government commissioned national patient-level data for people seeking and receiving treatment in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Psychological Therapies (PT) services. This is known as the CAMHS and PT National Dataset (CAPTND). IT systems in some Boards will require significant overhaul to enable the recording and extraction of the full dataset. Directors of eHealth are liaising with system suppliers and embedded PHS analysts to prioritise this work as part of the £0.5m digital infrastructure, applications and data package announced in September 2021.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19380 on 11 July 2023. 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 Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults is distributed to local community initiatives in all 32 regions of Scotland by Third Sector Interface (TSI) organisations, working in collaboration with other local partners including Health and Social Care Partnerships, local authorities and those with lived experience.

In total, TSIs received 2585 applications to the Fund in 2022-23 and, by March 2023, had awarded funding to 1461 of these projects.

This data is based on returns received from TSIs by 3 July 2023. Final figures will be published on the Scottish Government website over the summer in a Year 2 Monitoring and Reporting Summary Report.

I am committed to finding a way to meet the Programme for Government pledge to consider how best to provide free bus travel for people seeking asylum in Scotland. A short-term pilot led by the Refugee Survival Trust and third sector partners in Glasgow commenced on Monday 30 January and will run until July. A report will be produced by the Refugee Survival Trust and included in consideration of the Scottish Government's next steps towards meeting our commitment.

Introduction of the new trains into passenger service is a matter for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) given SPT is responsible for both the Glasgow Subway modernisation programme and the operation of the Glasgow subway. Introductory dates for the new trains into passenger service have not been set by SPT nor has SPT previously set out proposed introductory dates in reporting. Testing of the new trains and development of the safety case is ongoing as part of the new rolling stock subway modernisation workstream towards new fleet introduction to passenger service in autumn 2023.