Chamber and committees

Orkney Islands Council (OIC) are, and remain, wholly responsible for the inter-island ferry services which they provide. Consequently, OIC remain wholly responsible for the vessels and their maintenance.

However, the Scottish Government understands the significant financial challenges that can fall on individual local authorities. This government has made clear its commitment to Orkney internal ferry services with the provision of additional funding to OIC totalling £10.8m in the last two years, comprised of £5.5m in 2018-19 and £5.3m in 2019-20.

Transport Scotland, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, will continue to discuss long term solutions with both OIC and Shetland Islands Council (SIC) through the existing Working Group. The remit of this Group includes the preparation of Outline Business Cases (OBC) being prepared by both councils. I have received presentations of the emerging findings and the final OBCs are all expected to be completed by the end of this summer.

As the Minister with responsibility for the Islands, I have, along with other Ministers, held numerous meetings with OIC Council Leader James Stockan to discuss these issues, with the most recent meeting being held on 20 June 2019.

In setting Scottish Budgets the inclusion of funding for OIC (and SIC) for their internal ferry services has been made clear. This matter has also been debated in the Scottish Parliament.

As is normal practice, Transport Scotland Press Releases were issued which contained full details of the additional support that the Scottish Government has been able to find for both Councils over the past two years, despite the very real fiscal challenges flowing from the UK Government settlement.

Scottish Ministers will take a view on future revenue and capital funding requests from OIC going forward as part of the Scottish Budget setting for 2020-21.

The Working Group meets in Edinburgh on a monthly basis.

The meetings are normally chaired by Michael Craigie (Shetlands Islands Council), in his capacity as lead officer for ZETRANS, however officials from both Orkney Islands Council and Transport Scotland have also chaired meetings.

The Scottish Government, through Health Protection Scotland (HPS) is committed to working with experts to keep evidence and guidance relating to the diagnosis, testing and treatment of Lyme disease under constant review to ensure patients in Scotland receive care tailored to their individual needs and circumstances.

In April 2018 the Scottish Lyme Disease and Tick-borne Infections Laboratory at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness was granted Reference Laboratory status which will provide additional funding for research and development into new tests for tick borne diseases and will help improve our understanding of this complex infection.

With regard to testing, it is acknowledged that there are gaps in the effectiveness of the tests which are currently available and work is underway to address the lack of sensitivity surrounding testing for the early stages of Lyme disease infection.

On 14 June 2019 the Chief Medical Officer wrote to all NHS Health Boards and GP practices highlighting the availability of a series of resources to staff. The letter shares current sources of public facing advice and information about Lyme disease as well as links to current guidance on diagnosis and management.

People who are in prison are subject to the same waiting times standards as those in the community. Their waiting times are included in the figures published routinely by ISD Scotland, including the Treatment Time Guarantee, New Outpatient Standard and 18 Weeks Referral to Treatment. However, it is not always possible to identify from all the waiting times data ISD has, if a person is in prison or not.

In addition to this on 4 July 2019, ISD published a prison health dashboard. This brings together previously published data and will report on the standards and indicators for those in prison:

• National Drug Related Deaths
• National Naloxone Programme
• Smoking Cessation Services
• National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Waiting Times
• Alcohol Brief Interventions

The authorisation of covert human intelligence sources, including any under 18 years of age, is an operational matter for the relevant public authorities.

The Scottish Government has not authorised the use of any person under 18 years of age as a covert human intelligence source. This information covers Marine Scotland, the Accountant in Bankruptcy and Transport Scotland, these being the areas of the Scottish Government provided for under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000.

Since 2013 we have provided support every year for a wide range of local projects to tackle fuel poverty and improve domestic energy efficiency delivered by councils as part of our Area Based Schemes (ABS). For example, the overall amount of ABS funding allocated to the six island local authorities in 2019-20 was £9.6 million. In 2018-19, we awarded £9.5 million in grant to these authorities.  

We also recognise that the costs of delivering energy efficiency measures are higher in remote rural and island areas. The maximum grant-in-kind available to households in very remote rural areas through our Area Based Schemes (ABS) has risen since 2013 to £9,000 compared with a maximum grant of £7,500 elsewhere in Scotland.  

In addition, the Scottish Government provides targeted help to individual households in need through our national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland. This includes a wide range of insulation and heating measures to improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel bills for those households living in extreme fuel poverty.

Once the new fuel poverty strategy has been prepared, it must be laid in draft before the Scottish Parliament. In the case of the first strategy, that will be done within one year of section 3 of the Bill coming into force. There is then a standstill period of 40 days during which the Scottish Parliament can consider the draft strategy before Ministers are allowed to finalise it.

As we move forward, we will look at how we target our support for those who are in extreme fuel poverty, as is outlined in the Bill as passed. We will continue to ensure that the needs of households in rural and island communities are taken into account and reflected in our approach.

A high proportion of local authorities have rural communities. The following table provides information on (a) how many and (b) what percentage of probationer teachers are allocated to each Local Authority for the 2019-20 Teacher Induction Scheme.

Probationer teachers are allocated to local authorities through the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) primarily on the basis of student choice.

The TIS includes a Preference Waiver Payment (PWP) system whereby students taking up this option waive their right to express a preferred local authority and are prioritised for allocation to remote and rural authorities during their probationary year. Student who choose this option receive a payment of £8,000 if they are a secondary school teacher or £6,000 if they are a primary school teacher.

Islands and rural communities continue to receive the highest proportion of allocations of probationary teachers who have chosen the PWP option.

As advised within the answer to S5W-21383, we expect to have over 800 additional mental health workers within the key settings of this commitment by 2022. However it should be noted that the planning around workforce is evolving and can change for a variety of reasons. Recruitment also rests with Integration Authorities (IAs) for their areas who have devolved responsibility for health and social care with added complexities in delivering plans which require input and engagement across a number of partners and organisations.

Setting out estimated timelines per quarter around recruitment therefore would not be helpful or appropriate. I can however assure the member that both policy officials and I remain in constant dialogue with IAs on their recruitment plans under this commitment.

Through the Reporting Framework between the Scottish Government and IAs, we are also publically making available through the Scottish Government website the information we have on those recruited per quarter from that point.