Chamber and committees

All four settlement cases were dealt with in accordance with the procedure set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual. Business cases for the proposed settlements were submitted to the relevant Cabinet Secretary at that time: Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Shirley Anne-Somerville) and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeanne Freeman). The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy (Kate Forbes) was also sighted on all cases.

NHS Boards are responsible for providing support to GP practices by providing Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) and Pharmacotherapy services and regulations were amended in 2022 to reflect this change. On account of the variation in the extent of implementation of these services, the Scottish Government is currently taking forward an exercise to collect and analyse data on the recurring workforce requirements, to ensure the financial and legal framework is fair and sustainable.

Local areas should continue to work in collaboration with all partners to ensure that services meet local needs. This may also include flexibility for local transitionary arrangements with practices to be funded as an interim and time-limited measure from within the existing Primary Care Improvement Fund funding envelope.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) signals a turning point for planning, placing climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and making clear our support for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies. NPF4 policy 11 makes clear that potential impacts on communities, nature and other receptors remain important considerations in the decision-making process. All applications are already, and will continue to be, subject to site-specific assessments.

Technical requirements for assessing potential wind turbine impacts such as noise, or interactions with aviation or defence interests, are set out in topic specific guidance and more general information on the status of these issues can be found in our Onshore Wind Policy Statement (Dec 2022), Chapters 6&7.

The former Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Kevin Stewart, wrote to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 23 March to inform them that the Scottish Government was happy to accept all 10 of the recommendations made by the National Autism Implementation Team in their report published on adult neurodevelopmental pathways in Scotland.

Engaging with people with lived experience, including autistic people, and other neurodivergent groups, is essential to the work of the Scottish Government and we have put person-centred approaches at the heart of our work.

We have commissioned the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to support local areas to involve a range of neurodivergent voices in planning, decision making and delivery of neurodevelopmental pathways. NAIT will also set up a neurodevelopmental community of practice for professionals and will continue to work with neurodivergent people. This will support local practitioners in developing local practice in co-production.

In addition, the Scottish Government has involved people with lived experience in the development of a new leadership and engagement framework and in policy design around mental health support for autistic people and people with learning disabilities. This new way of working is based on the belief that the most effective and sustainable change is made by the people who need and use supports and services, in equal partnership with decision makers at all levels.

The current ETSU guidance should continue to be followed by applicants and used by decision makers to assess and rate noise from wind energy developments. The WSP report, commissioned on behalf of the UK Government, provides some recommendations for updates that could be made to bring the guidance into line with the most up to date evidence and policy.

The Scottish Government is a member of the ETSU steering group comprising of the four Governments of the UK. This group is considering, under the lead of the UK Government, how best to take forward these recommendations and will do so, as required, in due course.

The provision of local bus services is a matter for individual bus operators who use their own commercial judgement on conditions of carriage in the open de-regulated market, as established by the Transport Act 1985.

A number of operators of bus and coach services allow the carriage of folding bikes or standard bikes being stored in a box or bag, in a luggage compartment. The recently published cycling framework for active travel recognises the importance of supporting cycling journeys to and from public transport hubs and working with operators to support multi-modal journeys.

The methodology used to assess dwellings’ EPCs is adjusted over time to update modelling assumptions and reflect changes in technology. According to our National Statistics publication on the conditions of the housing stock, the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS), 24% of dwellings had an EPC rating of A-C in 2010, and 51% had an EPC rating of A-C in 2019. This is calculated using SAP 2009, an older methodology, which allows comparisons back to 2010.

The most recent methodology, SAP 2012 (RdSAP v9.93) provides figures for only 2018 and 2019. In 2018, 43% of dwellings had an EPC rating of A-C. In 2019, 45% of dwellings had an EPC rating of A-C.

Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Scottish House Condition Survey, 2019 is the latest year for which we have National Statistics for EPC ratings across the Scottish domestic housing stock. Figures for 2023 will be published in late 2024 or 2025.

Legislation on accessibility and public transport remains reserved to the UK Parliament and is set out in the Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) and enforced by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).

The Scottish Government has no remit to intervene, but does support an integrated transport system where possible. Our support for the purchase of new buses will be, where appropriate, conditional on space being made available for bike transport in addition to wheelchair and buggy space.

The Scottish Government is committed to monitoring the risk and prevention of the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus.

The identification of one probable case of TBE in Scotland is insufficient evidence to conclude that there has been a significant change to the risk to human health in Scotland from TBE. On 5 April, the HAIRS group published an updated TBE Risk Assessment which states that the risk of infection to the general population in the UK remains very low, and low for high risk groups (such as those living, working or visiting affected areas, as determined by duration of time spent outside).

However, the potential seriousness of TBE infection and this finding has prompted increased clinical surveillance. Furthermore, Public Health Scotland have requested the UK Health Security Agency undertake tick capture and testing in Lochearnhead this spring to assess whether TBE infection can be identified in ticks in Scotland.