Chamber and committees

Management of reimbursement for energy costs associated with medical machines in individuals homes are decisions made by NHS Boards. The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS Boards to address financial pressures across the healthcare system, including the increase in energy costs. In May 2022, we published our Resource Spending Review that set out investment of £73 billion in health and social care to 2026-27.

The Scottish Government will also use the Emergency Budget Review to increase the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23. The Fuel Insecurity Fund is aimed at helping people who are at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely because they cannot afford their energy bills.

Figures for the area of woodland and the areas of new planting / restocking in Scotland on land owned by the Scottish Government and/or its agencies are published annually as National Statistics by Forest Research and are available from the Forest Research web site at https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-8w3lv3 .

Tree planting in Scotland is supported through the Forestry Grant Scheme, managed by Scottish Forestry.

To be eligible for support, proposals for tree planting must be developed in line with the Woodland Creation Application Guidance published in 2018. Stakeholder and community engagement is an essential part of this development and assessment process. This helps to ensure that planting proposals take community concerns into consideration and select the right trees to be planted in the right places.

Our commitment to enhance the Forestry Grant Scheme in the latest Programme for Government includes measures to improve public engagement over woodland creation.

All tree planting proposals need to follow published guidance, which seeks to avoid large scale planting on better agricultural land and requires assessments to be carried out for projects with planting on better land.

Where projects involve significant planting on agricultural land, the Scottish Government’s Rural Payments and Inspections Division are consulted to help determine whether proposals are acceptable or whether they need to be amended.

Local Authority spatial strategies have been prepared to identify where woodland creation may be appropriate and these strategies follow the Woodland Expansion Advisory Group’s recommendations to direct woodland creation away from better agricultural land. These strategies are considered when making decisions around the suitability of tree planting proposals.

Farming and forestry can co-exist, forestry is not extensively replacing agricultural land across Scotland. Analysis of the Forestry Grant Scheme shows that in the twelve months to the end of August 2022, Scottish Forestry received 331 new applications to plant 9,931 hectares of new woodland, which is equivalent to less than 0.2% of farmland.

In our 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government pledged to take forward work to develop and consult on a ban on the sale of peat-related gardening products as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture. We are working with industry to understand exactly where transitional issues lie so that we can remove peat from horticulture. We will soon launch our consultation, which will inform ambitious timescales for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture.

We have committed £250 million to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government provided £15.58 million to our delivery partners to support peatland restoration across Scotland.

In our 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government pledged to take forward work to develop and consult on a ban on the sale of peat-related gardening products as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture. This aligns with the Welsh and UK governments’ proposal, as stated in their joint consultation, to end the retail sale of peat and we support their approach. We chose to continue with our plans to launch our own consultation, designed to gather the information we need to form a plan honed to the specific needs of Scotland and its people.

The Scottish Government will soon launch our consultation, which will inform ambitious timescales for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture.

Official annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot. However, data from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is available prior to this time and around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990.

We are committed to further increasing the annual area of peatland and have committed £250 million to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.

Scotland’s Redress Scheme is being delivered in accordance with the Digital Scotland Service Standard . Criteria 8 relates to the creation of a service which protects users’ privacy. All of our systems are designed in line with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance and have been penetration tested by NCSC-approved CHECK suppliers.

Given the sensitivity of the information which is being sent, it is important that survivors have a choice on how they apply. Although email has so far been the most common application channel, survivors can also apply via post. There is also a Document Upload portal which can be used by applicants to submit supporting documents.

The Privacy Notice for Survivor Applicants and the Privacy Notice for Next of Kin Applicants provide details on how the information collected by Scottish Government, as administrators of Scotland’s Redress Scheme, is managed and how it is used. In addition, Redress Scotland, who are the independent body responsible for decisions on applications and the amount of financial redress to award, also have a privacy notice in place.

As required under Rule 9.3.2 of the Parliament’s Standing Orders, the Financial Memorandum was published to accompany the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Bill, introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 13 August 2020. This outlines the projected and anticipated costs of the scheme.

Although there is an appropriate level of scrutiny on administration costs of the scheme, managed through the Redress, Relations and Response Division of Scottish Government, it is important to note that, as outlined in the Statement of Principles , there is no fixed budget or limit to the number or amount of redress payments which will be paid by the Scottish Government. We are committed to giving financial redress to survivors, regardless of the financial contributions received, because it is the right thing to do.

Redress Scotland is an independent body, which is not part of Scottish Government and is monitored by the Redress Scotland Sponsorship Team, within the Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice Division.