Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that well-managed grouse moors can produce favourable habitats for certain species such as curlews and that land managers have an important role to play in enhancing biodiversity.

As I set out in my response to question S6W-03211 on 20 October 2021 the Scottish Government commissioned Scotland’s Rural College and the James Hutton Institute to undertake extensive research into the biodiversity and economic Impacts of grouse moors and the findings of this research were taken into account when we developed our response to the Werritty review. The research found that whilst some land management actions undertaken on grouse moors could enhance biodiversity, the findings were clear that there could also be a negative impact resulting in species decline.

Our Statement of Intent on biodiversity notes that Scotland’s land delivers multiple benefits to people, providing homes and water supplies, producing food, timber and space for leisure, as well as supporting biodiversity. We have a distinctively strong connection between people, place and nature which makes Scotland special in terms of landscape and access. All landowners and managers have an important role to play in helping to improve the state of nature.

All of these factors will be taken into account when we publish our new biodiversity strategy in Autumn 2022 followed by an underpinning 5 year delivery plan, including changes in the way we use and manage land and our approach to protecting habitats and ecosystems. We have also announced that we will introduce a Natural Environment Bill in year 3 or the current session, which will include statutory, enforceable targets for nature restoration, and actions to deliver on our ambitious voluntary commitment to protect 30% of Scotland’s land and seas by 2030, with 10% highly protected. We will invest at least £500 million in the natural economy over the course of this Parliament, including £150 Million for forestry, ongoing investment in peatland restoration and multi-year funding for the Nature Restoration Fund.

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

An increase in pay to use ATM’s, or the removal of existing ATM’s, will undoubtedly add to the uncertainty faced by communities and businesses on their ability to access essential services. Through engagement with the banking sector, via bilateral ministerial meetings and the Financial Services Industry Advisory Board (FiSAB), we will continue to urge all banks and ATM providers to listen to and address concerns customers have on their ability to access services.

The regulation of financial services is, however, reserved to the UK Government and as such Scottish Ministers are unable to intervene directly in the commercial decisions made by financial services companies. The Scottish Government stands ready to work constructively with the UK Government, banks and other stakeholders to ensure that customers, communities and businesses have access to the banking facilities they need.

Fully vaccinated means that it has been at least 14 days since your final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine. To count as fully vaccinated, you must have been vaccinated in either:

1. The UK, including part of a UK vaccine rollout overseas - with an NHS approved vaccine.

2. An EU member state – with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

3. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or Vatican City - with a vaccine approved by the EMA or the Swiss vaccination programme

4. The USA – with a vaccine authorised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

If you’ve not been vaccinated in one of these countries, with an approved vaccine, you should follow the rules for someone who has not been fully vaccinated.

If you live in Scotland and you've received your first, second or both vaccine doses outside of Scotland but in the Common Travel Area, you can get your coronavirus vaccination status via the normal process as records should transfer over to the Scottish system: Get a record of your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination status | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot) . If your data is not showing you should phone the COVID-19 Vaccination Status Helpline on 0808 196 8565.

If you have moved to/from Scotland during the vaccine process and only had 1 dose here it is possible to request proof of the single dose you received in Scotland through the normal process. You will need to request proof of your other dose from the country you received it in.

If you received both doses in another Common Travel Area country, you'll need to request your vaccination status from that country.

If you received 1 or both doses in an international country you will need to request proof of those vaccines from that country.

Warmer Homes Scotland is a demand led scheme, and as such does not set regional intervention targets for future delivery. The following table shows the completed applications under Warmer Homes Scotland by KPI region for 2020-21:

This information is not available in the form requested.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) explores the physical condition of Scotland’s homes as well as the experiences of householders. Data from the (SHCS) provides estimates of the total number of households and the number which have an EPC rating (SAP 2012, RdSAP v9.92) below C at national level, based on a single year of data, and at a local authority level by averaging three years’ of data. The survey has not been designed to provide results by Parliamentary Region. The most recent data for 2017-19 by local authority is presented in the following table.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to provide financial support for HVO. However, we already offer a comprehensive support package for domestic heat and energy efficiency measures through our Home Energy Scotland service.

Our Heat in Buildings Strategy, which will be published in due course, outlines four key no and low regrets areas strategic technologies for the transition, including energy efficiency, heat pumps in on and off gas grid areas and low and zero emissions heat networks. It also highlights that here may be a small number of buildings for which bioenergy, including HVO among others, may play a role for home heating if displacing fossil fuels in off-gas-grid areas where electric heating or heat pumps are unsuitable.

We wish to see bioenergy used where it has the greatest value in reducing emissions, however this decision is also dependent on which sectors will make the best use of the bioenergy feedstocks that we can grow sustainably or produce domestically in comparison with those we may need to import. For this reason we have assembled a Scottish Government working group which will develop a strategic framework for bioenergy, taking into consideration the competing demands on land for feedstock production, sustainability, technical capabilities and opportunities of a just transition to net-zero. This will help to inform a more detailed Bioenergy Action Plan by 2023 which will urgently tackle these challenging issues as we begin the next stage of decarbonisation in Scotland.

We have also published a Bioenergy Update paper where we outline how we intend to move forward over the next 18 months to understand the most appropriate and sustainable use of bioenergy resources in Scotland.

As we deliver our Heat in Buildings programme following the publication of the Strategy our delivery programmes and support mechanisms will support the mass move from fossil fuel reliant systems to low and zero emissions heating in tandem with achieving a good standard of energy efficiency across all buildings in line with our strategic priorities.

Telephone and video consultations have and continue to play an important role in ensuring that care and support for new mothers and babies, children, young people and their families continues across Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are many examples of continued, innovative and high quality service provision by universal community health services; maximising opportunities to utilise IT, flexing telehealth capacity, with professional judgement remaining the main driver in determining an individual's level of support. Where face-to-face contacts are necessary NHS Boards are ensuring that they can be carried out safely.

As outlined in the NHS Recovery Plan, published on 25 August 2021, technology enabled care will continue to play an important part in the delivery of care as part of the mix of service provision. NHS Boards should aim to return to normal service provision with increased numbers of face-to-face health visitor contacts and this should be planned for and built into NHS Boards' overall COVID-19 recovery response.

The Scottish Government recognises that long waits are unacceptable, and remains committed to meeting the standard that 90% of patients begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

We have asked all Boards, including NHS Grampian, to set out their plans and trajectories for meeting the waiting times standards and clearing backlogs by the end of March 2023. To support this, we have already allocated £5m from the Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund, for the first year of clearing waiting list backlogs in Psychological Therapies. NHS Grampian has received £490,666 from this fund.

Nationally, we are starting to see this investment reflected in improved Psychological Therapies waiting times performance, and a decrease in the number of people waiting longest. We will continue to work closely with individual Health Boards to monitor and drive performance in mental health waiting times across Scotland.

The Scottish Government has published the Evaluation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism 2011-21 on 24 September. In response I was delighted to announce £650k this financial year, for tests of change on adult neurodevelopmental pathways. Additionally I announced new funding of £425k to trial the Scottish Government’s new Learning Disability and Autism leadership and engagement work and £400k for the understanding autism project charity funding.

The evaluation can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802013696

The Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CSO) investment in NHS Research Scotland (NRS) clinical research infrastructure is supporting NHS Health Board participation in a number of COVID-19 vaccine trials to provide data for regulatory submissions for approval for use.

The CSO, NRS and health boards work closely with the UK Vaccines Taskforce to bring a range of vaccine trials to Scotland.

Regulatory approval and licensing conditions for the use of COVID-19 vaccines is a statutory responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

More information about the trials being supported by NHS Research Scotland is available at: COVID-19 vaccine studies | NHS Research Scotland | NHS Research Scotland .