Chamber and committees

Following previous calls from stakeholders, I carefully considered the position and concluded that there was no way to reopen, or widen out grounds for appeal for the 2020 appeals process in a fair and equitable manner to all learners.

This decision was announced via a parliamentary question on 21 June 2021 and can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-00913 .

The EHRC’s findings refer to historic omissions at the SQA. Learners can be assured that SQA complied with its equalities duties regarding the awarding of National Qualifications over the last two years including those relating to the 2020 appeals process.

I intend to write to the Education, Children and Young People’s Committee later in October with a fuller update on local authority progress with regard to CO2 monitoring and ventilation in school buildings. At this point in time, I can confirm the following:

A) The Scottish Government confirmed a total of £10m funding allocations to local authorities in its grant letter on 14 October 2021. The funding allocations for all local authorities have been agreed and grant payments will be made in line with standard processes and timelines. Local authorities have confirmed that they have been progressing purchases of CO2 monitors on the basis of confirmed funding allocations. We plan to request formal confirmation that all funding provided has been, or will be, used for the specified purposes at a later date.

B) The following table shows the breakdown of how the £10m funding was allocated to each local authority. We do not hold a detailed breakdown of how each local authority will spend their allocation. However the grant letter to local authorities states that the funding should only be used for specified purposes, including the purchase of CO2 monitors, associated additional staffing costs, and to contribute to any remedial action identified as being necessary following CO2 monitoring.

Of the £5M budget available in FY 20-21, £4.8M was spent on the Milngavie platform works. The total cost of the works was £5.55M. The additional funding was provided by Scottish Ministers through funding allocated to Network Rail in Control Period 6.

Emissions associated with vessel activities while in Scottish ports, as well as those associated with travelling between domestic ports and any subsequent outbound journeys from those ports are included in the Scottish greenhouse gas inventory. This treatment applies to all vessels, irrespective of type or nationality.

The Scottish Strategic Rail Study, published in 2003 by the Scottish Executive, was undertaken with the purpose of identifying the costs and benefits of potential improvements to passenger rail services in Central and North East Scotland and to outline the strategic priorities for the railways in these parts of the country.

The first Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR1), completed in 2008, covered all parts of the rail network in Scotland. Given the corridor, strategic node and urban network approach used for STPR1 the most relevant details related to the locations noted in the question are contained within the Glasgow urban network section of the review, with cross reference to Corridor 7 - Glasgow to Oban / Fort William and Western Isles; Corridor 15 - Glasgow to Stranraer and South West and Corridor 17 - Glasgow to Inverclyde and Islands. Full details of the appraisal are available here: Strategic Transport Projects Review .

Work on the second Strategic Transport Projects Review is currently on-going and is due to report later this year. This review has taken a regional approach to the appraisal process with the most relevant reports that cover the routes noted in the question identified below:

National Case for Change – Main Report: Initial appraisal: Case for Change - National - STPR2 (transport.gov.scot)

Glasgow City Region: Initial appraisal: Case for Change - Glasgow City Region - STPR2 (transport.gov.scot)

Ayrshire and Arran Region: Initial appraisal: Case for Change - Ayrshire and Arran - STPR2 (transport.gov.scot)

All rail based options (approximately 200) that have emerged from the sifting exercise undertaken as part of the development of the Initial Appraisal: Case for Change element of the review are now subject to more detailed appraisal. The draft recommendations from the review together with the Strategic Environmental Assessment and Statutory Impact Assessments will be published later this year.

The Scottish Government is aware of appraisal work relevant to the named corridors, that has been undertaken or ongoing by other parties:

• Scottish Planning Assessment (which informed the Route Utilisation Study), August 2006, Network Rail
• Route Utilisation Study, March 2007, Network Rail
• Scotland Route Study, 2016, Network Rail
• Westerton-Milngavie - A81 Milngavie – Bearsden Corridor Study, STAG Final Report, March 2015, East Dunbartonshire Council;
• A81 Transport Options Appraisal Study, February 2017, East Dunbartonshire Council
• Helensburgh Central – Fastline Faslane STAG Study, Hitrans (with funding from Scottish Government – Local Rail Development Fund)

confirmed on 11 June 2021 that all international students in Scotland will be included in the national coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination programme. Universities and colleges are already encouraging students to get vaccinated as soon as possible so they will be fully vaccinated before arriving on campus. We have also agreed with Health Boards, universities and colleges to appoint single points of contact in universities and colleges who will support the delivery of the vaccination to students, including international students across Scotland, including through the use of on-campus vaccination clinics.

All vaccinations will take place in line with guidelines from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). We have provided information on vaccines for international students on the NHS Inform website and have published an FAQ document on vaccines for international students on the Student Information Scotland website.

Net costs, that is costs less revenue receipts, falling due to ScotRail are being met by the Scottish Ministers under the terms of the Emergency Measurements Agreement. We do not hold details of the attribution of costs to individual locations or routes.

Sufficient funding was available to carry out the electrification of the routes referred to. The works at Milngavie were not included in Network Rail’s delivery plans for Control Period 6 therefore no funding was previously allocated to carry out these works.

Under the Environment Act 1995 and associated regulations all Scottish local authorities are required to regularly assess air quality in their areas against objectives for several pollutants of concern for human health, including PM2.5 particulate matter. If any objective is found to be exceeded, or at risk of being exceeded, the authority concerned is required to declare an Air Quality Management Area and produce an action plan setting out how it will address the issues identified. These action plans are agreed by both the Scottish Government and SEPA.

To date no local authority has identified an exceedance of the PM2.5 objective relating to the Scotch whisky industry. However this is kept under regular review, with all authorities required to submit an annual air quality progress report to the Scottish Government. Should the situation change in any local authority area, we would expect the necessary action to be taken.

The main release to air from Scotch whisky maturation is the fugitive emission of ethanol, which disperses very quickly in the atmosphere and is not considered to be harmful to human health through this exposure route.

Whilst emissions from maturation of Scotch whisky are not subject to regulation under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012, SEPA works with regulated business through sector plans to help drive improvement and reduce emissions across environmental media.