Chamber and committees

NHS Boards are responsible for providing diagnostic services for people with autism in line with their statutory obligations and Scottish Government policy.

Reducing diagnostic waiting times for children and adults is a priority for the Scottish Strategy for Autism. However, we are not considering a waiting times target for autism. You may be aware that the Scottish Government is currently taking forward a review of national NHS targets.

You can find out more about Autism ACHIEVE Alliance's report on their investigation into waiting times for autism diagnosis at the following link;http://www.autismstrategyscotland.org.uk/strategy/key-documents.html.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to relocate its staff and departments away from the major cities.

Immediately following the media speculation of 20 November 2016 suggesting that T in the Park might not take place in 2017, my officials contacted DF Concerts to seek clarification on its future plans for the event. At that point DF Concerts stated it was not in a position to confirm anything with regard to the recent media reporting. My officials reminded DF Concerts that the Scottish Government grant of £150,000, made in 2015 to support operational costs associated with the move of T in the Park to its new site at Strathallan, had a condition attached to it stipulating that the sum of £50,000 should be repaid to Scottish Ministers by DF Concerts for each and any year up to and including 2017 that the event does not take place at Strathallan.

Following DF Concerts’ announcement on 24 November 2016 that it would not be staging the T in the Park event in 2017, I have written to DF Concerts’ Chief Executive requesting that he meet with me to discuss the organisers’ future plans for the event. My letter also highlights the claw-back condition attached to the 2015 grant and confirms that arrangements are being made for a DF Concerts to make a repayment of £50,000 to Scottish Ministers.

The following table shows the full-time equivalent count of directly-employed staff working within the core directorates of the Scottish Government, its executive agencies, and non-departmental public bodies & other bodies within Glasgow City Council area as at 31 March each year.

This information relates to public sector staff held on the Scottish Government HR system. The executive agencies with a presence in Glasgow which are included in the table are Accountant in Bankruptcy, Communities Scotland, Disclosure Scotland, Education Scotland, HM Inspectorate of Education, Social Work Inspection Agency and Transport Scotland. The non-departmental and other public bodies with a presence in Glasgow which are included in the table are Additional Support Needs Tribunals, Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland, Police Investigations & Review Commission, Private Rented Housing Panel, Risk Management Authority, Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and Scottish Housing Regulator.

Information on Public Sector Employment overall in Scotland is available from the Scottish Government’s National Statistics Publication Quarterly Public Sector Employment in Scotland. The latest information is for Q2 2016 and can be located at the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment. The statistics in this release are based on administrative records and surveys of individual public sector bodies carried out by the Scottish Government and the Office for National Statistics. Although the number of staff working across Glasgow in all public sector organisations is not included in this publication information on local government employment by council area is provided in Web-Table 9.

The Scottish Government, along with other public bodies, also collates staff headcount information annually for the Business Register & Employment Survey. This survey does contain geographic information and is published by the Office for National Statistics on the NOMIS website for labour market statistics.

The Scottish Government recognises that reducing food waste is a moral, environmental and economic imperative. This is why we have introduced the Scottish Food Waste Reduction Target, to reduce Scotland's food waste by 33% by 2025, to focus attention on the issue across sectors. We will shortly commence a series of wide-ranging stakeholder workshops to discuss what measures should be taken to achieve this ambitious target and to assess which options will be the most effective. Zero Waste Scotland published figures last week that showed that, between 2009 and 2014, household food waste has reduced by 5.7%. Our action to reduce food waste has included:

Supporting the Love Food, Hate Waste campaign through Zero Waste Scotland, which helps householders get the most out of the food they buy.

Supporting the Courtauld Commitment, which is a UK-wide voluntary agreement between retailers, manufacturers and the hospitality sector to reduce the environmental impact of their activities, including through the reduction of food waste both in store and by helping their customers waste less.

Supporting Resource Efficient Scotland to work with Small and Medium Enterprises to help prevent food waste

Three Scottish Government marketing campaigns to encourage people not to 'feed their bin' and help reduce emissions.

The Scottish Government provides grant funding to Sustrans, Paths for All and Cycling Scotland to implement measures across all local authorities to encourage cycling.

Since 2014-15, Glasgow City Council has received £3.5 million from Sustrans for Community Links projects which fund extensions and improvements to shared use paths across the city. And in August I announced the winner of the first Community Links PLUS design competition which will see Glasgow receive an additional £3.25 million for a Community Links PLUS project called the South City Way – a fully segregated, on–road cycle path, that will provide a link from Queens Park along Victoria Road to the Merchant City.

Through the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme, managed by Paths for All, the Council has received just over £1 million over the last two years for various behaviour change projects which encourage people to use walking and cycling and public transport rather than private car for everyday journeys.

Funding from Cycling Scotland for Bikeability Scotland cycle training in schools across Glasgow has enabled 34% of primary schools to deliver on-road cycle training to P6 and P7 pupils. And the first ever Cycle Friendly Campus Award in Scotland was given to Glasgow Caledonian Cowcaddens Campus following a small grant from Cycling Scotland to enable the university to increase cycle parking, training, maintenance classes and personalised travel plans to encourage its students to cycle to and from its campuses.

Finally, since 2014-15 the Council has received £3.5 million through the Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets element of the local government settlement to deliver improvements to paths and road safety improvements across the city to further encourage more people to cycle.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting the needs of children with autism. We want all children and young people to be diagnosed early.

Whilst reducing waiting times is a priority, the Scottish Strategy for Autism does not set out targets for waiting times. An assessment of waiting times was undertaken and improvements were identified to support services to redesign pathways and process to reduce waits.

Information on waiting times is not held centrally. Information Services Division does not collect Autism Spectrum Disorders waiting times information. Information Services Division receives waiting times information from NHS boards for all referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services but this is not broken down by condition.

We will continue to build on the work that the strategy has achieved in order to further support the needs of children with autism.

Provision of parking facilities at hospitals is the responsibility of Health Boards. Scottish Government officials are in on-going dialogue with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on the issue of parking at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. They are closely monitoring recent improvements which have been introduced by the board who, following a review carried out by them following introduction of the improvements, have confirmed that there has been a substantial increase in parking spaces available on-site for staff (both permit and non-permit), patients and visitors.

This is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority.