Chamber and committees

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit continues to be delivered by the UK Government who decide which conditions should be prescribed for the purposes of the benefit. Once the Scottish Government commences delivery of Employment Injury Assistance, it will be able to consider which diseases and occupations should be prescribed for the purposes of entitlement.

The Scottish Government will undertake a public consultation on Employment Injury Assistance well in advance of delivery which will consider a range of issues relating to its delivery and administration.

Individuals who are impacted by long COVID may be entitled to Adult Disability Payment, the Scottish Government replacement for Personal Independence Payment, depending on their individual circumstances.

Guidance on Self-Directed Support during the Pandemic (updated and published on 11 March 2022) addresses the underspend of allocated budgets. The guidance states "Where Local Authorities or Health and Social Care Partnerships have concerns about underspend of allocated budgets, these should be reconciled in line with local contractual arrangements." Local authorities were notified of the updated guidance in a letter from myself on 11 March 2022.

Our Fair Fares Review is in its initial planning stages. I recently undertook to provide the Scottish Parliament's Committee for Net Zero, Energy and Transport with further details on the Scottish Government's plans and timescales for the review. I will share this information with the Committee after the pre-election period for the Scottish local government elections. The Scottish Government engages and consults extensively with stakeholders, transport users and delivery partners, including Trade Unions, on a range of transport issues and this approach will be reflected throughout the course of the Fair Fares Review.

The Scottish Government is continuing to take action to make public transport more affordable through schemes such as the current ScotRail promotional campaign which will enable people to travel for half the normal price on off-peak train services across Scotland next month and the “Kids Go Free” promotion which enabled children to travel for free on Scotland's Railway during its first weekend in public ownership.

The Memorandum of Understanding for additional investment in the Aberdeen City Region allows for up to £10 million of funding to help extend digital infrastructure across the region. To date £5 million of this funding has been spent.

£2 million was invested in the City Network Extension project which connected 57 council sites to full fibre with build completing in 2021. This investment successfully stimulated around £40 million of commercial investment across the region by CityFibre and Vodafone who are utilising this infrastructure to help extend the reach of full fibre broadband across the region. In January 2022 CityFibre announced a further £19 million of investment in Aberdeen.

£3 million was invested in the Full Fibre Infrastructure project which will connect 192 public sector and NHS sites across Aberdeenshire. To date, 190 sites have been connected with one site expected to be completed in the coming months, and the final site – an additional site made possible by cost savings – to be connected once construction is completed in summer 2023.

We continue to work closely with the Aberdeen City Region Deal team as they develop options for the remaining funding.

Student nurses entering Scottish Government funded degree programmes will increase by 9% in 2022-23, to a total recommended intake of 4536 students. This will be the 10 th successive increase in recommended student numbers, with the intake doubling over the last decade.

Every year, the Scottish Government undertakes a robust nursing student intake planning process to determine the target number of pre-registration students to which Scottish universities should recruit to in the following academic year to meet estimated future nursing workforce demands.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07914 on 28 April 2022. 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

We are committed to continuing to work with COSLA and Local Authorities to meet Scotland’s ambitious waste reduction and recycling targets, to promote a circular economy and tackle the climate change crisis.

In May we will publish a consultation on a route map outlining how we will deliver our 2025 waste and recycling targets in a way that maximises carbon saving potential to 2025 and beyond. As part of the development of the route map, we have looked at high performing recycling systems across the world, including Wales. COSLA and local authority representatives have been involved in pre-consultation development of the route map. We have dedicated, regular forums with Local Authorities and COSLA to progress our shared waste and circular economy objectives.

We also continue to work closely with all four UK administrations to deliver packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reforms, which will tackle excess packaging, and help fund improved local recycling collections of packaging waste from households.

As part of the British Sign Language National Plan 2017 – 2023 , we have a commitment to work with partners to deliver and evaluate two training programmes aimed at supporting BSL/English interpreters to work within the Justice sector, with a view to informing a longer-term approach. Queen Margaret University now offers an elective module for BSL interpreting in Justice settings; more details can be found in the Scottish Government’s British Sign Language: Progress Report 2021 . The BSL Justice Advisory Group met again for the first time after the pandemic in October 2021, and another meeting was held in March 2022, where plans to develop workstreams was discussed. This includes looking at improvement in provision of BSL and English interpreters in courts and police stations, and potential solutions to current issues reported by case studies.

Low Emission Zones regulations provide an exemption for Blue Badge holders, which includes both individual and organisational badges. Throughout the development of Scotland’s Low Emission Zones Transport Scotland have engaged with both the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland, and Disability Equality Scotland organisations to shape how the schemes will work.

Transport Scotland have completed an Equalities Impact Assessment, and held a public and organisational consultation with stakeholders in December 2021. This provided valuable feedback on the development of the National Blue Badge Exemption system, and Transport Scotland continues to work closely with the four local authorities (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and Disability Equality Scotland as this system develops.

Transport Scotland will continue to consult with relevant stakeholders, including local authority partners who will be operating the schemes going forward.

The Scottish Government has a commitment in the British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan 2017 – 2023 to work with local authorities, providers, and service users to improve the way that adult social care is delivered for BSL users. Work is underway to explore ways to meet this commitment with the establishment of the National Care Service. There is also a commitment to learn from actions we are taking forward in health to strengthen Scotland’s interpreting profession. Queen Margaret University offers a module in BSL interpreting in healthcare settings; more details can be found in the BSL Progress Report 2021 .

The Scottish Government is committed to the establishment of a National Care Service (NCS), and that work is continuing on schedule, ensuring that the design and delivery of the NCS has human rights embedded throughout. We will continue to engage with the real experts – people with lived experience of the service whether they are people accessing care and support, their families, care workers or providers – to improve future services and make things better for everyone. We have established a Social Covenant steering group, made up of people with lived experience, to ensure the new service is designed around the needs of care users and supports the needs of care workers.