Chamber and committees

Spending on external legal support is a matter for each NHS Board. The Scottish Government do not hold information regarding this centrally.

Spending on external legal support is a matter for each NHS Board.

The Scottish Government do not hold information regarding this centrally.

We absolutely remain committed to our policy position, which remains that public bodies should work with their staff representatives to negotiate no compulsory agreements for 2022-23 where it is practical to do so.

For a new body like ScotRail Trains Ltd, which does not have an existing agreement on no compulsory redundancies, I would expect there to be negotiations on this as part of the Public Sector Pay Policy discussions, which are crucial to the change that is needed as ScotRail comes under Scottish Government control on 1 April 2022.

There is no single programme of monitoring and evaluation for the Winter Support Fund. Evaluations of the £25 million local authority flexible funding and £10 million Fuel Insecurity Fund will be published by summer 2022. We do not intend to publish an overarching evaluation of the funding awarded to third sector organisations.

Violence against women and girls is a devastating violation of human rights and any increase in reports of these types of crimes is concerning.

The Scottish Government has taken robust action to help justice agencies tackle sexual offending by improving and making much clearer the operation of our sexual offence laws, providing the necessary funding to support law enforcement efforts to deal with sexual offending and encouraging more victims of recent and historical cases to come forward so that justice can be achieved.

Our Programme for Government committed to legislating for a statutory right to lifelong anonymity for complainers in sexual offence cases, and a Scottish Government led Governance Group has now been established, comprising key stakeholder interests, to enable progress and detailed consideration of the recommendations within Lord Justice Clerk’s Review Group report on improving the management of sexual offence cases.

Our £100 million three-year commitment to tackling violence against women and girls includes a new Delivering Equally Safe Fund which will direct £38 million to frontline services over the next two years.

Spending on external legal support is a matter for each NHS Board. The Scottish Government do not hold information regarding this centrally.

The Scottish Government published the Initial Plan Framework, the next step in the Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) process on 22 February 2022. This document includes the consultation analysis. Individual responses to the consultation, where permitted, will be published on the Scottish Government website.

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland has responsibility for setting charge caps and otherwise sets out expectations or forecasts including for income as a guide to Scottish Water and stakeholders. Consideration of the economic circumstances of customers encompassed both GDP growth and the GDP level relative to pre-pandemic, wage growth relative to inflation and unemployment levels. Scottish Water’s Independent Customer Group was consulted prior to Scottish Water making its charging decisions for the 2022-23 financial year and its clear preference was to see increases held to around 4%.

Whilst there is no formal requirement to consult the Scottish Government, Ministers were made aware of the outcome of the independent process, including the rationale underpinning the decision by Scottish Water's Board on the scheme of charges for 2022-23.

Following the publication of the strategic framework in relation to how Scotland moves forward whilst the threat of Covid 19 remains present, I am today publishing the National Strategy for Economic Transformation which sets out the actions, within the Scottish Parliament’s current powers, that the Scottish Government and partners will take to boost economic prosperity.

The next ten years have been branded the “decisive decade” where we face a choice to either lead or to lag behind other successful economies while we recover from COVID-19, deliver a just transition to net zero and tackle structural inequalities in our society.

This presents us with a unique opportunity to set out how we can build on Scotland’s strengths, recognise the challenges that face us, and maximise the opportunities of the next decade as far as possible within current constitutional arrangements to achieve our vision of a low-carbon, wellbeing economy that creates good well-paying jobs.

The strategy is framed around five policy programmes identified by close analysis of the available evidence https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802016703 . They have been shaped by an expert Advisory Council, as well as through extensive stakeholder engagement and consultation.

The Strategy sets out a comprehensive set of actions for each of these policy programmes and I look forward to engaging with Members in a parliamentary debate as we collectively take forward our ambition to ensure these are realised for the benefit of all the people and places across Scotland.

Adults and children with a learning disability who were coded in their GP systems as such, have now been invited for vaccination as at-risk groups. Criteria from the Green Book (GB) was used to develop queries to run across GP IT systems to identify and extract data on those identified as being eligible based on GB criteria. In addition, the Scottish Government has worked across carers and disability policy areas to cascade information via the third sector to organisations who support people with a learning disability – to further highlight this offer.

It is vital for vaccination programmes to reach everyone and that no one is left behind, both for individual health and our collective community wellbeing. We have increased our efforts to ensure the vaccination programme reaches everyone and is fully inclusive with a range of outreach activities and partnerships to engage with under-served groups.

On 25 February 2021, a letter from the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer offered the expertise of local learning disability nurses in providing reasonable adjustments for the COVID-19 Immunisation programme: Coronavirus (COVID-19): immunisation programme for people with learning disabilities - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We have ensured our COVID-19 vaccination communications are suitable for everyone in Scotland, with the production of translated information and assets in multiple languages, a range of formats on NHS Inform and the development of a vaccine explainer video, informed by insights from organisations representing various under-served communities. Easy read versions of our leaflets are available from Public Health Scotland: COVID-19 vaccine information in Easy Read (healthscotland.com) . These include accessible social stories explaining the process from arriving at the clinic to leaving. Some of the larger vaccination centres also have access to a quiet area for individuals, including extended appointment times for example at The Event Complex Aberdeen. A number of health boards also have “vaccine clinic walk-through” videos to support people who are anxious about the experience.

We embed inclusion in our approach and ensure that people who may experience barriers, or feel less confident, are able to come forward for vaccination. This includes the provision of quieter spaces, smaller clinics and appropriate staff training to support the needs of people with Learning Disabilities and other conditions. Particular adjustments, such as quiet rooms, can be organised in advance of or at the appointment by contacting the local Health Board.