Chamber and committees

We recognise the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers make to our communities and know that the pandemic has added significant additional pressures. We are committed to giving a strong voice to unpaid carers, listening to their needs and acting on what they tell us.

We will develop and publish a stand-alone Carers Strategy with a focus on recovery and improving carer support in a meaningful and sustainable way. The strategy will focus on carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.

We will engage with unpaid carers about the strategy’s scope and purpose in the coming months, and this will inform its development. Our approach to the development of the strategy will be both a collaborative and an iterative one which will draw on the knowledge and lived experience of unpaid carers so that the strategy is shaped by those who best understand the many challenges faced. We will seek to publish the strategy as soon as possible to provide a clear vision for how we will respond to the challenges faced by so many carers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04874 on
‎ 20 December 2021. 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

Local authorities were issued with non-statutory guidance to support them in their administration of the Tenant Grant Fund on 17 September 2021. A copy of this guidance can be found here .

We know some local authorities are already delivering Tenant Grant Fund payments at pace. For example, Dundee City Council has already paid out over £36,000 in grants, providing vital support to tenants in financial need caused by the pandemic.

All 32 local authorities are required to submit their first quarterly report by the end of December 2021, which will set out the number and level of grants issued (broken down by tenure); how many of these grants paid off the rent arrears in full or partially; and how many tenancies were sustained, at that time, as a direct result of the grant being paid.

Following observations on a small number of patients with long COVID symptoms who received an experimental drug called BC 007 at the Universittsklinikum Erlangen in Germany, a trial of this drug as a potential therapy for long COVID is reportedly being planned by this research institute.

Applications from the Scottish clinical research community for research projects on possible treatments for long COVID can be submitted to the independent research funding committees operated by the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office ( Response Mode Funding Schemes – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk) ). Applications are assessed through independent expert peer review and funded based on the recommendations of the funding committees. No applications to trial BC 007 have been received for consideration.

The Forestry Grant Scheme, delivered through the Scottish Rural Development Programme and Scottish Forestry, will provide £307,759 of support specifically for capercaillie between 2016 and 2025. Prior to this, the Scottish Government paid out £781,452 through the Rural Priority (RP) Scheme’s Capercaillie Package between 2008 and 2019.

NatureScot, (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage), made payments of £544,705 towards the research and conservation of capercaillie in Scotland during the period December 2011 – December 2021.

Other Scottish Government funding in support of habitat management is likely to have benefited capercaillie but where not specifically provided for this species no breakdown is available.

No leasing, uniform provision and rolling stock maintenance agreements are expected to remain in place with Abellio once the current franchise ends. A number of existing contracts between Abellio ScotRail Ltd and its suppliers will transfer from Abellio ScotRail Ltd to the new operator, ScotRail Trains Limited, on 1 April 2022.

An agreement has been entered into with Abellio Transport Holdings for the retention of the Abellio Shared Services Centre based in Glasgow. This will retain jobs in Glasgow handling all customer service calls and correspondence, payroll services and payment processing facilities.

We recognise the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers make to our communities and know that the pandemic has added significant additional pressures. We are committed to giving a strong voice to unpaid carers, listening to their needs and acting on what they tell us.

We will develop and publish a stand-alone Carers Strategy with a focus on COVID-19 recovery and improving carer support in a meaningful and sustainable way. The strategy will focus on carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.

We will engage with unpaid carers about the strategy’s scope and purpose in the coming months, and this will inform its development. Our approach to the development of the strategy will be both a collaborative and an iterative one which will draw on the knowledge and lived experience of unpaid carers so that the strategy is shaped by those who best understand the many challenges faced. We will seek to publish the strategy as soon as possible to provide a clear vision for how we will respond to the challenges faced by so many carers.

Significant financial and non-financial investment has been made in capercaillie conservation by Scottish Government, its partners and agencies, NGOs, landowners, communities and individuals. While the status of the capercaillie population in Scotland remains vulnerable, without the investment that has been made it is likely that we would have lost capercaillie from Scotland.

Support has included funding from NatureScot towards research and conservation of capercaillie in Scotland since 2011 as well as funding via the Forestry Grant Scheme specifically to support capercaillie populations.

Other Scottish Government funding in support of habitat management is likely to have benefited capercaillie but where not specifically provided for this species no breakdown is available.

In the summer of 2020, the Scottish Government undertook a Capital Spending Review of its capital budgets against the backdrop of Covid-19, which necessitated a review of rail enhancements priorities.

Following the 2020 review, amid significant financial pressures on the available rail enhancements capital budget, the North Hanover Street development was deferred. Against a backdrop of rising costs and pressures on the rail enhancements budget, Network Rail was instructed to return to Transport Scotland with a proposal to progress the development, with options for alternative funding.

Transport Scotland await a revised proposal from Network Rail. Officials continue to remain engaged in regular meetings with key stakeholders such as Glasgow City Council, Network Rail and Scottish Futures Trust aimed at keeping each other updated in respect of developments in and around the Queen Street station area.

Booster information was made available in the international travel section of the NHS Scotland Covid Status App on 9 December, and on paper/pdf certificates from 13 December.