Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government operates 144 public facing websites.

The Scottish Government does not hold data regarding the average speed of broadband in homes in rural North Ayrshire.

However, independent analysis site Thinkbroadband shows that, as at 19 October 2021, the average download speed for properties in North Ayrshire was 56.7Mbps.

Further information can be found at www.thinkbroadband.com.

We currently have no plans to amend the existing waiting times standards although recovering our NHS and improving waiting times for patients is a top priority for this Government.

In response to the pressures on NHS services caused by the pandemic the NHS Recovery Plan was launched on 25 August 2021. The Plan which is backed by more than £1 billion of investment, sets out the Scottish Government’s key headline ambitions and actions to be developed and delivered now and over the next 5 years. While recovery is the immediate task, the Plan is fundamentally about ensuring that the process of recovery focusses on alternative pathways of care that allow people to be treated sooner and closer to home .

The COVID-19 Education Surveillance dashboard is updated and published every week by Public Health Scotland and includes weekly data on the rate of COVID-19 PCR testing among children and young people of educational age (2-19 years), the number and rate of positive cases and the percentage of tests taken that are positive.

These figures are not broken down to the level of individual school, and there is an overlap between the age groups and the type of school where nearly all 5-11 and 12-15 are primary and secondary school pupils respectively, and 16-17 year olds a more mixed group.

However, the number of individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 by PCR test at the end of August, compared to w/e 10 October were as follows:

Age range (yrs)   W/E 30 August     W/E 10 October

5-11       12     3151

12-15       20     1905

16-17       12     382

The report Making Things Last: A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland set out that the reuse economy in Scotland has a yearly turnover of at least £244 million, supports over 6,000 jobs, reuses 89,000 tonnes of material annually, and provides opportunities for individuals to obtain high quality products at considerably lower cost than new. This data came from a baseline report( https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/research-evidence/scottish-reuse-mapping-sector-analysis-report ) which was used to inform support for reuse.

Zero Waste Scotland operate the Revolve certification scheme for second hand stores and internal analysis by them indicates that, based upon totals reported by the Revolve Network, the weight reused has more than doubled between 2017-18 and 2019-20.

This information is not held centrally.

SEPA’s Waste Data Flow website contains data on the amount of waste prepared for reuse by each Local Authority.

Through our work to bring forward a Circular Economy Bill and develop a route map to achieving our targets to 2025 and beyond, we are investigating how further reuse and repairs could be encouraged and incentivised, including through more responsible production as part of our transition to a fully circular economy in Scotland.

From 2017 to the end of 2021 we have received a total of £194.8m in EU Exit preparation consequentials.

Spend, both in preparation and post-EU Exit, has been on staff supporting activities such as legislative preparations, and supporting stakeholders and partners, including businesses, cultural bodies, higher education institutes, local government and the third sector.

We have consistently targeted our spending responsibly and appropriately to mitigate against the negative impacts of exiting the EU and we have allocated our spend to deal with the concurrent impacts of Covid and EU exit.

This information is not held centrally and no recent specific analysis has been undertaken.

UK wide analysis was carried out in 2012 by WRAP on the reuse potential of furniture and electrics collected at Household Waste Recycling Centres. The data shows just below 50% of furniture was assessed as re-usable and over 40% of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment collected was assessed as suitable for re-use. This number rose to 60% as suitable for reuse following minor repair.

Since this Scheme to help low income families and unpaid carers take a break in Scotland, opened for sign-ups in mid-August we have already seen 35 families (including 73 children) on a break for the current October school holidays.

VisitScotland, working with charity partners (Family Holiday Association, Shared Care Scotland and Carer Centre Network), is managing the promotion and distribution of the scheme to families and carers through their existing channels, including social media.

The scheme has only recent launched to families and carers and recipients will have until December 2022 to redeem the vouchers.