Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to work with partners to safeguard vulnerable people through the implementation of the National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland. Over the past three years we have developed return discussion training for professionals across Scotland to build understanding about the reasons a person went missing and reduce the risk of future missing episodes.

We have worked with young people who have experience of being missing and invested £40,000 to develop an education resource for young people, hosted on the Runaway Scotland website, to build understanding of risks and where support can be accessed. We have also provided £242,000 of funding since 2016 to Missing People charity to raise awareness of their Runaway helpline service (call 116 000 or visit www.runawayhelpline.org.uk ) for people who are thinking about running away, have already run away or have been away and want to come back. Ninety-nine percent of people who go missing in Scotland are returned safely.

The Scottish Government works closely with CyberScotland Partners including Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help protect the public from cyber threats and supports the publishing of a regular CyberScotland Bulletin which references content from Police Scotland, NCSC, SCVO, Scottish Business Resilience Centre, GetSafeOnline, Take5, Trading Standards Scam Share and Neighbourhood Watch Scotland.

On 19 March 2021, we published Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy, which will facilitate a more coordinated approach to tackling scams in Scotland. The strategy introduces a new framework for tackling scams, with an emphasis on: disrupting scams at source; building capacity, skills and resilience amongst individuals to avoid the risk that scams pose; streamlining the reporting and advice landscape so that people can access the right support at the right time to meet their needs; and improving coordination and intelligence sharing between frontline advice providers, enforcement bodies and wider advocacy organisations.

We encourage anyone who identifies a suspicious email to forward it to [email protected] and to report any suspicious scam websites using the NCSC Scam Website Reporting Service ( https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/about-this-website/report-scam-website ). Any victims of online scams or fraud should report to Police Scotland by calling 101

We expect NHS Boards to adhere to current guidelines on the treatment options from authorative sources such as The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network guidelines - Diagnosis and management of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in adults. (SIGN Guideline No 121) . Further information is also available on NHS Inform website . We also work closely with third sector organisation such as Versus Arthritis.

The discretionary power to set up workplace parking licensing (WPL) schemes is intended as a tool for local authorities to use among a suite of measures when developing their local transport strategies. Depending on local circumstances, WPL schemes have the potential to encourage the use of more sustainable travel modes, reducing congestion, improving air quality and reducing emissions. The Scottish Government has recently concluded a consultation on the regulatory framework and supporting guidance which will underpin local authorities’ WPL schemes, with a view to this being in force in 2022. Once these are in place, it will be for local authorities to decide whether they wish to implement WPL locally and to shape proposals to suit local circumstances.

City of Edinburgh Council has included plans to take forward a WPL scheme as part of its published City Mobility Plan 2021-2030.

Local authorities will be required to undertake a public consultation and impact assessments before implementing a WPL scheme.

The Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) and Northern Isles ferry Service (NIFS) operators will always try to ensure that fresh produce freight is moved quickly and effectively. At times of disruption and cancellation they seek to prioritise or move freight hauliers onto alternative sailings or on other routes where possible.

Where feasible on networks, additional or alternative sailings can provide extra capacity on disrupted routes and vessels are often redeployed from around the network to maximise overall resilience. Consideration of appropriate responses to cancellations and disruption on other ferry routes, such as the Irish Sea crossings, are a matter for the operators of these services.

In the December 2020 update to Climate Change Plan we committed to publishing a route map by the end of 2021 to outline how we will meet the 20% reduction by 2030, assuming the Covid-19 pandemic moves to a phase to allow this. The pandemic is still creating significant uncertainty for transport, with future trends and people’s work and lifestyle choices difficult to forecast at this point in time. Subject to this uncertainty, we will publish the route map by the end of this year.

Transport demand derives from other factors – where people live work, learn and access goods and services are all key to their need to travel. Meeting the commitment will involve reducing people’s need to travel with more local access to goods and services, digital connectivity and flexible and remote working approaches. The measures that are therefore required are across sectors – not all the policy levers and answers rest in transport. For example, the commitment is supported by our commitments on 20 minute neighbourhoods – where people can meet their needs within a 20 minute walk, and work and learn in communities close to home (further detail on which will be included in the NPF4 this autumn) – and the Work Local Challenge Programme to support flexible, remote and local working choices. We also recognise the vital role that digital connectivity will play in meeting Scotland’s world-leading climate change ambitions. This is why we made our commitment to extend superfast broadband access to 100% of premises in Scotland, regardless of location.

The Climate Change Plan update covers a range of measures across transport modes which will contribute to the reduction, and we have built upon these in the 2021-22 PfG. It should be remembered, however, that the most direct levers on the attractiveness of buying or running a petrol or diesel car – fuel duty and vehicle excise duty – are reserved to the UK Government.

We recognise the challenges associated with rural and remote communities or areas where there is not an alternative to cars. This will require local and regional solutions as well as national ones and we will continue to work with partners both nationally and locally to identify what works best.

On achievability, the 20% commitment comes within a range of car use reduction scenarios proposed by leading researchers. The recent government-commissioned ‘Decarbonising the Scottish Transport Sector’ report from Element Energy also evidences how the 20% reduction can be encompassed in transport’s contribution to our net-zero pathway. Progress will be tracked by the Climate Change Plan monitoring and evaluation framework, published annually.

The Government understands that those with long term health conditions such as psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis may also need support to deal with the impact this may have on their mental wellbeing.

GPs or local healthcare teams are best placed to offer further advice or treatment if needed and we’d advise people to contact their GP if they have concerns. Further information outlining this is available on our NHS Inform website at NHS Inform.

Improving timely access to local care and support for mental health is an existing priority. As of 1 January 2021, through action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund, 193 additional Mental Health Worker posts have been created in GP settings.

We’ve also made a longer term commitment that by 2026, every GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service, funding 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and offer social prescribing opportunities on a wide range of different community based services such as arts and cultural activities, green space and physical activity and leisure etc.

Later this year, and on the basis of local plans submitted by Integration Authorities, we will start providing funding to begin national implementation of a new model for Mental Health in Primary Care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02924 on 28 September 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.

We remain committed to the delivery of East Linton station as early as practicable in Control Period 6 (2019–2024). Network Rail announced on 7 September that local authority planning approval had been received. They are awaiting a final construction programme and will announce an intended completion date as soon as possible.

We continue to work closely with train operators to develop a timetable which will meet the needs of passengers in East Lothian. We will communicate that information widely, including the frequency and stopping patterns, when it has been finalised.

We recognise the massive role that SMEs and micro businesses play across public procurement in Scotland and regard their success as key to unlocking opportunities for all, through fostering apprenticeships, jobs and economic growth.

£13.3 billion worth of public procurement spend in 2019-20 has been analysed. We know the size of the supplier for £11.7 billion of spend and £5.4 billion (46.2%) of this went to SMEs.

The Small Business Survey Scotland 2019 Small Business Survey Scotland 2019 found that 24 per cent of SME employers in Scotland had actually done business for the public sector in the past 12 months compared to 22 per cent for the UK as a whole Small Business Survey UK 2019 . This survey found that, of those SME employers in Scotland that have worked for the public sector in the past 12 months, the greatest share (55 per cent) reported that local authorities were their main customer. This is higher than the UK as a whole at 44 per cent.

A copy of the table detailing the value of core Scottish Government procurement spend with small to medium sized enterprises for the period 2007-2008 to 2020-2021 within UK local authority areas, based on data contained in the Scottish Procurement Information Hub, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62701).