Chamber and committees

We will work closely with The Promise Scotland and partners across local government, social justice, health, the third sector, and with children and families to design and deliver the Fund. Further details will be provided in due course.

The commitment to investing at least £500m over the life of this Parliament to create a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is significant. This will enable transformational change by building services which are universal, holistic support services available in communities across Scotland giving families access to help when and where they need it, and help Scotland #KeepThePromise.

Our ambition is that, from 2030, we will be investing at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spend in preventative whole family support measures that will enable us to continue to #KeepThePromise and create a Scotland where more children will only know care, compassion and love.

ScotRail has commenced the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) and the timetable consultation process will contribute to this assessment. The purpose of the consultation is to enable passengers and stakeholders to provide specific feedback on how the proposals impact their journey compared to ScotRail’s current timetable and will allow completion of the EIA prior to finalising the timetable from May 2022 onwards.

Following the completion of the timetable consultation, a copy of the EIA document would be available directly from ScotRail.

In the Programme for Government 2021 - 2022 we have updated the target from a minimum of 3,000 hectares per year of new native woodland creation, to a minimum of 4,000 hectares. That is an increase.

ScotRail currently offers a range of discounted fares and concessions to reduce the cost of travel for a diverse range of passengers. The Scottish Government will require ScotRail to continue to review how it can offer lower fares to meet the needs of people on low incomes and in response to changing travelling patterns emerging from Covid-19. In addition, the Scottish Government has taken action to minimise the impact on passengers by capping fares increases for regulated ScotRail peak fares at the level of the Retail Price Index (RPI).

Regulated off-peak fare increases are capped at one percent lower than inflation. This means, in Scotland, average fares increases are lower than England. The average fares increase in March 2021 in Scotland was 1.2% compared with 2.6% in England. Overall, fares in Scotland are on average 20% lower than in the rest of Britain.

ScotRail continues to help facilitate a seamless transport network which combines rail journeys with bus, ferries, active travel, other transport modes and through smart and integrated ticketing to improve accessibility to those from households without access to a car.

The First Minister announced as part of the Programme for Government on 7 September that the Scottish Government would restart work on the prospectus for independence. The Scottish Government is now determining how this work will proceed, as we do for delivering our commitments across the whole range of our responsibilities in the interests of the people of Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02863 on 23 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 .

The information requested is not held centrally.

Children and young people whose referral is not accepted by CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service within their community.

We are committed to improving the availability of community mental health and wellbeing services for children and young people. This year we have provided local authorities with an additional £15 Million to fund over 200 new and enhanced supports and services for 5 -24 year olds. These services are expected to set up links to local CAMHS with signposting the minimum expectation and direct referral to community services the aspiration. The recently published Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party shared policy programme commits to doubling the budget for community based mental wellbeing services for children and young people to £30 million.

In addition, we have implemented a National CAMHS Service Specification, which sets out the standards of service that children, young people and families can expect from CAMHS across Scotland and have provided funding to support Boards to implement the specification. The specification includes a clear expectation that services should have appropriate re-engagement policies in place.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02816 on 22 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 .

ScotRail’s proposed timetable for May 2022 would provide more seats than the current timetable, responding to changing travel patterns. By also offering more service options this will help encourage passengers to choose train over car.

The Scottish Government is now determining how this work will proceed and the resourcing it requires, as we do for delivering our commitments across the whole range of our responsibilities in the interests of the people of Scotland.