Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a moratorium on windfarm development.

As set out in our position statement last year, we need to rebalance our planning system so that climate change is a guiding principle for all plans and decisions. We expect National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) will strengthen support for renewable energy developments, including the re-powering and extension of existing wind farms, as part of a spatial strategy to support a transition to net zero and economic recovery.

We will lay a draft NPF4 in Parliament this autumn and will carry out extensive public consultation at the same time.

Our Health Recovery Plan, published on 25 August, outlines that recovery of staff is intrinsic to our collective ambitions for renewing our NHS.

The Scottish Government is providing £8 million this financial year to support the mental health and wellbeing of the health and social care workforce. This includes targeted support to the primary care and social care workforces of £2 million.

We will continue to work with partners, including doctors and their representatives, to provide support for, and evolve, local wellbeing resources while also maintaining and improving nationally-led initiatives. The national resources available to doctors and other health and social care professionals include:

• The National Wellbeing Hub, https://www.nationalwellbeinghub.scot/ ), which provides a range of self-care and digital resources;
• The National Wellbeing Helpline ((0800 111 4191), which provides a 24/7 service to those who require psychological support and can offer advice, signposting and onward referral to local services where required;
• Coaching for Wellbeing, a free-to-access digital coaching service accessible via the National Wellbeing Hub;
• The Workforce Specialist Service, which offers confidential mental health assessment and treatment for regulated health and social care professionals in Scotland; and
• Additional capacity within Boards to provide psychological therapies and interventions to support staff mental health.

We will offer further support for the physical and emotional needs of the workforce - this will include additional funding for rest areas, guidance to promote effective wellbeing conversations, new opportunities for staff to reflect on the emotional aspects of their work and further resources so staff at all levels can access peer support.

This work will inform the development of a new National Wellbeing Programme to be implemented from autumn 2021. The totality of this work, coupled with our work on leadership and culture, seeks both to prevent burnout, distress and suicide among doctors, and reduce the stigma associated with doctor burnout and mental health.

The update of Cycling by Design has been completed, led by representatives of Transport Scotland, Sustrans and local authorities working in partnership. The scheduled publication date is week commencing 13 September which will be during Scotland’s Climate Week.

Zero Waste Scotland have spent the following amount of money on tackling litter from 2015 to 2021:

Under the current Forestry Grant Scheme, in the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2021, Scottish Forestry has calculated that approximately 81.7 million conifers have been planted. Of this, Sitka spruce forms the majority species with 51 million trees. Other major conifers species planted include Douglas fir, Norway spruce and Scots pine are 21 million; minor conifers including cedars, other pines, other firs and other spruces is 9.7 million.

Similarly approximately 29.9 million broadleaves have been planted. These are normally planted at a lower density per hectare than conifers hence the lower number. For the majority of grant options, Scottish Forestry requires that native species are used; these species typically include oak, alder, ash, birch, hazel and hawthorn. Native species make up c.80% of the total broadleaves planted.

On Scotland’s national forests and land, managed by Forestry and Land Scotland data for conifer trees planted in the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2021 is 33.9 million trees planted; of this Sitka spruce forms the majority species with 22.4 million, with Scots Pine, Norway Spruce, Douglas Fir, Lodgepole Pine, other minor conifers totalling 11.5 million.

Similarly for broadleaves planted on Scotland’s national forests and land in the same time period data is 6.3 million trees planted; with 5.9 million native broadleaves and 0.4 million non-native broadleaves.

Guidance on replanting on deep peat following clearfell is contained within the Scottish Government’s Practice Guide, Deciding Future Management Options for Afforested Deep Peatland (2015). It sets out the circumstances where a presumption to restore the peatland habitat applies and the assessment method that should be used to decide future options where a presumption to restore does not apply.

In 2018, the Scottish Government (via ClimateXChange – Scotland’s Centre of Expertise on Climate Change), commissioned the following report: Afforestation and restocking on peaty soils – new evidence assessment. The study broadly confirmed the findings of previous research on which the Practice Guide is based.

At this point in time there are no plans to review existing guidance however, we will continue to invest in research in this area, and will take account of new evidence, as it emerges, to help inform the future development and implementation of forestry policies and regulations.

Local authorities and integration authorities have legal duties to provide carer support under the Carers Act. In practice they commission third sector organisations, including carers centres, to provide much of that support on their behalf. The 2021-22 budget contains an additional £28.5 million in the local government settlement for Carers Act implementation. Added to similar (baselined) increases in previous years since the Act came into force in April 2018, this brings the total investment in the Carers Act for 2021-22 to £68 million per year. It is for local authorities and integration authorities to decide how to use the funding to meet their duties under the Carers Act, but it is expected that this will include providing additional funding to carers centres and other organisations commissioned to expand carer support.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport wrote to local authorities in March 2021 to highlight the importance of using this additional funding to expand carer support: www.gov.scot/publications/carers-act-finance-2021-2022-letter

Alongside funding for the Carers Act, the Scottish Government also funds the Time to Live scheme, administered by Shared Care Scotland, to enable local carer organisations to provide small grants for carers to spend on short breaks or something that gives them a break from caring. In response to the pandemic, we put an additional £910,000 into the scheme in 2020-21 and have committed a further £400,000 in 2021-22.

In 2019 the Scottish Government launched the Young Carers Package with Young Scot. The idea behind this was to help support young carers with their well-being, education and life goals as well as taking some sort of a break. So the package offers exclusive discounts, vouchers, opportunities and prizes to win all geared towards this goal.

In recognition of the pressures on young carers during the pandemic, an additional £300,000 has been provided to Young Scot to add new e-vouchers and opportunities suitable for home use and physical distancing to their young carer package for 11-18 year olds. New opportunities include subscriptions to mindfulness relaxation apps, mobile data top ups, sanitary product vouchers, entertainment subscriptions and e-vouchers to some of the most popular stores and wellbeing boxes filled with things to help young carers take care of their mental wellbeing.

The Scottish Government aims to carry out scoping work on the remit and powers of a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Commissioner in this Parliamentary year.

Following the successful passage of a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill, a Commissioner would be appointed as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of Neighbourhood Watch schemes before 2012. In 2012, there were approximately 1,500 Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in Scotland and the most recent figures to June 2021 show that there are now 1,976 Schemes registered.

Since March this year, 36 new Watches have been registered. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of people signing up to receive free ALERTS, both as individuals and as points of contact for organisations, with total current figures at 26,832 individual registrations.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 provides local authorities with a discretionary power to set up workplace parking licensing (WPL) schemes.

As set out in our Climate Change Plan Update, we remain committed to plans to take forward policy consultation in advance of drafting regulations and guidance to enable local authorities to implement WPL schemes, should they wish to do so.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 is currently consulting on the regulatory framework and supporting guidance which will underpin local authorities’ WPL schemes, with a view to this being in force in 2022. The consultation is available here: https://www.transport.gov.scot/consultation/workplace-parking-licensing-consultation-on-regulations-and-guidance

It will then be for local authorities to decide whether they wish to implement WPL locally and to shape proposals to suit local circumstances. Local authorities will be required to undertake a public consultation and impact assessments before implementing a WPL scheme.