Chamber and committees

Firefighter training and the provision of precautionary advice is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have provided reassurance that all necessary training is provided to staff, to ensure they appropriately manage any incident, including those at recycling and electronic recycling centres.

This is an operational matter for SFRS. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have the resources in place to provide the appropriate response to every emergency incident which occurs in Scotland. All fires can present a risk to firefighters which is why SFRS has taken all necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of their staff.

Transport Scotland has written to a range of stakeholders to publicise the pilot as well as the ongoing public survey which will form an input into the final evaluation of the pilot.

In addition, ScotRail has ran an extensive marketing campaign across radio, TV, press and social media to highlight the potential pilot as well as regular social media posts which have reached a potential 15.8 million people.

The City of Edinburgh Council’s Mixed Tenure Improvement Scheme (MTIS) is operated under the Area Based Schemes which are designed, managed and delivered solely by Scottish local authorities or their managing agents. Hence any complaints about the MTIS should be directed to the council for resolution. The City of Edinburgh Council has a dispute resolution process for dealing with complaints which was used in the council’s first MTIS project undertaken in Westerhailes.

Since the publication of the strategy, the Scottish Government (SG) has sought to raise fraud awareness and build professional networks utilising conferences and forums aimed at building a community of counter fraud professionals. Creation of the Integrity Group within the SG, alongside joint activities such as the improvement action plan with Audit Scotland on improvement of the National Fraud initiative, were key initial activities. In 2021 the first Head of Counter Fraud Profession was appointed with the Counter Fraud Service established in 2022. This coincided with Covid pandemic and demonstrated the value of this new service in providing support and advice on fraud prevention to colleagues delivering grants to support the economy in Scotland.

The Counter Fraud Service has established links with the International Public Sector Fraud Forum - a public sector counter fraud strategy forum – which has strengthened the SG’s approach to fraud prevention and detection through cross-border collaboration on counter fraud best practice. The SG has embedded a fraud risk management framework and a Counter Fraud Toolkit in 2023, providing all colleagues with access to new in-depth guidance and tools for the management of fraud and corruption risk, and support with fraud cases. The Counter Fraud Service, in collaboration with Risk, Control and Assurance Division, is now focussing on ‘counter fraud culture’ and fraud awareness. This being delivered through new training, workshops and guidance aimed at improving the skills and capabilities across government, as well as general education on fraud and corruption to ensure that the SG stays fraud aware.

Further to this, the Integrity Group, made up of leadership in areas of integrity from across government, provides oversight on the counter fraud strategy and how this links to other areas of integrity under the Civil Service Code. Lastly, the establishment of the Counter Fraud Profession in SG, led by the Head of Counter Fraud Profession, acts to join up the counter fraud community across SG organisations, to deliver consistency, opportunities for joint working and a community of best practice in counter fraud.

Currently there are no estimated additional costs from Transport Scotland’s contracted external consultancy services relating to any extension of the CHFS2 contract.

The Lochmaddy infrastructure project was led and delivered by the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar(CNES) and the offer of capital grant funding provided was £15,747,640.

The Tarbert (Harris) project was led and delivered by CMAL, the total spend by Transport Scotland was £19,240.552.75

The Uig (Skye) project is currently in construction and led by the Highland Council. The offer of capital grant funding provided is £39,058,246.

The Ardrossan Harbour Business Case & Cost Exercise is currently being progressed. Transport Scotland has to date provided capital grant funding to Peel Ports Group of £650,000 as part of the design, planning and procurement stages of this project’s development.

CMAL have project lead on a number of ongoing projects under the IIP. A total of £15,283,893.01 has been paid in respect of the works carried out. This spend covers the work on the Cumbrae Slipway, Gourock Harbour Development, Islay Vessel Enabling Works, Lochboisdale /Gasay Project Works and the Port Ellen Terminal Development.

All the information regarding spending on Vessels and Infrastructure can be found within the Section 70 reports published annually by Transport Scotland the most recent financial year updated 28th June 2024.

The Scottish Government plans to review and refresh all aspects of our approach to tackling fraud and corruption across government, including updating the counter fraud strategy Protecting Public Resources in Scotland. This is part of a wider strategic look at the prevention and detection of public sector fraud and corruption in Scotland.

The update to the counter fraud strategy, commencing in 2024-25, is part of a three-year counter fraud plan to enhance the way we prevent and detect fraud and corruption in public resources. The principles of the 2015 strategy remain extant and activities to date have focussed on developing in each strategic area with a focus on collaborative cross sector working. In 2021 there was the appointment of the first Head of Counter Fraud Profession in Scottish Government and the establishment of the Counter Fraud Service within the Directorate for Internal Audit and Assurance in 2022. Working across Government, we have improved how we identify fraud/corruption risk through fraud risk profiling and heat mapping, how we manage these risks with fraud risk and fraud impact assessments across government, and how we respond to fraud through the Fraud Response Plan and cross government Integrity Group. The counter fraud strategy update will reflect these changes and how we intend to move forward in our efforts to improve the maturity of approach against the Scottish Government’s Counter Fraud Maturity Model.

The Scottish Government recognises the physical and mental health benefits that stem from pet ownership.

While there is currently no legal duty on local authorities to house pets, the statutory code of guidance on homelessness and the temporary accommodation standards framework require local authorities to consider housing options which best meet an individual’s needs, including supporting homeless households to maintain relationships with their pets.

Each local authority will need to consider how to achieve this on a case-by-case basis. This may include working with other organisations to help with planning for people’s pets and providing assistance with the kennelling of any pets if an applicant is not able to keep them in their temporary accommodation. There are a number of animal charities that offer a fostering service so that people can leave an abusive partner knowing their pet will also be safely looked after until they can be reunited.

Tenants in the social sector can keep a pet with the written permission of their landlord, as can some private tenants. However, the Scottish Government wishes to enable all tenants where possible to benefit from the experience of pet ownership. There are provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which if passed, will give private and social housing tenants greater flexibility to have a pet by introducing a right to request to keep a pet, and for tenants’ requests not to be unreasonably refused.

The Scottish Government recognises the physical and mental health benefits that stem from pet ownership.

While there is currently no legal duty on local authorities to house pets, the statutory code of guidance on homelessness and the temporary accommodation standards framework require local authorities to consider housing options which best meet an individual’s needs, including supporting homeless households to maintain relationships with their pets.

Each local authority will need to consider how to achieve this on a case-by-case basis. This may include working with other organisations to help with planning for people’s pets and providing assistance with the kennelling of any pets if an applicant is not able to keep them in their temporary accommodation.

Tenants in the social sector can keep a pet with the written permission of their landlord, as can some private tenants. However, the Scottish Government wishes to enable all tenants where possible to benefit from the experience of pet ownership. There are provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill which, if passed, will give private and social housing tenants greater flexibility to have a pet by introducing a right to request to keep a pet, and for tenants’ requests not to be unreasonably refused.