Chamber and committees

Scottish Enterprise has supported companies in the bus manufacturing supply chain, awarding Alexander Dennis Limited with funding to develop their zero emission bus technology including £13m in 2023 in addition to substantial grants in 2019 and 2015.

In addition, Scottish Enterprise is working with Alexander Dennis Limited to explore opportunities for export and access grant funding opportunities such as the UK Automotive Transition Fund.

The Scottish Government continues to support manufacturing in Scotland via the work on the Green Industrial Strategy and our ten-year National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).

The forthcoming Transport Just Transition Plan we will set out, among other things, how the Scottish Government will support businesses to benefit from the opportunities and deal with the challenges arising from the move to a sustainable transport system.

The Scottish Government will develop implementing actions to deliver our Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network in response to the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommendation.

The implementing actions will be developed in collaboration with key stakeholders who share responsibility for delivering public EV charging across Scotland to deliver the right charge points in the right locations to meet the needs of communities across Scotland, including rural and island communities.

Through the Redesign of Urgent Care (RUC), we have bolstered capacity at NHS24, which has seen staffing levels increase by 65% since 2007 and now operates as a 24/7 service, and are providing more hospital alternatives to prevent unnecessary attendances to A&E.

The combination of services has significantly contributed to reduced attendance at Emergency Departments, with self-presentations between February 2023 – January 2024 down by over 90,000 (around 11%) compared to pre-Covid levels.

The Scottish Government works closely with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to support delivery of improvement programmes, including the Urgent and Unscheduled Care collaborative, to ensure sustainable ways of delivering services, improving access for patients, and reducing unnecessary demand for services. A Speciality Delivery Group meets regularly to monitor progress and support initiatives which are enhancing the RUC pathway.

Scottish Government has confirmed funding for the Workforce Specialist Service (WSS) for 2024-25 and the current contract will be extended for a further 12 months. WSS provides confidential mental health assessment and treatment for regulated health, social care and social work professionals in Scotland.

The Scottish Government continues to support NHS Dumfries and Galloway respond to the cyber-attack through the provision of the Scottish multi-agency cyber incident support arrangements. These arrangements bring national agencies, including the National Cyber Security Centre, law enforcement (including Police Scotland), NHS Cyber Security Centre of Excellence, NHS Boards and the Scottish Government together to support the response and recovery to the incident.

For further information I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-01869 on 19 March 2024 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament .

Restraint and seclusion should only ever be used as a last resort to prevent the risk of injury. The Scottish Government is developing new human-rights based guidance on the use of physical intervention in schools. We are due to publish the consultation analysis report on our draft physical intervention in schools guidance very shortly. We will then reconvene the physical intervention working group to make final revisions to the guidance.

Progress with this work can be followed via the working group’s webpage .

We recognise that there have been calls for further legislation. Alongside the publication of the guidance, and in line with our original commitments, we are exploring options to strengthen the legal framework in this area. This includes the option of placing the guidance on a statutory basis.

Restraint and seclusion should only ever be used as a last resort to prevent the risk of injury. Under existing guidance , all local authorities are asked to have policies in place governing the use of these practices and are asked to monitor their use.

As part of their scrutiny and improvement roles in schools, Education Scotland inspectors consider the impact of practice in relation to the use of physical intervention for children and young people. Where they have concerns about the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, inspectors would follow local child protection procedures and consider onward referrals to social work or the police.

The Scottish Government is developing new human-rights based guidance on the use of physical intervention in schools, including the practices of restraint and seclusion. We are due to publish the consultation analysis report on our draft physical intervention in schools guidance very shortly. We will then reconvene the physical intervention working group to make final revisions to the guidance.

Progress with this work can be followed via the working group’s webpage .

We are committed to reporting on progress against the actions in our Ending Homelessness Together action plan on an annual basis to the Scottish Parliament. The last annual update was published on 26 October 2023 - Ending homelessness together: annual report 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) - and we will provide the next update to Parliament in October 2024. This report will include an update on action to implement and review prevention pathways for groups at particular risk of homelessness .

It is important to clarify the difference between Bus services improvement partnerships (BSIPs) in the Scottish and UK context. BSIPs in Scotland are partnerships between local transport authorities and bus operators to improve bus services in their areas, and are equivalent to the UK Government’s Enhanced Partnerships.

In England a Bus Service Improvement Plan or BSIP is a public document prepared by every Local Transport Authority in England, outside London, which sets out the vision and plan for improving bus services and growing bus patronage in their local area, in line with the UK Government’s National Bus Strategy aims. The document referred to in the question is intended to provide guidance for these authorities in updating their BSIPs for 2024.

In Scotland, as stated in the recently published Fair Fares Review, Transport Scotland, working with local government, industry and other stakeholders, will develop a bus service improvement plan and delivery framework, over the next 18 months to improve the future availability of bus services across Scotland.

As the framework is still to be developed, the Scottish Government has not rejected any approach at this time. As we develop the framework we will consider actions taken in other parts of the UK, to determine the most appropriate approach for Scotland. This includes the UK Government’s National Bus Strategy and supporting documents, such as the one mentioned in the question.

Our 2023 Programme for Government included a commitment to publish a final version of the route map to achieving the 20% car kilometre reduction this year, and we look forward to publishing this in the coming months.