Chamber and committees

The Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy confirmed to the Scottish Parliament on 18 April 2024 that we will deliver the commitment made to publish by autumn the route map for reduction in car use by 20% produced in partnership with CoSLA. It will include a timeline for implementing demand management and within the context of our commitment to a just transition.

As outlined in the draft route map, published in January 2022, the Scottish Government recognises that powers for local authorities to introduce potential road charging schemes were established in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 and that Local Authorities are best placed to determine whether a local road user charging scheme supports the objectives set out in their local transport strategy.

The finalised route map will also ask the UK Government to reform motoring taxes, given that they are the most direct levers on the cost of buying or running a petrol or diesel car. Fuel duty and vehicle excise duty are reserved matters. We have made a number of attempts at both ministerial and official level to engage the UK Government on these issues, without any meaningful response. The Scottish Government has not had discussions with the Office of the Leader of the Opposition on this matter.

I refer the member to answer to question: S6W-27895 on 28 May 2024. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access the care that they need to live their lives well. This includes increasing access to diabetes technologies.

Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million of additional funding to support the increased provision of diabetes technologies.

I am delighted to confirm that this financial year, up to £8.8 million of funding will be made available to expand access to diabetes technologies in Scotland. The focus will primarily be on providing access to all children that want Closed Loop Systems, but will also allow us to continue increasing access to adults.

This investment will allow us to continue developing innovative care models for diabetes in Scotland that have a focus on digital pathways and peer support.

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 .

Following the recent MHRA review into topical steroid withdrawal, regulatory action means topical steroids will soon be labelled with their potencies. This will aid correct selection and simplify the advice for patients. The Scottish Government will cascade the MHRA updated safety alert, new labelling and revised patient safety leaflet to prescribers through clinical networks.

The Scottish Government encourages individuals to review their treatment plans with their healthcare professionals at least annually, and we are working with Health Improvement Scotland to develop searches for clinicians to identify patients using steroids.

We are already working on a four nations approach with MHRA as a hub.

Data on Fracture Liaison Services across Scotland are not centrally held by the Scottish Government.

As the member will know, decisions on how to deliver healthcare services for local communities are ultimately for local health boards and integration authorities to make. Boards and IJBs are expected to carry out proportionate engagement around service change proposals in line with Planning for People: Community Engagement and Participation Guidance. HIS have met with the board and made a number of recommendations on how they can better adhere to the guidance going forward.

The creche service is available 3 days per week.  The opening hours reflect that the core purpose of the creche is to facilitate public engagement with parliamentary business.  We recently successfully negotiated with the Care Inspectorate to increase the number of hours each week, but we currently have no plans to review the facility on non-business days. 

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Ambulance Service publish their weekly performance statistics, which can be found here - https://www.scottishambulance.com/publications/unscheduled-care-operational-statistics/ .

The Government plans to commence the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill within three months of the Bill receiving Royal Assent.

The Scottish Government is keen to promote a culture of entrepreneurship.

Scottish Government business support is provided by our enterprise agencies, utilising a range of support mechanisms. Scottish Enterprise provide business support in the area which includes the Edinburgh Eastern Constituency.

Scottish Enterprise systems do not hold tags for UK or Scottish parliamentary constituencies. Accordingly, as a proxy, the postcodes for the Edinburgh Eastern constituency were used to identify businesses in that constituency to which payments were made. It is also not possible for Scottish Enterprise to break down the payments according to size of business as they do not hold company size in our finance system

The only review currently in progress for which I am responsible is the Independent Review of Community Learning and Development (CLD).

The review will consider the extent to which CLD is contributing to deliver positive outcomes in line with Scottish Government priorities.