Chamber and committees

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The health and wellbeing of those who live and work in our prisons is a key priority for the Scottish Prison Service and we continue to work with numerous organisations to offer those in their care a suite of support to address both their addiction and recovery journey.

1. Current reporting incident categories do not align with the above question and make it impossible to answer. SPS do however record instances of those in our care who are believed to be under the influence of substances.

SPS are reviewing reporting processes that should allow this information to be captured in a more robust and accurate manner.

2. Staff are advised in line with Staff Notice 053/17 to follow procedures if they believe they have been exposed to an unknown substance, this includes recording of the incident by way of an Accident at Work.

With regards to the recording of medical attention, NHS are responsible for the release of this information due to patient confidentiality; and in the case of SPS staff members, SPS will record accidents at work, however, it is at the individual’s discretion if they chose to report such incidents, despite advice and guidance detailed in staff notice 053/17.

Ministers are actively considering the final content of the Aviation Strategy and expect to publish it in the near future.

It is important to ensure that the content of the Strategy is consistent with other Scottish Government policies that aim to encourage sustainable economic growth and to deliver our commitment to net zero emissions by 2045.

The Scottish Government is looking to launch its consultation on crofting legislative reform in spring this year, as committed to in the Programme for Government 2023-24.

As shown through the Budget process, the challenging fiscal landscape has necessitated some difficult choices across government. This, alongside the need to strengthen the pipeline of investment, has resulted in the Scottish Government (SG) having to take the very difficult decision to pause the Green Growth Accelerator (GGA) programme.

It takes time to develop infrastructure projects and the six pathfinder projects supported through the GGA were at varying stages of development when the decision to pause the programme was taken. None were at the stage of investment and project delivery and consequently no assessment on return for investment has been undertaken.

Officials are working with the LAs impacted to explore what alternative funding sources may be available to progress projects where funding exists; including through Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund and the Scottish Heat Network Fund.

Additionally, we are building on existing work across Government and recent collaborative efforts across the Government and public sector partners to identify and align investment behind key projects; strengthening relationships at the strategic and operational level to expedite the delivery of major public sector funded infrastructure projects.

The worrying of livestock by dogs is completely unacceptable and is something the Scottish Government takes very seriously and recognises the distress and the serious welfare and financial implications it may cause.

From November 2021 to September 2023, 21 accused have been convicted with, at least one, protection of livestock from dogs charge. In all the cases, the charges were under the dogs (protection of livestock) act 1953 section 1(1)&(6).

The Scottish Government has been working with AssistFM and the Improvement Service to map breakfast provision across Scotland, the findings will be used internally to inform the policy development on national breakfast provision. The first phase of the mapping work is now complete. The second phase of the work will take place across April-May 2024 and will survey all primary and special schools in their approach to the provision of breakfast.

As shown through the Budget process, the challenging fiscal landscape has necessitated some difficult choices across government. This, alongside the need to strengthen the pipeline of investment, has resulted in the Scottish Government (SG) having to take the very difficult decision to pause the Green Growth Accelerator (GGA) programme.

The SG provided £720k to six local authorities (LAs) in 2021-22 to develop business cases for low carbon projects to test the GGA model and the six projects supported are at varying stages of development. Officials are working with the LAs impacted to explore what alternative funding sources may be available to progress projects where funding exists; including through Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund and the Scottish Heat Network Fund.

Additionally, we are building on existing work across Government and recent collaborative efforts across the Government and public sector partners to identify and align investment behind key projects; strengthening relationships at the strategic and operational level to expedite the delivery of major public sector funded infrastructure projects.

The Council Tax Freeze that was announced by the First Minister, and accepted by almost all Councils, relates only to the 2024-25 financial year. It will provide certainty to households during a time of economic uncertainty and rising prices.

The funding provided in 2024-25 for the purposes of freezing Council Tax will be baselined into the General Revenue Grant in future years for those councils which freeze their Council Tax.

We are liaising with the UK Government on its plans for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator to ensure that infrastructure and supply chain for offshore wind are supported via the fund. We are keen to collaborate with the UK Government to ensure GIGA funding is allocated in a way which complements and aligns with Scotland’s energy transition, including our up to £500 million strategic investment over the next five years to help anchor the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland. Through the novel work or our Strategic Investment Model, Scotland is well positioned to ensure the ongoing collaboration between governments and industry identifies key shared priorities to unlock infrastructure investment needed to build a thriving renewables industry for Scotland. We expect more details from the UK Government in due course.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on the amount spent by local authorities on taxi journeys for pupils travelling to school.