Chamber and committees

Police Scotland implemented the THRIVE approach as part of the roll out of its Contact Assessment Model (CAM) across 2019/20. THRIVE is used to ensure a consistent response to an incident report by evaluating threat, harm, risk, investigation, vulnerability and engagement. That places the needs of the individual at the centre of the police’s decisions while ensuring that effective prioritisation is in place.

It is vitally important that the Chief Constable has the flexibility to develop her workforce in a way that responds to the challenges she faces by ensuring the right workforce mix. She confirmed to the Criminal Justice Committee on 20 December that the extra £75.7m of resource funding provided by Scottish Government in 2024-25 will enable Police Scotland to bring officer numbers up to around 16,500-16,600. With plans in place to bring in over 1000 new officers this financial year and around 320 having joined since March, she is bringing in the resources that will ensure that frontline policing is prioritised.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27516 on 22 May 2024. 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 .

The Scottish Government has not conducted any specific studies to monitor the number of further or higher education graduates that leave the Highlands and Islands region. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collect and publish information on those entering and completing College and University courses across Scotland. However, this information is not published at a regional level.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W- 27332 on 22 May 2024. 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 .

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) do not own or manage the land where Statkraft are proposing the development of the Craigwatch windfarm. They have therefore not been approached by Statkraft or received any payment from them for widening of roads.

There are several proposed windfarm sites in this area, and it is possible that road widening works are happening on neighbouring private land, of which FLS is not involved.

The Scottish Government remains committed to banning conversion practices in Scotland.

Our public consultation, containing detailed proposals, ran for 12 weeks and closed on 2 April 2024. Responses to that consultation are now being analysed and considered. Future legislative programmes will be announced in relevant Programmes for Government in the usual way.

The Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund had an annual budget of £120 million and ran from 2021-22 to 2022-23. It supported delivery of the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan Coronavirus (COVID-19): mental health - transition and recovery plan - summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and funding was allocated on an annual basis to a number of different organisations and delivery partners including the Third Sector, Local Authorities and NHS Boards. From 2023-24, the Recovery and Renewal Fund annual budget has been incorporated into the overall direct programme budget for mental health.

Going forwards, the direct programme budget for mental health published in the 2024-25 Scottish budget will be used to meet the priorities set out in our recently published Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy 2023-25 Mental health and wellbeing strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We remain committed to fair regulation of short-term let accommodation, which provides assurance to guests on safety and quality such as gas and electrical safety compliance and the suitability of hosts. We have listened to the sector and we have already made a number of changes to legislation and guidance, including extending the deadline for the overall scheme, and on 16 May I will lay an amending SSI, which makes further operational updates based on a range of feedback.

I have also written to the relevant lead committee to set out the monitoring we are undertaking of the new regulations, which includes ongoing engagement with stakeholders from the sector, local authorities, and residents groups. I have listened to specific feedback from Airbnb when I have met them in recent months, and I am cognisant of their desire to continue to build confidence in Scotland’s tourism offer ,which will also be achieved by stability of the scheme, which is still in a transitional phase. The global platforms I have met have said it is too early to draw conclusions on licensing more widely, and especially difficult to attribute trends to any one of multiple factors, however I would welcome any information they are willing to share as we prepare to provide a further implementation update to Parliament in the coming months.

The Data Lab has secured long term investment of up to £2 million per annum as part of the overall Scottish Government-funded SFC Innovation Centre programme, which will see investment of up to £8 million per annum across four innovation centres. The Scottish Government will also continue to provide additional funding for Data Lab of £945,000 until March 2026 through the Scottish AI Alliance’s programme of work .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27332 on 22 May 2024. 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 .