Chamber and committees

The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government recognises that Transport plays an important role in supporting patients’ health journeys and the Scottish Government has recently prepared a draft Transport to Health delivery plan which has commitments against transport and healthcare across the work of Health Boards, Regional Transport Partnerships, Health and Social Care and Transport Scotland.

All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

The Scottish Government greatly values the Community Transport sector’s work helping older and disabled people to access GP or hospital appointments and live happier, healthier and more independent lives for longer in their own homes and communities.

We are aware that many third sector organisations issue three-month notices to staff that are funded through grants to inform them that they are at risk of redundancy should funding not continue.

In recognition of the impact that this can have, grant managers across the Scottish Government aim to inform organisations of funding arrangements as early as possible and, ideally, before the end of calendar year to avoid the need for redundancy notices.

Regrettably, the late timing of the UK Government Autumn Statement and the catastrophic cuts to Scotland’s block-grant have caused unavoidable delays in finalising budgets for 24-25. As a result we have been, as yet, unable to notify many third sector organisations of their future funding.

In line with our Fairer Funding commitments, we are working to do so as soon as soon as is practically possible and before the end of March 2024 for funding that starts on 1 April. Grant managers are engaging with organisations to provide as much support and assurance as possible.

I am answering the question as this topic now falls into my Ministerial portfolio.

As the Member is aware, the Scottish Government’s understanding of the station proposal is that it is and has always been a developer led station, as outlined in Winchburgh Developments Ltd.’s original Masterplan.

My understanding is that West Lothian Council is responsible for the organisation and invitations for the multi-stakeholder meeting, as set out in the Council Motion from its meeting on 30 May 2023 and I will consider my attendance once I have had an opportunity to fully familiarise myself with the matter.

I can confirm, the Scottish Government welcomes the collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach and I and my officials in Transport Scotland will continue to support the process of exploring options for the delivery of a new station at Winchburgh.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24444 on 22 January 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 Family Support Commissioning and Procurement Short Life Working Group was a subset of the Family Support Advisory Group, set up to provide recommendations on the key theme of holistic family support. Following task completion, engagement on this issue has reverted to the Family Support Advisory Group, as well as engagement with broader stakeholders as part of delivery of the Whole Family Wellbeing Programme.

The Parental Involvement Act Statutory Guidance Working Group was set up to refresh statutory guidance. The group met four times over the course of 2019, and developed draft amended guidance. Due to COVID-19, the Group decided to pause this work given the limited capacity of education authorities and schools to prepare for and implement refreshed statutory guidance at this time. Officials are considering how best to strengthen parental engagement following the OECD PISA 2022 results and the respective Muir and National Discussion reports, which highlighted a growing appetite for more “meaningful engagement” opportunities for parents.

The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to review The Microchipping of Dogs (Scotland) Regulations 2016

The consultation on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill includes a proposal to introduce a minimum energy efficiency standard. Landlords of private rented housing would be required to meet this standard by the end of 2028.

The intention is to set a minimum energy efficiency standard at a level that is broadly equivalent to EPC C. The Scottish House Condition Survey 2022 estimates that around 50% of privately rented homes are already in EPC band C or better. It is likely that for many homes which do not yet meet the proposed standard, the amount of work needed to be carried out is modest.

We are also seeking views in our consultation on whether to introduce further flexibility to the standard for specific groups or personal circumstances. These mechanisms may reduce the number of homes which need to meet the standard.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Student Loans Company (SLC) collects and publishes data on student loan outlays, repayments, and borrower activity for Scottish SLC customers each year.

Student Loans in Scotland: Financial Year 2022-23 (Table 3) provides (i) the number and (ii) the percentage of borrower who received loans as Scottish domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in Scotland by repayment status.

Note: These statistics only include information on loan products and do not include information regarding grants and bursaries which make up part of the student support package offered to students in Scotland.