Chamber and committees

Work is ongoing to progress the national guidance framework on local planning and commissioning of independent hospice care, and to align the framework with our overarching palliative care strategy.

We will continue to work with Chief Officers and independent hospices to support longer term sustainable planning and commissioning for the hospice sector.

As outlined, the Scottish Government will develop a Just Transition Plan for the Mossmorran industrial complex following delivery of the Grangemouth Just Transition Plan. Work will commence in early 2025 and as such, detailed timetable is not yet available, however we would anticipate taking a sequential approach, working to develop data driven baseline, an outline vision for 2045, a corresponding action plan and monitoring framework. The Scottish Government intends to publish the Just Transition Plan for Mossmorran by the end of the parliament.

There are no plans to produce estimates of Scottish public sector net debt. The Scottish Government has limited borrowing powers, and borrowing by the UK Government is not identified to any country or region in the UK. As such it is not possible to calculate estimates of Scottish public sector net debt in the same way as other countries do.

The deadline for nominations from communities and organisations that would like their area to be considered for designation as a new National Park was 29 February 2024. Nominations were received from the Galloway, Lochaber, Loch Awe, Scottish Borders and Tay Forest. The nominations are currently being appraised against the criteria outlined in the published appraisal framework - New National Parks: nominations guidance and appraisal framework - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This appraisal framework was finalised following public consultation.

Following the completion of this appraisal process and the submission of a report, Ministers will decide which of the nominations should be taken forward to the next stage. The National Park proposal(s) will be published and will set out the area which it is proposed should be designated as a National Park.

A statutory process will then commence, starting with a detailed exploration of the National Park proposal that will be led by a ‘reporter’. This process is estimated to take around 9 months and will involve extensive consultation and engagement with local communities, stakeholders, businesses, local authorities, community councils and relevant public bodies and interest groups in order to further develop, test and refine the National Park proposal in light of local views and circumstances.

The reporter’s report to Scottish Ministers will take into account any views on the National Park proposal that are expressed during the consultation. The report will be published and laid before Parliament.

Following the publication of this report, and subject to legal conditions being met, the Scottish Government will then lay a designation order before Parliament in order to establish the new National Park(s). This process will include a 12-week public consultation on the draft designation order. Following this period of consultation a final designation order would then be laid before parliament.

This called-in case is still under consideration and a decision will issue as soon as possible. A response on the project is expected to issue by 29 May.

The Sheku Bayoh Public Inquiry commenced evidentiary hearings on 10 May 2022. As of 2 May 2024, 102 days of evidence have been heard by Lord Bracadale including detailed evidence on the events at Hayfield Road on 3 May 2015; post-incident management by Police Scotland, COPFS and PIRC; cause of death; and Police Scotland training. The Inquiry will hear evidence on race, and whether it was a factor in Mr Bayoh’s death, in June 2024.

As the Public Inquiry is independent of Ministers, it is for the Chair to direct how the Inquiry carries out its duties. Lord Bracadale has previously confirmed that he anticipates that all the remaining evidence should be completed by the end of the year and a final report will be prepared and produced once all evidence has been heard and reviewed.

The new publication format from Public Health Scotland is experimental and will continue to develop as the new Payments Model beds in.

The new publications draw from the revised Statement of Dental Remuneration (SDR) which sets out 45 comprehensive care and treatment activities from 1 November, as opposed to the previous SDR which was input-focused and included over 700 individual item codes. In reforming the SDR to focus on comprehensive care and treatment activities, we have also ensured that the overall model of care is predicated on being patient-centric and responsive to individual need and risk.

While we are therefore still able to draw broad comparisons on activity reported for clinical treatments pre- and post-pandemic, given the significant change to the basis on which raw data is collected, it is not appropriate for the two data-sets to be presented as equivalent in statistical reporting and comparisons drawn must be treated with appropriate caution. While broad comparisons are useful for providing indicative metrics on sector capacity pre- and post-pandemic, our focus is to ensure that all activity is of clinical value and appropriate to the patient's need.

Forestry and Land Scotland do not create policy but follow Scottish Government Policy created by other Scottish Government agencies.

Forestry and Land Scotland a) encourage raptor and owl conservation and monitoring by following the principles within Scotland’s Biodiversity Strategy, Scotland’s Forestry Strategy and by complying with all relevant wildlife legislation.

Forestry and Land Scotland b) are engaged with a range of local community conservation programmes, including those supported by Scottish Raptor Study Group. In 2023, FLS launched its Communities Strategy which is an invitation for community groups to come forward with ideas for projects and activities including conservation work on Scotland's National Forests and Land managed by FLS.

The Scottish Government is taking action to prevent and support the removal of plastic pollution in seas and waterways through measures detailed in the Marine Litter Strategy.

The refreshed Marine Litter Strategy aims to address the amount of litter entering the marine environment, as well as to help tackle existing litter, in order to achieve ecological, economic and social benefits. The Strategy’s action plan focuses on the most problematic types of marine litter including fishing and aquaculture gear, sewage-related debris, and plastic pellets, and will drive forward our work up to 2027 co-ordinating the efforts of our stakeholders and partners, working at a national and international level to help tackle this global problem.

The Scottish Government supports the removal of existing litter through funding the work of organisations that support and co-ordinate beach cleans and local community engagement, such as Local Coastal Partnerships. We have also funded litter removal offshore through KIMO’s Fishing for Litter scheme, and at our rivers with Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Upstream Battle project, preventing litter entering waterways, travelling downstream, and ultimately reaching the sea.

None of the public bodies under the direct jurisdiction of the Scottish Ministers currently use physical record keeping as their only means of information storage.