Chamber and committees

In light of the budget settlement for 2024-2025, and the financial pressures being faced across the Scottish Government, the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme in Scotland has been temporarily suspended to allow resources to be targeted at priority areas .

To give effect to the principal recommendation of the Legal Aid Payment Advisory Panel, that independent research be commissioned to consider the financial landscape for legal aid providers, a working group was established in 2022.

Membership of the group included representatives of the Law Society of Scotland, the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association and the Scottish Legal Aid Board. The group met regularly and agreed a specification to tender for the required research.

Following two unsuccessful tendering processes, the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association indicated their withdrawal from the working group. The Scottish Government share these frustrations, but an offer to re-tender remains.

The Scottish Government has held productive discussions with both the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association on the purpose of the research and will continue to make the case for re-tendering. We do believe that there is much to gain by carrying out the research.

Following the implementation of a new payment service provider, Transport Scotland were notified by the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) operator of a technical issue that was affecting less than 1% of CPS users. The issue caused the cards of those CPS members affected to be automatically ‘blocked’ by the system, leaving them unable to charge. Affected drivers were able to use other methods to charge, such as Webpay and contactless where available, and could also contact the CPS customer service team to start a charge remotely. The issue was fully resolved on 10 May. No compensation arrangements are in place, and to date CPS has not been contacted by any CPS users, including business users, seeking any.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the provision of high quality child palliative care, regardless of location, supported by sustainable funding of at least £7m per year through CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland).

We are working with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), Health Boards and CHAS to improve the sustainability and oversight of funding for CHAS and to develop a long term sustainable funding model.

The Palliative Care Strategy Steering Group’s Children and Young People’s Working Group is developing new actions to address equity and continuity of access to paediatric palliative care, including the staffing models required to deliver this.

The Scottish Government remains committed to advancing equality for LGBTQI+ people across all areas of life, including the labour market.

We are providing over £1.1 million to organisations working to promote LGBTQI+ equality in Scotland in 2024-25, including for initiatives to tackle discrimination and empower LGBTQI+ people and allies to advocate for LGBTQI+ rights in their workplace.

Through our Fair Work First approach we are leveraging employers’ commitment to fair work for all, including the LGBTQI+ community, by applying Fair Work principles to public sector grants, contracts and other funding, where it is relevant and proportionate to do so. These principles ask employers to commit to creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces and providing channels for effective voice, including trade union recognition. These facilitate open communication with workers to share their lived experiences, advocate for equal rights and ultimately improve workplace culture; and help all workers protect their legal rights and ensure fair treatment.

Budget is allocated on an annual basis, therefore the £500m long term investment in bus priority infrastructure was not allocated in one budget to the Bus Partnership Fund.

Capital budget is allocated to the Scottish Government as a total and then set against agreed priorities as part of the budget process on an annual basis. Future funding availability will be considered as part of annual budget setting processes and prioritisation exercises.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of modal shift to help achieve transport emission reduction targets. The Freight Facilities Grant scheme is designed to provide assistance to companies who wish to move freight by rail or water instead of by road. The scheme required State Aid clearance and under the terms of the approval rail and water haulage equipment, including rail wagons, was prohibited from support.

Since its launch, the Plugged-in Communities grant fund has supported 38 community transport organisations across Scotland make the switch to zero emission vehicles, providing over £3.5 million of funding allowing these organisations to procure 53 zero emission vehicles. These vehicles play a key role in their local communities by providing mobility, contributing to improved air quality and reducing polluting greenhouse gas emissions in the communities they serve.

These are unprecedented times with significant pressure on financial resources and difficult decisions had to be taken when setting the 2024-25 Scottish Budget. Given these constraints, Transport Scotland officials are currently considering future levels of funding for the Plugged-In Communities scheme, with no final decision yet made. Eligible community transport organisations can continue to register their interest on the EST website to receive further information.

The Scottish Government is clear that any cuts to learning hours are not acceptable. Scottish Ministers remain keen to come to an agreement with local government on the provision of learning hours in local authority schools. If no agreement is reached Scottish Ministers will take steps to ensure learning hours are protected, including considering the use of regulatory powers.

The Scottish Government, through its partnership with Peatland ACTION, restored a total of 10,361 hectares in 2023-24. This is a record high delivery for the peatland restoration programme, and continues our progress towards the 2030 restoration target of 250,000 hectares.