The Scottish Government is pleased to announce that the Scottish Onshore Wind Sector Deal has been launched today at the Scottish Renewables Onshore Wind Conference.

Myself and the Minister for Energy and Environment have signed the deal on behalf of the Scottish Government.

A copy of the deal will be available on the Scottish Government website – https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835213810

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will give careful consideration to any reports of alleged criminal conduct which are submitted by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has no policy whereby it will not accept offences reported to by the police, or any specialist reporting agency.

The 2023-24 Programme for Government and Pay Strategy maintains our commitment to a four-day working week public sector pilot to assess environmental, health and wellbeing benefits and productivity gains this could bring.

The pilot and the concluding report will ensure meaningful insights are gained on the benefits and risks of a four-day working week approach.

We are currently seeking an expert partner organisation to support pilot participants, assist with the pilot design and produce an evaluation report. The work of the expert partner organisation will define the framework to judge the effectiveness of the public sector four-day working week pilot proposal.

The following table sets out the number of accused receiving a direct measure as a first substantive marking compared to the total number of accused receiving a first substantive marking (all types including: court, direct measure, no action, no decision) in cases including an assault charge (within the Scottish Government Classification of “Common Assault”):

The Scottish Government places great importance on indoor sport facilities, such as ice rinks. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

We are aware of the current challenges and difficult financial circumstances facing many operating indoor sports facilities due to the cost of living crisis. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to use all the powers at its disposal to tackle this cost of living crisis and to provide appropriate energy bill relief to leisure facilities.

Where indoor sports facilities are operated by the local authority or leisure trust, it is for local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities. In 2023-24 the Scottish Government provided nearly £13.5bn in the Local Government Settlement and increased the resources available to local government by more than £793 million, including £100 million of additional funding at Stage 3 of the Budget Bill, funded in part by consequentials provided at the UK Budget. This was a real terms increase of £376 million or 3% compared to the 2022-23 Budget figures. In addition, Scottish Ministers allocated a further £55m ahead of the summer. This follows on from the additional £1 billion of funding provided to Local Government in 2022-23.

The Scottish Government understand that access to facilities is necessary for a range of sporting activities. That’s why our Programme for Government for 2023 to 2024 sets out our intention to convene a working group, including representatives of sports organisations, community organisations and CoSLA, to explore how community access to community facilities, such as the school estate, can be enhanced. This will be a priority action in our refreshed Active Scotland Delivery Plan.

The following table sets out the total number of accused reported to Ayr Procurator Fiscal Office receiving a first substantive marking of a fiscal fine in each of the last 5 years.

Prosecutors do not always choose to mark a case for no action, they may require to do so if there is not sufficient admissible evidence available in law to justify prosecutorial action or where the statutory time limits have been exceeded.

The following table sets out the total number of criminal cases in which no action was taken by the prosecutor at a) Ayr and b) Kilmarnock in each of the last 5 years.

Bereaved families should not have to wait this time to receive final confirmation of the cause of death of a loved one, and this is not a situation which COPFS endorses. It is imperative that this information is provided as soon as possible, as these delays simply compound distress and anxiety.

The current delays relate to the time taken to receive toxicology analysis to assist pathologists in the preparation of the final post mortem report.

Given previous concerns about toxicology analysis times, the service covering most of Scotland transferred to the Scottish Police Authority on 1 December 2022 following substantial investment by the Scottish Government. Although the initial timescale for a new laboratory being fully operational was the first quarter of 2023, this was impacted by a combination of factors including a water contamination problem that shut the laboratory down for two weeks, as well as the time required for the new equipment in the lab to be calibrated, and testing methods verified. These are matters outwith COPFS control.

There has therefore been a disappointing but unavoidable knock-on effect on the completion of toxicology analysis, and thereafter submission to COPFS of final post mortem reports from pathologists. Additionally, a significant increase in deaths being reported to COPFS compared to pre-pandemic levels has resulted in a corresponding increase in instructed post mortem examinations. This has also impacted on how quickly post mortem reports can be completed.

Every effort is being made by COPFS, the Scottish Police Authority and pathologists working together across Scotland to reduce the time taken to provide final reports to families. I have been assured that the laboratory has been fully operational since the end of May 2023. The analysis backlogs which built up over the course of this year are being addressed as a priority by the toxicologists, who advise that by November 2023 the average time for analysis to be completed and submitted to the pathologist for a non-suspicious death will be 5 weeks.

COPFS has also allocated additional resource internally to process this year's backlog of final post mortem reports as they are received from pathologists, to seek to reduce the lengthy delays being experienced.

In our response to the Scottish Mental Health Law Review we committed to establish a Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme to further enhance and protect human rights within legislation, policy and practice. This includes a commitment to enhance carers’ rights and role in practice through further developing and promoting carer awareness training for staff working with people with mental or intellectual disability across health and social care settings, by 2026.

These actions will also be set out in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan, which will be published in Autumn 2023.

We have funded NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop three training modules for the health and social care workforce, including those working with mental or intellectual disability across health and social care settings, to help them to identify, include and support unpaid carers. We expect those to be launched by the end of 2023.

Specific data on job creation is not collected. Over the past ten years, the estimated numbers of manufacturing jobs in Scotland, rounded to the nearest 1,000, were as follows: