Chamber and committees

Scotland’s public transport network currently offers passengers a mix of smartcard, smart payment and digital platforms for their travel needs. Transport Scotland made smartcards interoperable in 2019, and via our £1.1m Smart Pay Grant fund, we’ve supported operators to accept contactless bank payments, with around 98% of buses now enabled for this.

As technology advances, we are committed to progressing with smart, digital and integrated ticketing and payment with operators to facilitate easier, tailored ticketing enhancements to meet local needs.

We are progressing measures in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, setting a smart ticketing delivery framework, enhancing governance, technology and powers. The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board will be established this year, with representatives from different modes, authorities and user groups. Advice will be provided on strategic direction and a smart technological standard for smart ticketing which will be specified by Scottish Ministers. The Act will also enhance the ticketing powers of local authorities, including for ticketing arrangements to include connecting rail and ferry services.

We are refreshing our Smart Delivery Strategy which will set out our approach and timescales to supporting the future of smart ticketing, so it enhances integration, accessibility and satisfaction. This is informed by a public survey that ran in Spring 2023.

As outlined in our response of 16 June 2023 to the COVID-19 Recovery Committee report on long COVID, I wrote to NHS National Services Scotland on 16 June 2023 to request implementation of a range of actions to support internal and external communication regarding activities being undertaken by the long COVID Strategic Network. NHS National Services Scotland has confirmed that these actions are in progress, and include the identification of an appropriate web solution to share priorities, key outputs, and meeting minutes.

The Scottish Government is represented on the Strategic Oversight Board of the long COVID Strategic Network. The Strategic Oversight Board provides oversight of the workplan and programme outcomes of the Strategic Network.

Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23 is a statistical publication which presents the latest client and expenditure figures for Free Personal and Nursing Care (FPNC). The data collected does not include information which would allow us to explain why there is a greater proportion of older clients in receipt of FPNC payments.

In Scotland, FPNC is available to all adults, regardless of their age, and is provided based on an assessment of need by the Local Authority.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government made a Programme for Government commitment to “ensure provision of high quality child palliative care, regardless of location, supported by sustainable funding of at least £7m per year through Children’s Hospices Across Scotland”.

In addition, the Scottish Government provides £143,115 annual funding to Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention (CYPFEI) fund. This funding supports CHAS to deliver their services and offer full family support for babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions.

The updated Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 Statutory Guidance, written in partnership between Scottish Government and COSLA, commits to integrated monitoring arrangements that co-ordinate two forms of monitoring, welfare and financial.

The Guidance states that Local Authorities:

• Should develop effective arrangements for the assessment and monitoring of SDS.
• Should ensure that all monitoring arrangements are explained to the supported person.
• Should actively seek the comments and suggestions of supported people, carers and the wider population as part of any review of processes, systems, guidance and procedures and should seek to co-design all such arrangements with the full involvement of supported people and carers from the beginning and throughout.
• Should consider regularly publishing data they routinely collect about the experiences and outcomes of supported persons, consistent with accessibility and data protection requirements.

The use of products containing asbestos was banned in the UK in 1999. However, it is still found in buildings and there are strict guidelines about removing asbestos safely. Work with asbestos generally requires a license and the use of strict control measures, including using personal protective equipment. This restriction on asbestos exposure aims to reduce incidence and death from asbestos-related diseases. Between 2010 and 2019, the risk of dying from mesothelioma decreased for both men (30%) and women (29%).

The Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament has a strong record of supporting those who have been negligently exposed to asbestos and their relatives. Significant provision regarding the law on damages for personal injuries has been made, including introducing the Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Act 2007, the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009, and supporting the Damages (Scotland) Act 2011.

The RPW scheme is intended to provide police officers with a timely and proportionate means of dealing with offending which meet the criteria of being lower-level offending in terms of the Lord Advocate’s guidelines.

Those guidelines provide general principles which should be followed when an officer is considering whether to issue an RPW.

Officers have operational discretion to issue an RPW if they consider that appropriate in all the circumstances. An alternative would be for the officer to report the matter to the Procurator Fiscal.

Although the Lord Advocate’s guidelines are confidential, Police Scotland’s published guidance provides additional instruction to officers on when RPWs can be used.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing NHS dental payment reform on 1 November 2023 which will retain independent dental practices as the mainstay of NHS provision. Payment reform will also continue to comprise fee-per-item, capitation and allowance payments within a blended model.

In bringing forward payment reform, Scottish Government is seeking to address how best to maximise patient care and access to NHS dental services within a challenging financial position, and ensure value-for-money to the public sector. It is our view this can only be done by maintaining the blended system of payment, and our engagement with the sector during the development of reform has shown that dentists prefer being able to determine their own income and workload through the fee-per-item model.

The Scottish Government is currently responding to the committee’s letter in full, and this response will be published in due course.

We have been working closely with COSLA and other stakeholders over the summer and will publish the first Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan and accompanying Workforce Action Plan in Autumn 2023.

I refer the member the answer to question S6W-21021 on 19 September 2023. 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 .