Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to recognise the valuable contribution that organisations like Glasgow Life provide to communities across Scotland. Whilst Glasgow Life is a registered charity, the Scottish Government acknowledges that it operates as an arms-length external organisation to Glasgow City Council.

Councils are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities separate from the Scottish Government. It is for Glasgow City Council to decide how to use their resources as efficiently as possible. This is both to best meet the needs of their local communities and deliver local and national government’s three shared priorities as set out in the Verity House Agreement: tackling poverty; transforming the economy through a just transition to net zero; and, delivering sustainable person-centred public services).

The impact of climate change policies on disabled people is a key consideration in just transition planning. We are currently engaging widely on priorities for our Just Transition Plans to ensure the transition to net zero and climate resilience reflects the needs of everyone across Scotland before developing the specific policies and engaging in bilateral meetings at Cabinet Secretary level. We are currently working with several disabled people’s organisations to enable them to engage with their members on our behalf and ensure that the needs of disabled people are reflected both in the Plans, and in wider Scottish Government policy.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their answer is:

Scottish Water does not report or evaluate leakage based on parliamentary constituency area and it normally reports leakage on an annual basis to account for the effect of seasonal variations. However, it has estimated that the total leakage in the Glasgow region was recorded at 77.3 Ml/d in December 2022, a 19% increase over the previous month as a result of the extreme weather conditions.

Leakage management and reduction is a priority for teams across Scottish Water - finding and fixing the wide variety and complexity of leaks; these can range from low level "weeps and seeps" to large-scale bursts on the pipe network. Nationally they are responsible for 30,516 miles of water pipes across both urban and rural communities on the mainland and islands.

Despite the challenges, at the end of 2022-23 Scottish Water achieved its lowest ever level of leakage across Scotland, continuing the trend of year on year reductions in leakage since 2007.

Academic year 2021-22 saw increases in enrolments, student headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) places on the previous year; as well as increased numbers upskilling and reskilling on short courses, and increased opportunities for those furthest from the workplace.

Colleges continue to evolve their offer, whether full-time, part-time or a tailored mix, taking account of the diverse needs of learners; while continuing to respond flexibly to the social and economic needs of the regions they serve through the delivery of short courses aimed at upskilling and reskilling.

In establishing the Drug Research Network Scotland (DRNS) in 2017 the intention was to provide seed funding through the Scottish Funding Council to allow the network to develop and become self-sufficient through developing other income streams with associated research co-ordination fees. Initially this was agreed for a period of 3 years and was then extended for a further 3 years.

Whilst Scottish Government recognise that a model of full self-sufficiency is not a viable option for the network, officials worked with DRNS to explore a number of funding options. Within the context of a challenging economic situation, it was considered that the DRNS was now an established network and could therefore focus on knowledge exchange and capacity building within the drug research community whilst continuing to develop and maintain connections across the research community.

We are developing our new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy, which has an overarching aim that everyone in Scotland receives well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care, care around death and bereavement support based on their needs and preferences, including support for families and carers. We want people to receive care where they feel most comfortable. For many, but not all, this will be at home, supported by their family and friends and cared for by primary care teams and care staff.

We have established a number of working groups, including a Children and Young People’s Palliative Care Working Group and a Workforce Education, Training and Resources Working Group. These groups will develop evidence-based recommendations for future service planning, delivery, and improvements in equity of access and continuity of care. They will consider the actions that need to be taken to support the care of children and young people in their own homes, where appropriate. This includes determining what additional training and support community nursing teams may need to enable this.

The aims of the DRNS are not to carry out research but to to develop a Scottish drugs research strategy to build capacity, maximise research investment and deliver robust, high-quality research evidence to inform policy and practice relevant to problem drug use and recovery in Scotland. As well as facilitating collaboration across Scotland, they also develop links with leading researchers elsewhere in the UK and in other countries.

We recognise the value of this work which is why we have continued to support them beyond their initial seed funding stage.

The Lord Advocate provided specific parameters, which were set out in a statement on 3 November 2021, it stipulated in order for a new proposal to be considered it would need to be precise, detailed and specific, which was underpinned by evidence and supported by those who would be responsible for policing such a facility, and by Police Scotland.

The current proposal, as developed by Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, is only for a site within Glasgow.

The Scottish Government facilitated discussions between Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership and Police Scotland, both of whom input into the proposal, which was developed by Glasgow HSCP, for a Safer Drug Consumption Facility prior to it being sent to COPFS.

The proposal for a SDCF which could operate within current legislation, and which would suit the parameters set out by the Lord Advocate in November 2021, was shared with COPFS on 22 June 2022.

This was a proposal developed by Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership and Scottish Government facilitated that development.