Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s guidance ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: a positive approach to the promotion and management of attendance in Scottish schools’ makes clear the need for schools to follow up absence immediately, and to continue to follow up absence for those for whom there are welfare concerns.

Local authorities are expected to have robust processes and guidance for children who do not attend school from the first day they are absent until they are re-engaged with education. Where children are missing for extended periods of time, or are not on a school roll or being educated otherwise, the Children Missing from Education Guidance and Service can support local authorities in this.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on children persistently absent from school centrally. Information on rates of children persistently absent from school would be for local authorities to collect.

The following table shows the number of affordable homes delivered in remote, rural and island communities in 2021-22 and 2022-23:

Within the Scottish Government funding of Health and Care research falls under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

As part of the Scottish Government response to the pandemic, in October 2020 CSO launched a funding call seeking applications which aimed to investigate the longer-term effects of COVID-19. Following an independent expert review process, 9 projects were funded with a total funding commitment of £2.5 million. The funding outcome was announced in December 2020.

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/funded-research/long-covid-call/

The timetable for completion of the 9 projects funded through the longer-term effects of COVID-19 funding call is provided below.

CSO funded research project start dates are confirmed through submission by the corresponding host institution of a completed start certificate ( Form7-Start-Certificate.docx (live.com) )

Project final reports are the result of a collaborative effort between the individual project teams and members of the CSO Public Engagement Group who work together to ensure the reports are written in accessible language. There is therefore an inevitable short delay between the project end date and the publication of the final report on the CSO website.

COV/LTE/20/04

Amplifying the voices of people with lived experience to improve understanding, support, treatment and education

Professor Kate Hunt University of Stirling

Project Start Certificate 01-03-23

9 month no-cost extension authorised by CSO 23-02-23

Revised End Date 30-11-23

COV/LTE/20/06

Defining and understanding the longer-term effects of COVID-19: A mixed methods study exploring the frequency, nature, and impact of ‘long COVID’ in the Scottish population

Professor Jill Pell University of Glasgow

Project Start Certificate 01-02-21

End Date 31-01-23

Project Completed

Final report published on CSO website

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/COVLTE2006.pdf

COV/LTE/20/08

COVID-19: Tracking Persistent Symptoms in Scotland (TraPSS)

Professor Nicolas Sculthorpe University of the West of Scotland

Project Start Certificate 01-04-21

3 month no-cost extension authorised by CSO 19-01-23

Revised End Date 31-06-23

Project Completed

Final report in draft

COV/LTE/20/10

Prevention and early treatment of COVID-19 long-term effects: a randomised clinical trial of resistance exercise

Professor Colin Berry University of Glasgow

Project Start Certificate 01-02-21

8 month no-cost extension authorised by CSO 03-04-23

Revised End Date 30-09-23

COV/LTE/20/15

Developing and validating a risk prediction model for long COVID-19

Professor Aziz Sheikh University of Edinburgh

Project Start Certificate 01-03-21

6 month no-cost extension authorised by CSO 09-09-22

Revised End Date 31-08-23

COV/LTE/20/26

Clinical phenotyping to enable targeted treatment of persistent cognitive symptoms after COVID-19

Professor Alan Carson University of Edinburgh

Project Start Certificate 01-04-21

CSO currently in discussion with Lead Investigator on no-cost extension

COV/LTE/20/28

Longer term impact of COVID-19 infection people with diabetes

Professor Robert Lindsay University of Glasgow

Project Start Certificate 01-02-21

12 month no-cost extension authorised by CSO 11-10-22

Revised End Date 31-04-24

COV/LTE/20/29

Evaluating emerging models of community rehabilitation for people experiencing the effects of long-COVID to inform responsive service delivery across Scotland

Professor Kay Cooper Robert Gordon University

Professor Edward Duncan University of Stirling

Project Start Certificate 01/05/21

6 month no-cost extension authorised by CSO 10/03/23

Revised End Date 31/10/23

COV/LTE/20/32

Lived experience of long term COVID-19 on NHS workers in health care settings in Scotland: a longitudinal mixed methods study

Dr Nicola Torrance Robert Gordon University

Dr Aileen Grant Robert Gordon University

Project Start Certificate 01-05-21

2 month no-cost extension authorised by CSO 11-11-22

Project Completed

Final report published on CSO website

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/COVLTE2032report.pdf

CSO’s standard funding committees also welcome applications on the longer-term effects of COVID-19 infection. To date 2 such proposals have been recommended for funding by the CSO’s Health Improvement, Protection and Services Committee Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research Committee – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

HIPS/22/33

Caring for Long COVID in Primary Care: Using Patient and Professional Experience to Build Co-Designed Solutions. A Participatory, Mixed Methods Study

Professor Catherine O’Donnell University of Glasgow

Project Start Certificate 01-04-23

Project end date 30-06-24

HIPS/23/08

Long COVID And Frontline Public Service Occupations: Impacts On Employees And Organisations

Dr Alice Maclean University of Stirling

Funding letter issued 06-07-23

Projected project end date 30-04-25

The Scottish Government is committed to enhancing protection for our marine environment in the face of the twin crises of climate change and loss of nature.

Although we are no longer progressing with our proposals for Highly Protected Marine Areas, we want to develop a new pathway to enhancing marine protection with all those who will join us round the table. There is a wealth of innovative ideas in our island and coastal communities and we want to hear more of these to help us develop an approach which is fair, just and brings people together.

We are also committed to supporting any group that wishes to pursue community-led marine protection in its local area. We have already seen successful initiatives in Arran and in St Abbs and Eyemouth and we will do everything to support those communities that want to follow in their footsteps.

Additionally, we have an on-going programme of work to implement fisheries management measures in existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where they are yet to be introduced, and to protect some of the most vulnerable priority marine features outside the MPA network.

After the summer recess, we will be consulting on proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore MPAs, beyond 12 nautical miles. The options to be consulted on have been the subject of extensive engagement over many years with a wide range of marine stakeholders. Inshore MPAs and priority marine features also require fisheries management measures and consultation on these inshore measures will take place in 2024.

Another step is the consultation on proposals to close fishing for sandeel in all Scottish waters which the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands launched on 21 July. This is a crucial step in safeguarding an important food source for many species, and it could aid the long-term sustainability and resilience of marine ecosystems.

Our Fisheries Management Strategy commits to rolling out Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) to key parts of Scotland’s fishing fleet. REM will offer enhanced scientific benefits, enabling us to boost the data and knowledge we have which in turn will help deliver an improved evidence base. This can be of significant benefit to not only the fishing industry but also fisheries managers and could improve our ability to provide enhanced protection to our marine environment going forward.

The Scottish Government has put in place a range of incentives in the Highland area to support NHS dental provision. Specifically:

• Scottish Dental Access Initiative. These grants are available to applicants wishing to open a new or expand existing practice provision. Payments of up to £100,000 for the first surgery, and £25,000 for each subsequent surgery are available through this initiative.

Comprehensive and rigorous monitoring of Scotland’s water environment is already undertaken by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). This monitoring shows that 66% of Scotland’s water environment as a whole is assessed as having ‘good’ status and that 87% of Scotland’s entire water environment is assessed by SEPA as having a ‘high’ or ‘good’ classification for water quality.

In its improving urban waters routemap, Scottish Water committed to installing 1,000 new CSO monitors by the end of 2024.

The Scottish Government welcomes this research and agrees with the need for Net Zero to be implemented in a manner that achieves maximum benefit for all of society. Through our Just Transition Planning and publication of the next Climate Change Plan we will ensure that we act quickly to achieve our Net Zero ambitions in a manner that assures inequalities are tackled in partnership with Scotland’s local communities.

Publicly funded peatland restoration is delivered by Peatland ACTION – a flagship partnership programme established by the Scottish Government with five public sector delivery partners – NatureScot, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, Scottish Water, Cairngorms National Park Authority and Forestry and Land Scotland.

We published our National Peatland Plan in 2015 which can be found here: https://www.nature.scot/doc/scotlands-national-peatland-plan-working-our-future In 2020 we announced an investment of £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares of peatlands over a 10 year period to 2030, and reiterated this commitment in the First Minister’s new policy prospectus ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/equality-opportunity-community-new-leadership-fresh-start ), aiming to deliver up to 110,000 hectares of restored peatland by 2026.

In addition to currently providing up to 100% funding for peatland restoration, we are working on a variety of parallel fronts by leveraging activity across the Scottish Government and through Peatland ACTION to increase restoration rates, this includes:

• developing new models for private finance;
• improving our scientific knowledge base to ensure we target restoration where it can be most beneficial;
• encouraging landowners and managers to participate in restoration through our land and agriculture reform programmes as well as exploring opportunities for restoration on public land;
• signposting to the new National Planning Framework ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-planning-framework-4/pages/6/ ), which strengthens controls on future extraction and on other types of development on peat;
• our consultation on ending the sale of peat in Scotland (closed 12 May 2023) which will support further policy development;
• addressing the skills shortages through the Peatland Skills, Capacity and Training Group which brings together partners from Peatland ACTION, Skills Development Scotland, LANTRA, Confor, Scotland’s Rural Collage and the James Hutton Institute;
• developing a Technical Compendium (published November 2022) ( https://www.nature.scot/doc/peatland-action-technical-compendium ) which is providing robust and standardised guidance on how to restore peatland and is helping contractors to specify and plan works more efficiently.

As highlighted in the answer to S6O-02060 on 23 March 2023, the river basin management plans set out our long-term aims for improving our water environment. The plans are supported by Scottish Water’s Improving urban waters route map, which commits up to £500 million of investment to improve wastewater treatment works, address unsatisfactory discharges and increase monitoring. Scottish Water published its first annual report on progress against the route map in December 2022 at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/document-hub/key-publications/urban-waters-improvements .

All answers to Oral parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the Offical Report can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 23/03/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

As part of wider improvements to General Practice (GP) IT, testing found that Scottish Primary Care Information Resource (SPIRE) could not continue to be fully supported without considerable redevelopment. This means that by the end of August 2023 SPIRE would be unable to provide a representative national data extract from GP systems.

A transition is underway in NHS Scotland from SPIRE to a new data extraction tool. This tool, recently procured by National Services Scotland (NSS), provides similar functionality to SPIRE but has greater national coverage. The tool is trusted and highly valued having successfully been used for vaccination data purposes during the pandemic, and subsequently in obtaining other GP data

Public Health Scotland (PHS) analysts are working closely with NSS to replicate local reports currently used by some practices, using the data provided by the new tool.