Chamber and committees

As with the powers Scottish SPCA inspectors currently have under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, powers will be authorised by Scottish Ministers. Scottish Ministers will also have the ability to remove powers from a Scottish SPCA inspector if necessary.

There are no plans to appoint an independent body to oversee the Scottish SPCA’s use of enhanced powers in relation to wildlife crime.

The Scottish Government is not providing specific ring-fenced funding for breakfasts in schools in this financial year. However, a number of local authorities have used Scottish Government funding flexibly to support breakfast provision in their local area in partnership with public, private and third sector providers.

The Scottish Government will be consulting over the summer on provisions to allow for a limited extension of the Scottish SPCA’s current powers to investigate wildlife crime. We will consider whether there is a requirement to update the BRIA following the outcome of this consultation.

The current Northern Isles Ferry Service contract is scheduled to expire 30 June 2028.

Development of options for the future ferry services contract on the Northern Isles routes is scheduled to start in 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19052 on 22 June 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

Ministers are offered a SG mobile telephone on appointment. Our records show costs per year as follows:

2018-19 - £2,210

2019-20 - £3,802

2020-21 - £1,490

2021-22 - £1,463

2022-23 - £10,957

The pharmaceutical industry continues to successfully support pandemic preparedness and resilience in Scotland, as described in the answer to question S6W-19343 on 11 July 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

It is for individual Health Boards to ensure that communities have access to pharmacy services within a reasonable distance. However, in our strategy for pharmaceutical care in Scotland ‘Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care’ (2017) we committed to enhancing access to pharmaceutical care in remote and rural communities, which included use of Attend Anywhere for pharmacist clinics, and use of Near Me for remote and rural access to pharmaceutical care. We commissioned NES to work with remote and rural NHS Boards to explore mechanisms to attract more pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to work in remote and rural communities; ensuring any associated education and training needs are flexibly met. We also committed to testing a pharmacy longitudinal clerkship.

There are remote and rural longitudinal clerkships occurring in NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Highland, NHS Grampian and NHS Lanarkshire, all of which feed into a new piece of Additional Cost of Teaching Pharmacy research in collaboration with both Scottish Schools of Pharmacy.

In addition, to promote pharmacy technician recruitment in remote and rural areas, a number of senior pharmacy technicians attend school careers fairs etc to raise awareness of the role. All vacancies for the Pharmacy Technician Technical Apprenticeship are advertised on the Apprenticeships.scot website. Skills Development Scotland also provides an additional rural uplift for apprentices whose main employment and normal working hours are based in Argyll and Bute, Isle of Arran, Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles. Some of the Pre-registration Trainee Pharmacy Technicians in the remote and rural areas are undertaking placements in primary care and community pharmacy whilst undertaking the Technical Apprenticeship.

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in developing a joint programme to encourage more students, and not just school leavers, to consider careers in pharmacy, including ensuring the output reaches deprived and remote and rural communities.

11 July 2023

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Scottish Labour Party): To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on large-scale water infrastructure development projects, such as reservoir expansions, to increase Scotland’s water resilience in the future.

Scottish Water, as the publicly owned provider of services in Scotland, is required to plan for the future provision of water through a sustainable water resource management approach; planning ensures that Scottish Water secures continuous, safe, clean drinking water for customers whilst supporting economic growth and protecting the environment. Scottish Water’s water resource planning looks 25 years ahead, taking account of water resource availability and the changing demands for water and making sure that these balance. Scottish Water also uses climate change scenarios to inform long-term investment requirements which may include additional sources of water or increased connectivity across the country. Scottish Water currently has no plans to build additional reservoirs.

Investment needs are reviewed for each regulatory period. This will consider the need to invest in resilience measures to ensure that services can be maintained and protected given the growing impacts of climate change. An example of this is the Glasgow Resilience Project, details of which are on Scottish Water’s website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/in-your-area/investments-in-your-area/220421-glasgow-resilience-project .

Scottish Water also has well-developed drought plans and has put these in place to ensure that public supplies are maintained. Investment in resilience measures over many years means that Scottish Water has ensured that supplies have been maintained through prolonged dry periods in recent years. Scottish Water will continue to focus on the efficient management of its existing water resources, which includes a range of measures from leakage reduction to encouraging customers to use water efficiently. Considering how we all use water and can minimise consumption is important in improving resilience to climate change and protecting the environment.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Gateway was involved in managing the statutory correspondence between Aberdeen City Council and the consultation authorities (Scottish Environment Protection Agency), NautreScot and Historic Environment Scotland) for Aberdeen’s Beachfront Development Framework as required by the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local communities through city regeneration projects such as the Aberdeen beachfront regeneration and will work with Aberdeen City Council and other partners as they take forward its regeneration.