Chamber and committees

Collaboration and engagement is a cornerstone of all transport activity and there is community engagement at all levels of transport decision making. My predecessors and I, and Transport Scotland officials have engaged and will continue to engage with communities in developing and implementing strategies and on specific projects, such as the Islands Connectivity Plan and Project Neptune, and will continue to do so in the future.

For example, Transport Scotland recently chaired an Uig Resilience meeting on my behalf on 27 March 2023.

Whilst local transport issues are the responsibility of local authorities, Transport Scotland, my predecessors and I, have engaged and will continue to engage constructively with local authorities where proposals or projects are considered to have a potential impact on transport assets and services owned and/or provided by Scottish Ministers.

The proposal which Common Weal submitted on Development Councils as part of the first phase of the Democracy Matters engagement process made a valuable contribution to the debate about the future of local democracy in Scotland. Further involvement from Common Weal during the next phase of the conversation will add to the wide range of voices we need to hear from to ensure that we arrive at the best possible set of arrangements for all of Scotland’s communities. Democracy Matters engagement is part of the wider Local Governance Review which we remain committed to concluding within this parliament.

As the operation, maintenance and security of Historic Environment Scotland sites are matters for Historic Environment Scotland, I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to write directly to the member with the answer to his question.

The Local Governance Review is being taken forward jointly with COSLA to examine how power and resources should be shared between national and local government and with communities. We remain committed to concluding the review and taking forward the findings within this parliament.

The current ETSU guidance should continue to be followed by applicants and used by decision makers to assess and rate noise from wind energy developments. The WSP report, commissioned on behalf of the UK Government, provides some recommendations for updates that could be made to bring the guidance into line with the most up to date evidence and policy.

The Scottish Government is a member of the ETSU steering group comprising of the four Governments of the UK. This group is considering, under the lead of the UK Government, how best to take forward these recommendations and will do so, as required, in due course.

There are currently no plans to review or amend the law in this area. Responsibility for local authority museums rightly rests with each local authority. Local authorities must use resources as efficiently as possible and deliver services effectively to ensure taxpayers get the best possible value.

No testosterone products are currently licensed in the UK for use in women. We are aware that some NHS menopause specialists are following prescribing advice from the British Menopause Society (BMS) and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and prescribing testosterone off-label (out with the terms of its current licence) for individual women who are experiencing a loss of libido during menopause.

The decision to prescribe a medicine, and which medicine to prescribe, is entirely for the clinician in charge of an individual’s care, having considered the individual’s clinical condition and any associated safety considerations. This includes prescribing a medicine off-label.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17036 on 4 May 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

The Scottish Government has not had any discussions with the UK Government on the licensing of testosterone for women in perimenopause or menopause. The regulations for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines are currently reserved to the UK Government and are the responsibility of the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

For a medicine to be routinely prescribed, it firstly needs to receive a licence from the MHRA. It is the responsibility of individual companies to apply to the MHRA for a marketing authorisation (licence). The application process requires a company to provide data demonstrating the quality, safety and efficacy of the medicine.

As part of the tripling of the Fuel Insecurity Fund, announced by the First Minister this year, an assessment of impact to date on Fuel Poverty Act 2019 statutory targets is being considered by officials to inform next steps and advice to Ministers. This is part of a wider long-term holistic and sustainable approach to addressing poverty, and investment in change.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) has been and continues to be a direct lifeline for tens of thousands of households, providing emergency short-term crisis support to those at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. Since being established in the winter of 2020, as part of the wider Winter Support Fund, a total of £33.595 million in support has been distributed from the FIF through our third sector delivery partners.

Our Tackling Fuel Poverty strategy sets out the actions towards meeting our statutory targets as set out in the Fuel Poverty Act 2019. We are presently consulting with the Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel in respect of next steps with our strategy.

Official statistics on fuel poverty in Scotland are published as part of the annual Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS). However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the most recent available figures relate to 2019, and so predate the establishment of the FIF. The SHCS for 2021 is due to be published on 30 May.