Chamber and committees

All 32 local authorities have access to the Scottish dog control database. The national database brings together the records of all dog control notices served by local authorities into a centralised national database for the first time to aid enforcement efforts across Scotland. The database is also accessible by Police Scotland to aid their role in enforcement activity relating to dog control.

The law on employment rights and duties is reserved to the UK Parliament and so the Scottish Government do not currently have the legal powers to set mandatory minimum rates of pay or a stand-alone right to take legal action to ensure this minimum hourly rate for workers providing direct adult social care, in commissioned services, is delivered.

This uplift is instead being delivered through Local Government contracts, and local commissioners have delivered funding for this uplift through a contract variation process with adult social care providers. This process is a means to ensure that providers who accepted the funding for the pay uplift contractually agreed to pass on that funding to eligible workers. In the event that funding is not passed onto the workforce to uplift pay, it will be for local areas commissioning teams to engage with providers to resolve any disputes where contractual obligations are not being met.

To support this, the Scottish Government and COSLA have set up mechanisms, through discussions with the Fair Work in Social Care Group, to establish and address any issues or exceptional delays in relation to delivering the funding for the uplift to providers and subsequently eligible workers.

We have regular communications with Scottish Care, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS) and Trade Union representatives to discuss any concerns or questions around implementation of the uplift and have worked together to resolve these quickly.

We are currently working with key stakeholders to establish a webpage with details for members of the adult social care workforce to make contact with local commissioning teams directly if they are not receiving the £10.50 per hour rate so this can be investigated.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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

Transport Scotland has engaged with CalMac and Ministers regarding routine Winter 2022-23 timetable requests and decisions have been fed back to Ferry Committees and local stakeholder groups.

The service continuity measures and alternative timetables during the Uig closure period are yet to be finalised. Transport Scotland continues to engage with CalMac and elected officials on this matter.

CalMac will publish Winter 2022-23 timetables in due course and are proactively engaging with stakeholders to keep them updated.

The Scottish Government through the Scottish Freight and Logistics Advisory Group previously conducted an assessment of HGV rest stops and facilities in 2010-11.

Details of the previous study are available here: scotflag-lorry-parking-known-overnight-issues-report-1-oct-2011.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has increased local government funding by over £1 billion in 2022-23, a real terms increase of 6.3 per cent, despite a 5.2 per cent real terms reduction in the overall Scottish Budget. Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government is committed to using public procurement to contribute towards the transition to a more resource efficient, lower carbon economy. Support and mentorship is available through the Sustainable Procurement Training Framework. To support environmentally-friendly buying options, our national frameworks are available to the wider public sector, for example our Non Domestic Energy Efficiency Frameworks support the transition to a low carbon economy across sectors.

In addition, we established the National Climate and Procurement Forum and associated work streams with representative bodies of key sectors, to provide leadership and direction to enable traction on climate change.

The Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the role of local government and its partners in financing and delivering a net zero Scotland. In addition, Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) recently launched an investigation into support for local authorities in delivery of climate change targets. Scottish Government welcomes such independent scrutiny and will give the resulting reports and recommendations due consideration

ScotRail advise that between 6 January 2019 [the start of 2018-19: reporting period 11] and 25 June 2022 [the end of 2022-23: reporting period 3], there were 340 full cancellations and 95 part-cancellations on the North Berwick lines as a result of infrastructure issues. As the member will know, Rail Infrastructure is a reserved matter.

While full or part-cancellation as a result of track congestion are not reported separately, ScotRail also advise that there were a further 41 full cancellations and 35 part-cancellations to ScotRail services as a result of the actions of other train operating companies.

Transport Scotland is responsible for the management and Maintenance of the trunk road network; all other roads are the responsibility of the relevant local authority.

The protection of biodiversity and support for native wildlife are major considerations in the agency's work, whether in the planning and development of new infrastructure or the management of the existing network. Transport Scotland actively engages with stakeholders, its supply chain, statutory bodies and other public sector organisations to seek opportunities to reduce wildlife casualties across Scotland's road network, whilst increasing biodiversity and habitat connectivity. This includes the provision of suitable crossing facilities, such as culverts and bridges, to reduce the barrier-effect of roads. The design of these structures follows best practice guidance and is overseen by professional ecologists to ensure they are appropriate for the local environments concerned and the ecosystems they support.

All trunk road schemes are regularly inspected and assessed to ensure they are fit for purpose. Assessments undertaken through the Scottish Trunk Road Infrastructure Projects Evaluation (STRIPE) provide an early indication of performance and, where appropriate, identify any potential issues, including any crossing points which may not be functioning as required.

Operating Companies, who manage and maintain the trunk road network on behalf of Transport Scotland, are also required to report through an annual Landscape Management Report. This report includes collation of wildlife casualty data which may identify locations requiring more detailed analysis and intervention.

Scottish Ministers have to date provided £2.4m of funding to local authorities to allow them to undertake their required road assessments. Additionally, Transport Scotland have consulted with Local Authorities and the public on the proposed Ministerial Directions and secondary legislation, which will detail procedures Local Authorities must follow to exempt any areas of footway from the pavement parking prohibition.

Transport Scotland has also consulted with local authorities on the proposed Parking Standards Guidance, which will formally be issued to all local authorities once the exemption order procedures are in place.

It is currently envisaged that the exemption order procedure regulations will be laid in Parliament in the latter part of September and come into force in early December, if approved. Following this, local authorities will have an additional 12 months to complete their assessments and put any exemption orders in place.