Chamber and committees

The Low Carbon Transport Loan, launched in 2011, provides interest free loans to help households and businesses purchase electric vehicles. Since its launch, the scheme has invested over £176 million, helped purchase 6,148 low emission vehicles, and saved over 113,000 tonnes of CO2. The LCTL has several distinct streams, including the domestic, business and taxi loan streams.

The Energy Saving Trust deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan on behalf of the Scottish Government. The target for processing submitted claims containing all requisite information is within 10 working days.

The following table shows the percentage of payments made to businesses within 10 working days of all the necessary information being submitted by the applicant. Despite the challenges posed by COVID, for the vast majority of cases falling outside of the target, payments have only been delayed by 1 or 2 days.

Official Statistics on Adult Disability Payment were published on 13 December 2022 and provided information on processing times up to 31 October 2022. This publication is available from: https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-scotland-stats-publications/#benefitsforcarersanddisabilityassistance.

Information on average processing time and the profile of processing times is available in Table 9 of the accompanying Excel tables.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s Collaborative Framework Working Group, which is comprised of all active offshore wind developers in Scotland, the enterprise agencies and ORE Catapult, to develop a Strategic Investment Model (SIM). The SIM will deliver on the commitments in the Collaborative Framework Charter, and facilitate timely, strategic investment through the pooling/sharing and coordination of funds linked to supply chain commitments associated with the ScotWind projects. The Strategic Investment Model is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks, with further detail to be announced in early 2023.

The Scotland Act 2016 empowers the Scottish Parliament to legislate for a devolved tax to replace the UK Aggregates Levy. This is an environmental tax that aims to reduce extraction of primary – fresh or new – aggregate, mainly crushed rock, gravel and sand, used as bulk fill in construction.

The guidance on the pharmacological and psychological management of benzodiazepine dependency published by the Drug deaths Taskforce has now been endorsed as the most up-to-date guidance available and will be updated following further research currently being undertaken and following engagement with prescribers.

The ScotRail Passenger Assist Service is available at all stations in Scotland, whether stations are staffed or unstaffed for all or part of the day. The ScotRail website provides details on how Passenger Assist can be requested and obtained.

Details can be found via the following link:- Accessible travel | ScotRail .

All planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Currently, Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) outlines that development plans should set out the criteria that will be considered in deciding all applications for wind farms of different scales – taking account of the considerations set out at paragraph 169 of SPP which include landscape and visual impacts.

The Revised Draft National Planning Framework (NPF4) makes clear the Scottish Government’s support for onshore wind energy other than in National Parks and National Scenic Areas. Criteria for assessing proposals are included in draft policy 11, and impacts on communities, nature and other receptors, including significant landscape and visual impacts, remain important considerations in the decision-making process.

I published and laid the Revised Draft NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament on 8 November 2022 for Parliament’s consideration and approval. If approved and adopted, NPF4 will form part of the statutory development plan and will replace SPP.

The financial costs of implementing standards in each local area are being assessed locally as plans are developed and implemented and so the Scottish Government has not centrally modelled the financial costs of implementing Medication Assisted Treatment standards.

Published information on drug-related (or drug-misuse) deaths can be obtained from the National Records Of Scotland website - Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2021 | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk). Information on Local Authority Wards is information that is not held.

The following tables provide the information by Local Authority.

All drug misuse deaths by Local Authority

The number of drug-related deaths by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) data zone quintile is not information that is held, but the following table provides the rate.

Drug misuse deaths in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) Quintiles, age-standardised death rates per 100,000 population, 2010-2021

According to Supplementary Report to the Benchmarking Report published on 2 August 2022 the following areas are yet to fully implemented MAT 3:

NHS Shetland - Shetland ADP area

NHS Grampian - Moray ADP area

NHS Highland - Argyll & Bute ADP area

MAT 3 states that ‘Each service within the drug treatment system should have a documented procedure to identify and follow-up people at high risk of severe drug-related harm, including death’. These areas are as follows:

In January 2023 the Scottish Government will be publishing a formal response to the Taskforce report – Changing Lives – which includes an action to address inconsistencies in implementing near-fatal overdose (NFO) pathways under MAT standard 3.

Additionally, local areas have been directed by Ministers to have standards 1-5 implemented by April 2023. The Government continues working with identified areas to support them to progress the implementation in line with this timeframe.