Chamber and committees

The National Records of Scotland published the latest life expectancy statistics on 22 September 2022. The report shows that COVID-19 deaths accounted for the vast majority of the fall in life expectancy in 2020 and 2021, in both men and women. However, there were also some increases in other causes of death, including drug related deaths and deaths due to circulatory problems in men.

The Scottish Government expresses its deepest sympathies to everyone who has lost a loved one as a result of the pandemic.

Following the emergency budget review announced by the First Minister on 11 August 2022, the Scottish Government took the difficult decision not to provide funding for the Scotland’s Winter Festivals Fund in the 2022-23 season. This decision was considered carefully and taken based on the need to focus the Scottish Government’s finite resources in order to mitigate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, where possible.

Round 46 of Event Scotland’s National Events Programme is providing approximately £280,000 for 29 events taking place from September to December 2022 (inclusive). Additionally, over £600,000 has been provided to support 21 events to take place during 2022 through the Year of Stories 2022 Open Events Fund, with 181 community events supported by over £700,000 through the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund, which is funded by the Scottish Government, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Museum Galleries Scotland.

The programme board overseeing delivery of the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste by 2025 is chaired by senior Scottish Government officials and comprises representatives from SEPA, Cosla, Solace and Zero Waste Scotland. Scottish Ministers do not attend meetings of the board, though are regularly updated on its progress.

The programme board has met five times since its inception, on the following dates: 17 March 2021, 08 July 2021, 05 November 2021, 01 June 2022 and 06 September 2022.

There are no Scottish Government staff working within our international offices, who are also employed by the UK Government.

Scottish Government international offices are staffed by Civil Servants and Country Based Staff.

Civil Servants are appointed to represent Scotland in our international offices by a recruitment panel which includes the posts’ line manager. Appointees are recruited from existing Scottish Government roles or from wider UK Government departments.

Country Based Staff are recruited using the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office recruitment processes in each country and are paid for by the Scottish Government. There are currently 17 Country Based Staff employed within our Scottish Government international offices. It is common practice with the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive to recruit country based staff for their overseas offices in the same way.

Green ports have great potential to contribute towards the Scottish government’s decarbonisation agenda and net zero ambition.

Applicants were required to outline how their proposals will ensure compliance with all applicable environmental regulations and standards and any additional assessment of impacts on protected sites and species including mitigation.

Following designation, the requirement for a robust, action-focused decarbonisation plan will ensure that the port operators and businesses in the green ports will make a significant practical contribution to reducing emissions and facilitating decarbonisation of the green port.

As a publicly owned and controlled railway, it is important that ScotRail plays its part in delivering Scottish Government ambitions for its success. As part of that, ScotRail quite rightly reviewed the ban on alcohol and brought forward proposals for consideration.

Given the diversity of views on the sale and consumption of alcohol on ScotRail services, consideration of its reintroduction will form part of the National Conversation on Rail. This will enable a wide range of views to be taken into account before any final decision is made. In the meantime, everyone needs to be mindful that, while many of the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, Covid hasn’t gone away and the Scottish Government’s advisory guidance remains in place.

Scottish Water is currently prioritising the CSOs which it intends to monitor as part of its Improving Urban Waters Route Map. Scottish Water will consider proximity to designated water bodies (for example Bathing Waters), high amenity areas, predicted spill frequency and where environmental problems have already been identified. Scottish Water expects to complete this activity before the end of this year and will publish these locations on its website.

Scottish Water has made commitments in its route map to publishing CSO monitoring data over the next two years. By the end of this year, Scottish Water will look to publish data already reported to SEPA on its website. Additional monitoring data will be made available as new monitors are installed.

Following the launch of the Victim Centred Approach Fund (VCAF) in March this year, we continue to work with the 23 victim support organisations awarded funding over the 3 year VCAF period. This includes regular meetings, providing support in carrying out outcome focussed evaluations and encouraging the sharing of good and emerging practice.

Management of reimbursement for energy costs associated with medical machines in individuals homes are decisions made by NHS Boards. The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS Boards to address financial pressures across the healthcare system, including the increase in energy costs. In May 2022, we published our Resource Spending Review that set out investment of £73 billion in health and social care to 2026-27.

The Scottish Government will also use the Emergency Budget Review to increase the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23. The Fuel Insecurity Fund is aimed at helping people who are at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely because they cannot afford their energy bills.

The following table gives all Spaces for People expenditure for local authorities and other statutory bodies since April 2022. A small number of local authorities have yet to claim their full agreed grant.