Chamber and committees

Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Route Map published in December 2021 sets out clear timescales for the publication of spill data from monitored combined sewer overflows. The route map is published on Scottish Water’s website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/News-and-Views/2021/12/211221-Urban-Waters-Routemap

Specific commitments in terms of increasing reporting of spill data from monitored CSOs are:

• by December 2022, for monitored CSOs where data is already currently reported to SEPA, publish spill data annually, identifying the main reason for the spills where possible (e.g. heavy rain, blockages or a flow issue at the treatment works). [153 monitoring locations]
• by December 2023, publish spill data annually for all other monitored CSOs. [circa 200 additional monitoring locations but will increase in line with new monitors delivered through a commitment made in this same route map]
• by December 2024, publish near real-time spill data for all monitored CSOs.

Scottish Government officials have been working closely with officials across the Scottish Government, UK Government and stakeholders to make Turing better reflect the needs of Scotland. The Scottish Government has also engaged with national bodies of eligible sectors for funding to encourage Scottish organisations to proceed with applications in line with the application window set by the Turing scheme.

The Scottish Government’s position remains that the Turing Scheme does not match the breadth and scope of Erasmus+. This scheme offers no provision for inward mobility to the UK, no staff inward or outward mobility, or provision for Adult Learning, Youth Work or Sport, resulting in reduced opportunities for all our students, staff and young people, in particular our most disadvantaged groups.

In line with European best practice for scheme administrators of deposit return schemes, Circularity Scotland Ltd is a private company independent of the Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Ministers have no powers to require Circularity Scotland Ltd to publish the methodology used to set retailer handling fees for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme.

As set out in our Programme for Government we are facing the most severe cost crisis in our lifetime and it is focused on the policy and legislative commitments that will make the biggest difference to households and businesses. The Scottish Government is already committed to measures, worth almost £3 billion this year, that will help with rising costs. Farmers and crofters will benefit from some of the general measures that we have set out, both as individuals and as a sector. The powers needed to tackle the cost crisis lie with the UK Government and we are pressing them to take urgent action.

We recognise that there are specific issues for the farming and crofting sector so we have, through a change to legislation, brought forward annual farm payment dates so that payments will begin at their earliest ever point.

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 included a commitment to create a centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care, with scoping work starting in 2021-22.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with NHS Education Scotland (NES) over recent months to carry out extensive scoping and consultation with stakeholders. NES has submitted a business case for the Centre that could be operational in Spring 2023. The Scottish Government is evaluating the business case and considering next steps. Decisions about operational matters, including where staff for the centre would be located, will be made in due course.

The requested information on how much has been spent on providing (a) staff bank cover and (b) agency staff cover by NHS board since March 2014 can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Bank and Agency) tab.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of reported fraud incidents committed against pensioner households. Some information is available from a 2018-19 study into police recorded fraud in Scotland, the findings of which were presented within the Recorded crime in Scotland 2018-19 National Statistics .

Further analysis from this study suggests that an estimated 1,260 crimes of recorded fraud (or 13% of all fraud that year) had a victim of pensionable age (specifically those aged 66 and over).

Table 1 presents the number of properties with a liability for the higher property rate before reliefs are awarded, broken down by local authority and property class. Table 1 has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under Bib No. 63637.

The Scottish Government does not hold property level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

The Scottish Government is committed to the recruitment of a minimum of 1,500 additional staff to support the operation of Scotland’s National Treatment Centres (NTCs) and is supporting a range of activity to achieve this.

The recruitment data we are currently collating is management information and not suitable for publication. However, we are committed to exploring how this data can be published at a future date following with the opening of Centres in Fife and Forth Valley in early 2023.

The Cost of Living Crisis represents an unprecedented challenge and is undoubtedly having an impact on communities across Scotland. Effective fire safety, to prevent fires and reduce their impact, remains a priority for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) and this was reflected in the latest Fire and Rescue Framework published earlier this year: Fire and rescue framework 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Our Programme for Government set out to use our Emergency Budget Review to double our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million, which has helped households at risk of self-disconnection, or self-rationing their energy use, since late 2020. Support is provided to people either as fuel vouchers, or via direct payments to their energy suppliers, and is available to people on any tariff type and using any kind of fuel.

The Scottish Government has produced Home Fire Safety advice which can be found here: Home fire safety - Fire and rescue - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . SFRS also have fire safety advice relating to candle use on their website: Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk) .