Chamber and committees

The report of the study on goosander and cormorant diet on four Scottish rivers will be published imminently.

Staff in the Social Security Directorate are working across a number of benefits and functions. It is therefore not possible to fully attribute implementation costs to any particular benefit. Implementation costs for Pension Age Winter Heating Assistance are therefore contained within the Social Security Advice, Policy and Programme budget line of the Scottish Budget, which is £195.4 million for 2021-22 and £219.6 million for 2022-23.

It is not possible to produce statistically relevant data on average processing times for applications. Each application varies in complexity, with survivors and applicants requiring differing levels of support to complete the application and a dependency on other organisations to complete the required verifications around care settings and any previous relevant payments made.

We recognise that, for some applicants, the process is taking longer than they expected. We continue to work with them, and partners, to look at ways to improve the scheme and remain committed to ensuring it continues to be swifter and less adversarial than taking court action.

Applicants have 6 months from receipt of offer of payment to accept or decline the offer. As of week commencing 29th August 2022, redress payments totalling £4,868,548 have been made.

(a) Since Scotland’s Redress scheme was launched in December 2021, 1,468 survivor applications and 88 next of kin applications have been received, as of week commencing 29 th August 2022.

(b) 189 redress applications have been passed to Redress Scotland for consideration and, of those, 136 have had an initial determination made.

Local councils are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their staff. This includes providing a complement of teachers which best meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils within the resources available.

During the pandemic, the Scottish Government provided an additional £240m to local authorities to support the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff.

We have since committed further permanent funding of £145.5m a year to support education staffing. This provides assurance of funding for councils, and removes any uncertainty as a barrier to employing staff on permanent contracts.

The Teacher Induction Scheme provides a one year probationary placement to allow teachers to meet the Standard for Full Registration. This does not, however, provide a guarantee of future employment with a particular local authority. Teaching posts should be advertised and filled in a fair and transparent manner by the local authority employer.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of efforts to remove, reduce or recycle plastics used in the woodland and forest environment. Forestry and Land Scotland is moving away from plastic tree shelters and using more biodegradable ones. More work is needed, however, on biodegradable and compostable alternatives before a ban on plastic tree guards is possible. Scottish Forestry is supporting research to test alternatives with partners in the public and private sectors across UK and Ireland.

Following the opening of the consultation on 4 July 2022 a programme of six public meetings has taken place. Five in-person “Town hall events” have been held, as follows:

Langholm (20 July)

Invermoriston (25 July)

Helmsdale (26 July)

Stornoway (27 July)

Ballater (28 July)

An online event was held on Thursday 22 July, which was open to all and which attracted participants from across Scotland.

At each of these events the Minister and officials made presentations setting out what the SG aims to achieve with the next Land Reform Bill, and explaining the measures being put forward in the consultation. Local community groups also made presentations at the in-person meetings. This was followed by questions and discussion.

All six events were well attended.

Those attending included individuals, businesses, owners of farms and estates and their land managers and legal representatives, charity and third sector organisations, local authorities, and academic and research organisations/institutions.

The following stakeholder organisations registered to attend the consultation meetings:

Architecture and Design Scotland

Bòrd na Gidhlig

Central Association of Agricultural Valuers

Communities for Diverse Forestry

Community Land Scotland

Community Woodlands Association

Fauna & Flora International

Food, Farming and Countryside Commission

Foundation Scotland

National Sheep Association Scotland

National Farmers Union of Scotland

Paths for All

Scottish Land and Estates

Scottish Renewables

Scottish Rural Action

Highlands Regional Land Use Partnership

Trees for Life

We anticipate written consultation responses from a range of stakeholder organisations and members of the public. Engagement with stakeholders will continue after the consultation closes, in the light of the responses received.

The Learning Disability and Autism team meets Health and Social Care Partnership leads on a regular basis and since October last year, has met individually with 21 of the 31 HSCPs to discuss their local work on learning disabilities and autism.

In addition the team attends the regular meetings of the relevant Social Work Scotland sub group at which all HSCPs are represented.

Dates and Partnerships met with are:

Data is not held centrally on the number of cases reported since 1996 for Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD). The number of deaths of individuals with definite or probable CJD since 1996 is 232.