Chamber and committees

The Learning Estate Investment Programme has made significant progress since the first projects were announced in September 2019, with projects in construction and in development representing a £1.2bn investment in the learning estate.

The Scottish Government intend to announce the projects that will form part of Phase 3 of the programme within the next 12 months. We will write to local authorities seeking investment proposals in 2022 and in the meantime we will work with local government to agree the development programme timeline.

As set out in our response to S6W-04807, we are working with industry, local government and environmental groups to develop the route map to deliver our waste and recycling targets for 2025. This work is critical in determining how the waste and resources sector will contribute towards lower carbon emissions in the period to 2030 and beyond, including considering the use of carbon-based recycling targets for local authorities.

It would be wrong of me to pre-empt that process, including formal consultation on findings and proposals, planned for the first half of 2022.

The mygov.scot portal for reporting allegations of benefit fraud to Social Security Scotland was launched on 24 August 2020.

A total of 429 reports have been submitted to Social Security Scotland through this portal. Of these, 173 were received in financial year 2020-21, and 256 so far in 2021-22 (up to and including 30 November).

The Scottish Government is not able to provide legal advice. However, the making of a false statement on oath may involve the common law offence of perjury or a contravention of a statutory offence under section 44 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 .

Conducting proceedings in a manner amounting to an abuse of process may also involve contempt of court and result in the person responsible incurring a penalty. There is provision on penalties for contempt of court in section 15 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981.

The Scottish Government does not intend to review existing legislation in this area at the present time.

The Scottish Government wants to improve support and provisions for people with Down’s Syndrome, but also takes a wider view that this should include all people with learning disabilities, and their families.

We already have a national strategy in place to improve opportunities, outcomes and support for people with Down’s Syndrome, and their families, through the Keys to Life Learning Disability strategy and the Towards Transformation Learning Disability and Autism Plan. Both strategies send a clear message that the human rights of people with a learning disability are respected and protected and that they are empowered to live their lives, the same as everyone else.

The Scottish Budget 2022-2023 includes dedicated funding of £7 million for a range of targeted work to support these strategies and improve the lives of autistic people and/or people with learning disabilities.

Additionally, we have committed to introducing a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill as part of the Programme for Government. This Bill will ensure that the rights of people with Down’s Syndrome, and others, are respected and protected.

To help make sure that the new legislation is championed when it is implemented, we will create a Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodiversity Commissioner through the new law.

The Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 prohibits the display of tobacco related products inside retailer premises. No advertising of branded tobacco products is permitted either inside or outside a premise but stores are allowed to have generic, unbranded signs stating they sell tobacco on in-store gantries, and outside of buildings, however the latter is actively discouraged.

Any concerns around the compliance of a particular premises with Scottish law should be directed to the local authority. The Scottish Government provide funding of £1.34 million annually to councils for the enforcement of the legislation around the sale and purchase of tobacco and NVP’s. Local authority trading standards services treat the enforcement of legislation as a high priority issue.

The requested information on how many people were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), broken down by NHS board is not held centrally.

The Scottish Multiple Sclerosis Register provides information on new diagnoses of MS. The latest publication of the register shows 450 new patients with a confirmed diagnosis of MS were added to the MS Register in 2020.

We have established a process for individuals who have received one of their first coronavirus vaccinations outwith Scotland which allows them to upload official proof of vaccination from that country to their Scottish Vaccination record through NHS Inform . This will allow those individuals to receive a combined fully vaccinated status to show for international travel and domestic purposes.

Individuals who have been vaccinated in England or Wales can provide confirmation that they are fully vaccinated through NHS COVID Pass for domestic purposes.

According to Rape Crisis Scotland, as of October 2020 and December 2021 waiting list times for each centre were as follows:

The A92 A96 Haudagain Improvement project, which was anticipated to be complete in winter 2021, has faced a number of challenges including the impact of the pandemic continuing to disrupt progress. The contractor has indicated a revised date for completing the works, with the Improvement now due to open to traffic by the end of March 2022 as detailed in the recent press release available on the Transport Scotland website at:  https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/a92a96-haudagain-improvement-update-to-expected-completion-date/ .

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05362 on 21 December 2021. 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 .