Chamber and committees

Family-centred care is at the heart of our maternity and neonatal strategy, the Best Start: A Five Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland . We expect all maternity units to take a flexible approach to the presence of partners, to provide a relaxed and supportive environment for care that promotes natural, person-centred childbirth, and to ensure that suitable accommodation and facilities are provided to enable families to stay together.

Our current advice on vitamin D supplementation is based on the consensus of the scientific evidence, as presented to all UK nations by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).

On 19 June 2021, SACN published a paper summarising the monitoring of recent evidence on nutrition and COVID-19. It is available at

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/992875/SACN_Process_for_monitoring_evidence_on_nutrition_and_COVID-19__June21_.pdf.

SACN concluded that, to date, the monitoring exercise had not identified any new trials in relation to vitamin D and COVID-19 that would change current dietary advice or require the re-review of the rapid guideline published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Public Health England and SACN on 17 December 2020. The rapid guideline states:

• people should continue to follow existing advice on vitamin D supplementation to maintain bone and muscle health
• there is currently not enough evidence to support taking vitamin D solely to prevent or treat COVID-19

The rapid guideline is available at https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG187

The UK COVID-19 Therapeutic Advisory Panel (UK C-TAP) is continuing to monitor ongoing COVID-19 related Vitamin D trials. I understand the SACN secretariat is in contact with the NICE surveillance team and officials supporting UK C-TAP to ensure complementary approaches. Evidence on vitamin D in relation to COVID-19 is also being monitored by the multi-agency initiative ‘Research to Access Pathway for Investigational Drugs in COVID-19’.

We will continue to look to NICE and others who are closely monitoring this evidence base.

The information requested is management information and is not currently published, however, Public Health Scotland produce a weekly COVID-19 Statistical Report, with the most recent version being published on Wednesday 19 January. This report provides a range of information including the number of LFDs reported through various channels in Scotland.

Electric scooters (e-scooters) are illegal to ride on streets and in other public places across Scotland due to a number of pieces of UK-wide and Scottish legislation. E-scooters can only be ridden legally on private land with the owner’s permission.

The UK Government has signalled its intention to publish proposals in 2022 for potential further legalisation of e-scooters beyond the current trials in England. The Scottish Government is engaged with the UK Government in this regard and once more is known, we will consider any such proposals in order to inform future policy on e-scooters.

Enforcement of the law is a matter for Police Scotland.

Bus service providers and passenger representatives regularly inform us about the additional pressures placed on the bus industry by the COVID-19 pandemic which are compounded by the ongoing consequences of EU EXIT.

We also receive data on driver shortages in Scotland from ongoing Department for Transport bus operator surveys and Transport Scotland is conducting its own monitoring exercise to gather information specifically on COVID-related absences.

Electric scooters (e-scooters) are illegal to ride on streets and in other public places across Scotland due to a number of pieces of UK-wide and Scottish legislation.

The Scottish Government supports Police Scotland’s recent warning for people looking to purchase an e-scooter this Christmas. It will continue to monitor trends in order to inform future policy on e-scooters.

There are currently no plans for a national blind persons entitlement to enable free travel on rail services however for those that are blind or visually impaired there are alternative discounts available. Details of these can be accessed via:- https://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/using-your-railcard/other-discounts/ 

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

However, in 2021-22, sport scotland invested approximately £1,315,600 into Scottish Swimming. Over the past five years, sport scotland has invested £6,836,282 into Scottish Swimming. Scottish Swimming developed and introduced a National Learn to Swim Framework in 2014 to support aquatic providers to enhance their community learn to swim programmes.

The Framework, which is supported by Scottish Water and delivered by aquatic partners every week already helps children to become safe, competent, and confident swimmers and these water safety themed lessons are an essential part of the Framework to help educate on water safety.

Scottish Water’s average monthly capital expenditure in the first eight months of the 2021-22 financial year was £67million. Of that, less than £9million a month was on capital works that had been due to complete during the 2015-21 regulatory period.

At this time, none of the outstanding PFI projects have returned operating plant to Scottish Water as they have not yet reached the end of their contracts. The first one to do so will be in May 2022.

Scottish Water Horizons does not operate any plant previously returned from PFI projects. However, in 2018, SW Horizons Holdings Ltd (SWHH) acquired the Aberdeen PFI project companies. This was to protect the operational and environmental performance of the plants over the remaining 13 years of the PFI contract as the previous owner had indicated that they intended to sell the project to a party that did not have experience in operating wastewater treatment works.

The companies acquired included £46.5million of external bank debt funding. The acquisition cost was funded by SWHH and not Scottish Water, so customers were not impacted by the acquisition. Due to the contractual restrictions associated with the external bank debt, these PFI companies have continued to operate under the same structure as before, albeit now owned and controlled by the Scottish Water Group and have been integrated into Scottish Water Group operations to the extent permitted by existing contractual arrangements.

Since the acquisition by SWHH, the operational and environmental performance of the PFI project has continued to improve and, following the refurbishment of the sludge digester and CHP engines, there has also been a very significant increase in renewable energy generation and consequent carbon reduction. Further integration of the PFI project into Scottish Water operations is under active consideration. This would require repayment of the remaining external bank debt of some £33million and would therefore require to be justified by an appropriate cost/benefit business case.