Chamber and committees

Following the publication of Guidance on the provision of wheelchairs on short term loan in March 2021 ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/guidance-provision-wheelchairs-short-term-loan/ ) Scottish Government officials will shortly commence a 6 month review of implementation with Health and Social Care Partnerships, who have delegated responsibility for the provision of community equipment, including short-term wheelchair loans.

The review will seek an update on local areas progress towards implementation and will also offer implementation support to any areas requiring it. Following the 6 month review we would expect the guidance to be fully implemented across all Health and Social Care Partnerships by March 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02569 on
‎ 9 September 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

The First Minister announced in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government on 7 September that this Government will carry out scoping work on the remit and powers of a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill, in this Parliamentary year.

A decision on the timing of a Bill will be taken by Cabinet in the context of setting the content of future legislative programmes. Meantime, the Scottish Government will work closely with stakeholders to consider the issues and how to deliver change quickly and effectively to uphold people’s rights.

I asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority to reply.

Initial modelling indicates that 53% of SQA’s running costs (permanent SQA staff, overheads and other indirect costs) were attributable to the implementation of the Alternative Certification Model (ACM) in 2020 and 56% are attributable to the implementation of the ACM in 2021. Including direct delivery costs, the cost of the ACM was therefore:

(a) 2020: £33.4m

(b) 2021: £41.7m (forecast)

The SQA levy to local authorities and entry fees charged to independent schools and colleges for National Qualifications have remained unchanged since 2012-13 despite changes in costs. In addition, 2020 and 2021 late entry fees have been waived and there have been no charges for appeals.

Savings generated by the delivery of the ACM in place of an ordinary exam diet reduced SQA’s grant-in-aid requirement from Scottish Government, and enabled support for other critical pressures, supporting people and communities during the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing our knowledge of the possible links between neurodegenerative disease (including dementia) and sports-related brain injury.

We recognise a call to establish a working group on this issue and we will respond directly in due course as part of our on-going consideration of this issue.

A University of Glasgow study on lifelong health outcomes in former professional footballers, especially in relation to dementia, was published in 2019 and contained evidence of a possible increased risk of dementia for professional ex-footballers. Further work is underway to establish why footballers and rugby-players may be at greater risk and we will also give full consideration to the report published in August led by Dr Willie Stewart.

We remain in close contact on these issues with experts at the sportscotland Institute of Sport and the Chief Medical Officer at the Scottish FA and will work with partners, including PFA Scotland, to carefully consider emerging evidence on former footballers developing dementia.

The Scottish Government, through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback scheme, provides interest-free loans with up to 75% cashback grant funding for homeowners to replace fossil-fuel heating systems such as gas with low or zero emissions heating systems such as heat pumps alongside insulation measures.

To further support households to make their homes greener, we provide:

• free, impartial advice through Home Energy Scotland, including specialist home renewables advice;
• HES loans with up to 40% cashback for energy efficiency measures;
• the Green Homes Network which allows households to find out about the experience of others who have already installed measures; and
• the Renewable Installer Finder Tool which helps households find installers and suppliers in their area.

Under the HES Loan and Cashback scheme, homeowners can borrow up to £17,500 for a total of two renewables measures. If applying for a heat pump, then a maximum of up to £10,000 is available (either air source to water, ground source to water, water source to water or hybrid air source to water (£2,500 loan & £7,500 cashback)).

These advice and support schemes can be accessed through Home Energy Scotland, managed on behalf of Scottish Government by the Energy Saving Trust.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00245 on 4 June 2021, which highlights the actions delivered in the Suicide Prevention Action Plan (Every Life Matters) . 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

A full update on the delivery of the Suicide Prevention Action Plan will be included in the annual report of the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group, which is due to be published later this month.

I asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority to reply.

Initial modelling indicates that 60% of SQA’s running costs (permanent SQA staff, overheads and other indirect costs) were attributable to the implementation of the 2019 exam diet. Including direct delivery costs, the cost of the 2019 exam diet was therefore £52m.

The SQA levy to local authorities and entry fees charged to independent schools and colleges for National Qualifications have remained unchanged since 2012-13 despite changes in costs.

In December 2020, the Scottish Government published an Update to the Climate Change Plan 2018-2032, which sets out the Scottish Government's pathway to our new and ambitious targets set by the Climate Change Act 2019 . In the development of this update, the Scottish Government reviewed its woodland creation targets and, as a result, increased them, committing to a new target of 18,000 hectares per annum by 2024-25.

The Scottish Government is grateful to the Farming for 1.5C Inquiry for contributing to the discussion about how we collectively reach our climate change targets. We will consider the recommendations of the report as policies and implementation mechanisms in this area are developed.

These will build on the range of policies and initiatives that the Scottish Government has in place to support this ambition and to help farmers, crofters and land managers to become more aware of the multiple benefits that woodland creation can have for their businesses. For example, working with partners, the Scottish Government currently supports advisory visits to farms to identify opportunities for farm and croft woodlands and agroforestry.

Scotland already has robust assessment processes in place to support decisions regarding woodland creation proposals on agricultural land. This approach is based on the findings of The Woodland Expansion Advisory Group (WEAG). This group was established to provide advice to ministers on which types of land are best for tree planting in Scotland and its membership included the National Farmers Union and the National Sheep Association. Key to the WEAG recommendations and the current decision-making process are the principles that the focus of woodland expansion should be away from prime agricultural land, and that while grazing land has significant potential for the creation of high quality and high value woodlands, woodland creation should avoid adverse impacts on local patterns of agriculture.

Under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) (Forestry) 2017 regulations, all woodland creation cases above the threshold size of 20 hectares, are required to be screened. Screening assesses the likelihood of a significant impact on the environment (including any potential impacts on land-use) and whether a full environmental assessment is required. For sensitive areas, no threshold size applies. Where a full assessment is required, before Scottish Forestry reaches a decision on whether or not to grant consent, the applicant must prepare an environmental report, which is subject to public consultation.

As such, the Scottish Government currently has no plans to implement recommendation 11 of the Farming for 1.5C report, that “There should be a public interest test applied if more than 50% of a holding is planned to be afforested”.