Chamber and committees

It is not possible for the Scottish Government to quantify nor confirm the total mileage of all roads constructed anywhere and by anyone for these purposes in each of the last ten years. However, on Scotland’s national forests and land, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) constructs roads for use on a multi-purpose basis e.g. timber transport, tree planting, environmental improvement works, recreational access. FLS does not hold data that ascribes a particular use to sections of forest road, nor does it hold specific data as to what lengths of road have been constructed by windfarm developers. Over the past ten years levels of forest road construction by FLS have been as follows:

2012: 46 Miles

2013: 52 Miles

2014: 43 Miles

2015: 34 Miles

2016: 37 Miles

2017: 37 Miles

2018: 44 Miles

2019: 32 Miles

2020: 27 Miles

2021: 24 Miles

The consultation on the National Care Service closed on 2 November 2021. We are currently analysing the consultation responses and will develop specific policy proposals, including on commissioning, once that analysis has been completed.

There is a commitment to co-design of a future National Care Service with people with lived and living experience of social care support, including those who access care, carers and care workers. The geography and demography of Scotland, including the unique circumstances of islands, will need to be central to that future co-design process.

The Scottish Budget provides additional funding of £387 million for frontline NHS Boards in 2022-23 and continues to ensure that no Board is further than 0.8% from its target funding allocation.

In 2022-23, NHS Grampian will receive additional investment of £26.7 million, and this will take the Board’s overall funding in excess of £1 billion for the third consecutive year. Since 2015-16, NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £56 million specifically to support the Board's movement towards NRAC parity.

We set out our commitment to establish an independent taskforce to consider whether the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Scottish SPCA) should be given extra powers to investigate wildlife crime in both the 2021-22 Programme for Government and in our Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme.

The taskforce’s role will include due consideration of the potential implications of any proposed changes to the powers of the Scottish SPCA. The taskforce will report back by the end of 2022.

We will set out the remit of the taskforce in more detail in due course.

The Scottish Government already offer bespoke and targeted advice and support to rural, remote and islands communities through a number of its delivery programmes, and the Heat in Buildings programme will take into account the distinct challenges facing these communities. The Scottish Government launched on Wednesday 15 December a further funding call to support heat decarbonisation and energy resilience in Scotland’s more remote, rural and island off electricity grid networks. Information on this can be found on the website, by accessing this link.

The Scottish Government currently provide support for community groups and organisations to explore their renewable heat options through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) delivered by Local Energy Scotland on the Scottish Government’s behalf. CARES provides advice and support including funding support (grants and loans) to community groups and organisations, rural SME’s, and other eligible organisations seeking to explore their renewable energy options.

The Scottish Government will be consulting in 2022 on its draft Islands energy strategy. This will set out an approach to decarbonisation for Scotland’s island communities that will support them to develop renewable energy solutions that promote resilience, enhance sustainability and meet their energy needs now and in the future. As part of this work, where not already in place, the Scottish Government intend to explore the evidence base and options for an islands specific uplift, as part of our commitment to provide additional support for rural and island homes for heat and energy efficiency.

The information requested on how many specialist osteoporosis nurse positions are (i) filled and (ii) vacant by NHS Board is not centrally available.

Numbers of radiography staff have increased from 1,836.8 WTE to 2,507.7 WTE since September 2007 - a 36.5% increase.(September 2007 - September 2021).

Information on how many radiographer positions are (i)filled and (ii)vacant by NHS Board, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The SPS can provide the following information in response to the questions asked:

(a)Recruitment of prison staff between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021, by prison establishment.

The table below outlines the number of external appointments made into the SPS for requested date range, detailed by establishment and role type (either non-operational or operational):

Table 1

We have committed to increase multi-year funding for the third sector and where possible we will do so. However, our ability to fulfil our devolved responsibilities remains hampered by a centralised UK budgeting approach that gives little fiscal flexibility.

Spending plans were contained in the Scottish Budget published on 9 December 2021. As set out in Programme for Government we will double investment in sport and active living to £100 million a year by the end of the Parliament ensuring more people can enjoy active lives as we recover, improving physical, mental and social health. We are working with the National Agency for Sport, sports cotland and other partners to consider how that money can best be invested to deliver against our priorities.

We recognise the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers make to our communities and know that the pandemic has added significant additional pressures. We are committed to giving a strong voice to unpaid carers, listening to their needs and acting on what they tell us.

We will develop and publish a stand-alone Carers Strategy with a focus on recovery and improving carer support in a meaningful and sustainable way. The strategy will focus on carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.

We will engage with unpaid carers about the strategy’s scope and purpose in the coming months, and this will inform its development. Our approach to the development of the strategy will be both a collaborative and an iterative one which will draw on the knowledge and lived experience of unpaid carers so that the strategy is shaped by those who best understand the many challenges faced. We will seek to publish the strategy as soon as possible to provide a clear vision for how we will respond to the challenges faced by so many carers.