Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government aims to facilitate a constructive relationship between fishers and offshore wind developers in relation to the development of offshore wind energy in Scottish Waters. This is led by Marine Scotland through ‘Commercial Fisheries Working Group’ meetings where the interests of fishers are represented by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA), Community Inshore Fisheries Alliance (CIFA) and Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (rIFGs).

In addition, the Scottish Government’s sectoral marine planning process for offshore renewable energy, which identifies potential areas for future development, involves fishing representatives being invited to join the relevant governance groups, in order to help inform the location of any resultant development areas. Furthermore, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and regional Inshore Fisheries Groups also facilitate the collection of wider views of the fishing sector to support plan development.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Food Standards Scotland and other partners to raise awareness of the importance of vitamin D, particularly amongst those at highest risk of deficiency.

On 11 October, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) launched a new national campaign to raise awareness of vitamin D and encourage people in Scotland to take a daily 10 microgram supplement throughout the winter months. The campaign will run between October 2021 and February 2022 and follows on from previous promotional activity undertaken by FSS earlier this year. Action to target specific population groups at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency is being considered and will be integrated throughout the campaign.

Leaflets highlighting the importance of vitamin D and supplements are available in a range of languages and formats. Healthy Start vitamins, which contain Vitamin D, are provided free to all pregnant women in Scotland throughout their pregnancy and have been since April 2017. Vitamin D supplements are also available free of charge for breastfeeding women and all babies up to the age of one.

We are committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with Cerebral Palsy are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from services that are safe, effective and put the person at the centre of their care.

Over the next five years the Scottish Government will invest £4.5 million of funding to implement the aims and commitments of the Neurological Care and Support – a National Framework for Action . These aims include improving the provision of co-ordinated health and social care and support for people with neurological conditions to live on their own terms. Through the Framework, we have supported a number of projects that provide support to patients in order to improve access to services, including cerebral palsy.

NHS Boards are expected to ensure that patients, including those who require cerebral palsy services, have access to a range of professionals to provide the appropriate management of their condition. We would further expect clinicians to have good awareness of guidance relevant to their practice area and apply these taking account of individual circumstances and discussions with the patient, including considering regular reviews for people with cerebral palsy, tailored to their needs and preferences.

We will continue to work with NHS, third sector partners and people with Cerebral Palsy to drive up standards of care.

Since 25 January 2019, a period largely covered by Covid restrictions, there have been the following cases referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) for consideration of prosecution:

Should an incident reported to Police Scotland involve criminality then this will be recorded and investigated by Police Scotland, and therefore be included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics published by the Scottish Government. The recorded crime statistics include several types of crime in relation to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 as detailed below.

In 2020-21, Police Scotland recorded:

• 92 crimes of slavery or forced labour (under sections 1 and 4 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• Zero human organ crimes (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• 23 crimes of immoral traffic (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and section 11 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995)
• 1 breach of Trafficking & Exploitation Order crime (under section 32 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)

Regulations amending the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 were made today.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No.3) Regulations 2021 amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, and will come into force on 30 October 2021.

The Amendment Regulations provide that UNFCCC-accredited attendees to the COP26 Blue Zone will be deemed to be fully vaccinated, for the purposes of entering the COP26 Green Zone.

On the 2 October 2019, my predecessor confirmed that the Scottish Government would introduce legislation in this parliamentary session to entitle all children whose school start is deferred to access funded early learning and childcare in their deferred year.

The legislation required, an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, was laid on 7 December 2020.

Last year, to progress the implementation of this policy and allow us to develop an evidence base for our evaluation, five pilot authorities were funded to offer an additional year of funded ELC to all children who choose to defer entry to primary 1. These authorities were: Angus, Argyll and Bute, Falkirk, Scottish Borders and Shetland Islands.

To allow us to expand our evaluation of the impact of the legislation, five additional authorities have been selected to receive funding to implement this policy from August 2022.

These authorities will be: Aberdeen City, Clackmannanshire, Fife, Glasgow City, and Stirling. The Scottish Government has committed £8.9 million to support this early implementation.

The evaluation of the experience in pilot authorities is being undertaken to monitor the impact of the policy, inform assessment of likely uptake of the entitlement and inform wider implementation of this legislation.

The Scottish Government will publish its official response to the Independent Review into the Delivery of Forensic Mental Health Services today, 29 October 2021.

The Scottish Government is already working with partners to address the recommendations of the review. A Short Life Working Group is being established which will bring together key partners, to agree a clear plan for addressing the recommendations of the Independent Review aimed toward increased support for planning, collaboration and improvement of forensic mental health services in Scotland.

The group will not revisit the work of the Independent Review but will consider how best to address the issues that are already set out in the Review reports. It will be strictly time limited, with an expectation of its work concluding early in 2022.

The £41 million will be distributed as follows:

• £10 million for a Fuel Insecurity Fund to provide direct support with fuel costs for low income households, delivered through a range of organisations including registered social landlords, Advice Direct Scotland, Energy Action Scotland and the Fuel Bank Foundation.
• £25 million to Local Authorities to tackle financial insecurity and respond to emerging need. This will include providing help with food, fuel and other essentials with a strong steer in favour of a cash-first approach and proactive and preventative action for those who are known to be at risk.
• £6 million for trusted third sector partners, allowing support to be provided by local charities and community groups to families in financial need all across Scotland.

We are currently in discussions with Local Authorities and partners and the funding will be made available as soon as is reasonably practicable.

We know that schools play a key role in supporting children and young people’s mental health. We continue to support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school across Scotland has access to counselling services, which our local authority partners have confirmed is now in place across Scotland. Counselling can help children and young people explore, understand and overcome issues in their lives and improve resilience, including responding to loss and grief.

During the planning of the counsellors in schools provision, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland advised that the requirements for working with children under the age of 10 is very different to that for older children. This is why our commitment is only for children aged 10 and over. Schools and education authorities have the capacity to identify specific measures to support children under the age of 10. For example, some local authorities may have staff trained to deliver ‘Seasons for Growth’, a programme widely used in primary, secondary and special sectors across Scotland to support children and young people suffering from loss and grief.