Chamber and committees

One of the three overarching objectives within Scotland’s Forestry Strategy 2019-29 is to Increase the contribution of forests and woodlands to Scotland’s sustainable and inclusive economic growth , with Improving efficiency and productivity, and developing markets identified as one of the six priority areas for action.

Scotland’s Forestry Strategy Implementation Plan 2022-22 includes a commitment to: Support the Scottish Forest and Timber Technologies Industry Leadership Group to deliver its strategy “Roots for Further Growthand increase the sector’s contribution to inclusive economic growth ; and a further commitment to: Work with construction industry professionals and others to identify opportunities to increase the use of wood products in construction .

As part of the current Programme for Government, we are committed to increasing the annual volume of Scottish timber going into construction from 2.2 million cubic meters in 2018 to 2.6 million cubic meters by 2022. We are working in partnership with the forestry sector to deliver this target by supporting research into timber engineering, increasing the understanding of timber as a building material among architects and supporting efforts to increase demand for home grown wood products through the Wood for Good initiative.

24,596 homes, which is 64% of homes assessed against benchmarks, have sought grant funding either at or below the relevant grant subsidy benchmark over the last five years. The table showing Affordable Housing Supply Programme Affordable Homes Approved At or Below Published Benchmarks has been placed in SPICe under BIB number 62585.

The table contains data submitted by delivery partners through our digital programme management system called HARP (Housing and Regeneration Programme) and provides the breakdown as requested. The analysis is based on information provided at tender approval stage which is when projects are assessed against benchmark grant subsidy levels. Only projects which have a relevant benchmark have been included i.e. social rent homes provided by Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), social rented homes provided by Local Authorities, and affordable homes for Mid Market rent provided by RSLs and their subsidiaries.

The legislative requirements for an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) are set out on the Road Traffic regulation Act 1984 and the relevant procedures as contained in the Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 (for local roads) or the Secretary of State’s Traffic Orders (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1987 (for trunk roads).

If a Roads Authority wish to make an ETRO a permanent Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), the procedures set out in the relevant regulations shown above must be followed.

As part of the ongoing review into TRO procedures we have published a public consultation to gather feedback on some proposed changes to the Experimental Order Procedures and this can be found at Consultation on Traffic Regulation Orders - Scottish Government - Citizen Space ( https://consult.gov.scot)

Transport Scotland has recently attended a meeting with Glasgow City Council on 26 May to discuss the maintenance and financing of the repairs for the Clyde Tunnel. At this meeting, the structural integrity and planned strengthening works to the A739 Shieldhall overpass were discussed. My officials are willing to continue to engage with the Council on this matter in order to aid them in trying to find a solution, however maintenance of the local road network is the responsibility of local authorities.

The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Glasgow City Council will receive a total funding package of almost £1.5 billion in 2021-22 to support local services, which includes an extra £29.8 million to support vital day to day services, equivalent to an increase of 2.2 per cent compared to 2020-21.

To date, the council has been allocated an additional £221.7 million to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, through the local government settlement - over and above their regular grant payments.

The following table provides the information held on the number of closures due to roadworks and incidents on the M8 between junctions 13 and 26 between July 2017 and July 2021. We have been advised by our operating Company that figures for 2016/17 are currently unavailable. However, these are being sourced and will be forwarded to you once received.

We have confirmed with Public Health Scotland (PHS) that there is a sentinel surveillance scheme. The symptomatic dataset is a very small sample; consequently, any potential analysis would not be robust. However, we are assured that the ZOE app does include Scottish data; moreover, PHS does not believe that there is any reason to assume Scottish only data would be different.

From 2 August, travellers who arrive from amber list countries (who have not travelled through a red list country in the previous 10 days) who are residents of and have been fully vaccinated as part of programmes in the UK, US and the EU as well as a number of other European countries, will be exempted from self-isolation.

Those who have been exempted must show an accepted record of vaccination at the point of entering Scotland that they have received a full course of the vaccine and 14 days have passed since the final dose. This also applies to under-18 residents of those countries and travellers taking part in formally approved Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials.

The exemption from amber list countries for fully vaccinated individuals only applies to self-isolation and day 8 tests, and those applicable must still follow the other rules, including taking tests prior to their departure and booking and undertaking a day 2 test if you are over the age of 11.

The Scottish Government continues dialogue with the UK Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive with the aim that future changes to policy on fully vaccinated travellers is announced on a four nations basis.

As a priority action within our Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan and as a 100 Day Manifesto Commitment, the Green Jobs Workforce Academy will be launched in August 2021. This reflects the Scottish Government’s commitment to ensuring Scotland’s workforce has the skills to support the transition to net zero.

Through the new online resource, individuals will be able to access information and careers advice on green jobs and the skills required to enter into or progress in them, and identify courses and funding available to support their upskilling or retraining.

In 2019-20 and 2020-21, the National Transition Training Fund has already been supporting workers whose employment has been affected by the pandemic upskill and retrain, including for jobs in sectors that will be critical to a just transition.

Our 2021 campaign to raise awareness of the climate crisis is a core part of our approach to engagement, as set out in the draft Public Engagement Strategy (PES). As with all marketing activity, the Scottish Government has set objectives and evaluation plans from the outset of activity. In this case we will use quantitative research with our target audience to measure awareness and message recall of our domestic climate change campaign, as well as measuring the motivation by the public to take action as a result. In particular, we will identify whether there is a change in the proportion of the public agreeing that there is a climate emergency and, if so, assess changes in agreement that we all need to take action to tackle climate change.

Alongside this, we will use quantitative metrics to monitor the reach of paid for media associated with the campaign and supporting digital content.

Statistics on the number of patients waiting for reconstructive surgery following treatment for breast cancer are not held centrally by Public Health Scotland (PHS). In the case of patients waiting for inpatient or day case treatment the national Waiting Time data collection is designed to identify the procedure that the patient is waiting for. However, not all Boards submit this information consistently and so it is incomplete. In addition, no information is collected on the diagnoses or conditions that relate to the planned procedure.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for inpatient or day case admissions, at specialty level are published up to 31 March 2021 using the link below.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/8036/ipdc_may21.xlsx