Chamber and committees

Initial diagnosis of visual impairments largely takes place in community optometry practices following patient presentation to the service. We are not aware of access concerns to the service at this time.

There is currently no community provision for audiology in Scotland. Diagnosis is performed within secondary care settings and typically on referral from wider health networks and services. Consideration of audiology capacity – within existing NHS hospital services – is being taken forward in response to the findings of the Independent Review of Audiology. In addressing the Review’s recommendations, audiology has been designated a clinical priority area, with improvement work being progressed through the National Planning and Delivery Board arrangements, led by the Chief Operating Officer – NHS Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and enabling people to be more physically active. Mean sedentary time at work is monitored through data gathered from the annual Scottish Health Survey. The Scottish Government work closely with Public Health Scotland, The Physical Activity for Health Research Centre (PAHRC), and other experts to understand the latest research on the negative health impacts of sedentary behaviour.

It is important to make sure that the start date of the annual flu programme reflects the expected peak of flu circulating to ensure maximum vaccine efficacy.

The 2024 Winter Flu and Covid programme (FVCV) launched on 9 September with the child flu programme. This was the earliest the programme in Scotland could start the child programme, due to vaccine supply deliveries.

Vaccination of adult flu groups began on 16 September, with the main flu and COVID-19 co-administration launching on 23 September. As per previous winter programme, Boards used the first two weeks of the main programme to focus on our most vulnerable citizens, notably residents in care homes for older adults and the housebound. Community appointments then began on 7 October.

These launch dates were based on two factors;

1.Advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation (JCVI): The JCVI advice noted that Health Departments should ideally aim to vaccinate their adult flu population in October and November, in order to vaccinate the eligible population prior to the beginning of the flu season, and to minimise the impact of vaccine waning.

2.Availability of COVID-19 vaccine supply: The vast majority of COVID-19 and flu vaccines are co-administered (currently 95.2% as of 26 January), for maximum convenience for people who are eligible for both. As such we had to wait for COVID-19 vaccine supplies to be available in Scotland to start that main phase of the programme, and 23 September was the earliest possible date.

During planning for its winter programmes, the Scottish Vaccination & Immunisation Programme (SVIP) takes multiple, complex factors into account when arriving at programme dates. These include JCVI advice on programme timings and cohort eligibility, the risk of emerging new COVID-19 variants, flu and COVID-19 vaccine supply availability and clinic capacity within the system.

These factors change annually, meaning that programme start dates will shift and therefore a direct comparison is difficult.

Responsibility for fire safety and monitoring at Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) sites rests with the duty holder/site owner. Many BESS locations are unmanned and monitored remotely, meaning there is typically no immediate life risk. Some BESS sites may have welfare facilities for workers during short, irregular shifts (outside of construction or decommissioning phases), and certain buildings on these sites may fall under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 in terms of general fire safety. However, these sites are normally not subject to fire risk regulations due to the processes taking place on site.

SFRS adheres to the National Fire Chiefs Council’s guidance for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), developed with the safety of both the public and emergency responders in mind.

A dedicated working group within SFRS will continue to monitor the increasing number of BESS applications and their development, alongside the Service’s role in the planning, consultation, and progression of these sites.

SFRS’ protection efforts focus on four key areas:

• The impact of life safety in the event of a fire.
• A risk-based approach to safety.
• Emerging intelligence, including operational insights and partner communications.
• Post-fire audits and analysis.

A strong focus on prevention and the adherence to industry safety standards is essential for managing risks. The SFRS specialist fire safety enforcement and community safety teams will continue to collaborate with partner agencies, and their highly skilled firefighters are ready to deploy standard and specialised national resources to any incident as needed.

The phasing of the permitted development rights (PDR) work programme has been kept under review to ensure that it reflects – and helps to promote – the Scottish Government's strategic priorities. As a priority, Phase 3 of the review focussed on PDR for domestic and non-domestic renewable energy equipment. The amended scope of Phase 3 reflected the cost and climate crises, and the need to ensure the planning system plays its part in helping to support households and businesses to adapt their properties.

We still expect to revisit the PDR related to private ways / hilltracks at a future point. This is a complex issue of interest to a wide range of stakeholders with differing perspectives, and requires very careful and detailed consideration.

The first meeting of the Expert Group took place on 25 April 2024 and its lifespan was initially expected to be around one year, although there was scope to extend this, and it’s now likely to continue beyond this time.

The group aims to share an update on its progress, and timeline for potential recommendations, to the Scottish Government for consideration in late April.

Scotland’s first National Marine Plan (NMP) was adopted in 2015 and provides the guiding framework for sustainable management of marine activities and resources. In October 2022, Ministers announced the intention to update the NMP to better support our transition to net zero and tackling the nature and climate crisis through marine planning.

The timeline for the National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2) is published in the statement of public participation. The draft NMP2 is scheduled for consultation in late 2025 with plan adoption anticipated in 2027.

We are continuing to work across the Scottish Government and with delivery partners, including Public Health Scotland and See Me, to ensure that employers across all sectors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and resources they need to promote and support the conditions that enable good mental health at work.

Together, we are delivering a joint package of support for employers across Scotland to support mentally healthy workplaces, which includes:

• The ‘Supporting a Mentally Healthy Workplace’ employer platform, which was launched in August 2022 and signposts employers to a wide range of free mental health and wellbeing resources and information.
• The ‘Supporting a Mentally Healthy Workplace: National Learning Network for Employers’, which was established in March 2023 to complement the employer platform and to bring together employers of all sizes and across all sectors to share learning and experiences of supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
• Public Health Scotland’s Mentally Flourishing Workplaces Framework. Developed in collaboration with a range of employers, this aims to help employers identify what they can do to improve mental health support for their employees, and work together to be a mentally flourishing organisation.
• The See Me in Work Programme, led by See Me, Scotland’s anti-mental health stigma campaign. which provides online support for employers to enable them to create stigma-free and mentally healthy working environments.

Additionally, since 2019 Scottish Government’s Mental Health Directorate has provided funding to the Lifelines Scotland wellbeing programme, to support blue light responders – Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Ambulance Service – who have had difficult experiences in the course of their work which have affected their mental health and wellbeing.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government and Ministers do not intervene in operational matters. Additionally, statistics regarding arrests in any location at a matter for Police Scotland.