Chamber and committees

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.

The process is ongoing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

Public Health Scotland publishes annual data on NHS eye examination on their website at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ophthalmic-workload-statistics/ophthalmic-workload-statistics-statistics-as-at-year-ending-31-march-2024/

Tables 6.1 and 6.2 provide data at Scotland, Health Board and Health and Social Care Partnership level outlining that, apart from the COVID-19 impacted years, increasing numbers of people are having a free NHS-funded eye examination.

In addition, the NHS Inform and Eyes.NHS.Scot websites have content relevant to the provision of NHS funded eye examinations in Scotland.

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.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on satisfaction rates on the provision of palliative care services across Scotland.

However, to inform the development of the draft strategy on palliative care, we carried out surveys mapping palliative care delivery across Scotland. These indicated that ways of working and reporting on general palliative care and specialist palliative care services varied by NHS Board areas.

Further to this, we also looked at research studies exploring lived experiences of palliative care, and we commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to gather views from people in Scotland with experience of palliative care or caring for someone who has received palliative care. This included gathering views from people in rural and island communities.

The outcomes of all of these pieces of work are available at www.gov.scot/publications/palliative-care-strategy-palliative-care-matters/

Since October 2022, Scottish Government has funded the third sector organisation RNID to deliver its ‘Near You’ scheme in partnership with the NHS. The service provides hearing aid maintenance and support, access to information and advice as well as early detection and prevention. The scheme is currently operational across 5 hub areas – Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Scottish Borders, Shetland, Lothians and Fife and is facilitated by locally recruited staff and trained volunteers.

Partnerships provide domiciliary care in care homes as well as forging links with other third sector organisations to maximise attendance and support provided. Regular monitoring of this service is undertaken to assess demand and savings including in clinical hours and patient travel.

Requests for staff training are approved by senior management based on business need and value for money. Whilst total expenditure on staff training is recorded, we do not have a breakdown of spend only related to staff involved with social media management.

From 1 April 2025, all ScotRail fares will increase by 3.8%, including season tickets and flexipasses.

We want more people to choose to travel by public transport for work, study and leisure but we know that people are still struggling with cost-of-living pressures and don’t always see public transport as affordable or attractive. That is why we have kept the rise this year as low as possible, while also supporting the generation of sufficient revenue to help maintain existing services, and contribute towards investment in infrastructure and fleets.

We are also continuing our 20% discounts on season tickets until September 2025 as planned.

Flexipass will also continue to offer 12 single (6 return) journeys and has recently been expanded to include the following stations: Exhibition Centre (Glasgow), Anderston, Motherwell, High Street (Glasgow), Charing Cross (Glasgow), Perth, Stirling, and Bathgate.

Geographical Indication status for Scotch Whisky provides high levels of protection to the whisky sector, both in the UK and across the globe. Scotch Whisky has a global reach, and the industry itself through the Scotch Whisky Association has the expertise and knowledge to tackle instances of fake or misleading whisky which can damage the reputation of the product. There has been considerable progress made since 2018 by both government and the industry in this area particularly with the increase in use of lot codes.

Further to question S6W-33178 please see the following table which provides the number of street lamps replaced or upgraded on the A90 trunk road by year.

Ministers regularly meet with their counterparts in the UK Government, other devolved governments, and the Government of Ireland on a bilateral and multilateral basis to discuss matters of common interest.

The focus of our engagement is to work together to deliver on the First Minister’s four priorities as announced when he came into office in May: Eradicating Child Poverty; Growing the Economy; Tackling the Climate Emergency; and Ensuring High Quality and Sustainable Public Services.

A list of ministerial engagements, including meetings, are published on a regular basis on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/#2024