Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is currently supporting a UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs project on “Co-designing an Evaluation Framework for Recruitment and Retention of Domestic Seafood Workers”. This project includes a survey and focus groups with people working in fishing, processing and aquaculture across the UK, including Scotland. The project will seek to explore questions related to barriers and opportunities for new entrants and across different project stages.

The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition( (Scotland) Act 2007 makes health promotion a central purpose of schooling and places duties on all education authority and grant aided schools including those in rural communities. A school is health promoting if it provides activities and an environment which promote the physical, social, mental and emotional health and wellbeing of pupils in attendance at the school.

It is up to local authorities and schools to choose which policies, initiatives and programmes they put in place to meet these duties recognising they are best placed to decide what will best serve local needs, priorities and circumstances.

Guidance was developed to support schools as they take action to meet their duties under the 2007 Act.

Health and wellbeing is an integral part of Curriculum for Excellence, helping to ensure that children and young people are provide with the skills, knowledge and experience they need to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing as they grow into adulthood. Children and young people should know where to go to get relevant support and help them make informed decisions about their health.

The Scottish Government has invested over £29m of Community Led Local Development (CLLD) funding in our rural communities since the closure of the LEADER programme in December 2021, delivering over 1000 grassroots community-led projects across rural and island Scotland in partnership with rural organisations. A place-based approach is the foundation of CLLD. Communities are empowered and supported to design and implement the solutions to the challenges and opportunities they identify in their local area, which may include community led health and social care provision. We have invested £11.4m so far in our rural and island communities to support CLLD and similar initiatives in 2024-25. A further £9m for CLLD was announced in the indicative 2025-26 budget, subject to the passing of the Budget Bill.

Current Public Health Campaigns targeting rural communities:

1. Right Care Right Place (increasing awareness of, and encouraging the public to use, appropriate health services).

• Purchased media space for this campaign includes community radio running in a number of rural locations that network radio does not reach, including Argyll FM, Caithness FM, Radio Skye, Radio Wester Ross, Radio Nevis (Fort William) and Shetlands (SIBC). Network radio advertising space has also been purchased for this campaign to ensure reach of the public Scotland wide.
• Campaign paid-for media also includes a print content partnership in a press pack which includes local publications such as Ellon Times, Buchan Observer, East Fife Mail, Berwickshire Advertiser and Ayrshire Post.

For details of newspapers purchased, I refer the member to the response provided to S6W-33494 on 31 January 2025.

Newspapers are taken for current awareness; to help identify and monitor local and regional issues; and to support policy and operational delivery.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Prevention of theft is a matter for Network Rail and railway operators working in collaboration with the British Transport Police. The Member may wish to note that safety and security of the rail network is a reserved matter under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. Scottish Government officials liaise with Network Rail and British Transport Police to ensure that they are working to minimise the impact of theft on passengers and freight users.

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.

The Scottish Government has agreed with NHS Highland that due to exceptional circumstances there, a mixed model of vaccine delivery can be put in place. This will be a hybrid model for vaccine delivery in which NHS Highland will also continue to provide some vaccination programmes.

Since 2020 the Scottish Government has provided over £150 million to support the introduction of zero emission buses, which will bring the number servicing Scotland’s communities from less than 20 to more than 800. This includes our most recent round of Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB), which will bring 252 new, zero-emission buses and coaches into service between 2024-25 and 2025-26. This funding will electrify several bus depots, allowing operators to introduce more zero emission vehicles into their fleets in the future. Some of these depots will be made available for use by other fleets of heavy road vehicles. This pan-Scotland charging network will provide confidence in the availability of infrastructure to other road users, encouraging more operators to make the switch to zero-emissions. Government will continue to explore with the sector how private sector finance can be leveraged to increase the pace and scale of transition.

This is a matter for individual Agencies. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.