Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner’s 2024 Annual Report and the independent scrutiny it offers to both Government and its partners in delivering against the Commissioner’s recommendations.

I was pleased that, overall, the Commissioner has assessed that the Scottish Government continues to make progress against the majority of the recommendations and that none of the ‘RAG’ assessments have regressed – all have either improved or stayed the same. This is a testament to the great work going on across government and throughout the sector to support our veterans and their families. I was encouraged in particular that the Commissioner noted progress that we continue to make across the areas of Health and Wellbeing and Employment, Skills and Learning.

However, I do recognise that the Commissioner has highlighted two particular concerns in the areas of mental health support and homelessness. I will be meeting with the Commissioner soon to discuss these and her report more generally.

The Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group has been established to oversee the development of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing pathway and the implementation of the principles laid out in the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan. The Advisory Group is chaired by Dr Lynne Taylor, the Scottish Government’s Principal Psychology Advisor. It held its inaugural meeting in March 2024 and has met another three times since. The Advisory Group has agreed the preferred model of delivery for the Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Pathway and will discuss further details when it meets on 14 October. This preferred model of delivery will then be recommended to Scottish Ministers for approval.

Two sub-groups, the Operational Working Group and the Stakeholder Network, have been established to ensure there is continued stakeholder engagement, from a broad range of partners, as the plans for implementation are evolved by the Advisory Group. The main remit of the Operational Group is to consider the operational and local requirements for the delivery of the pathway as well as determining where there are gaps in service and where there are established, effective practices, across Scotland. The wider Stakeholder Network will assess the recommendations of the Advisory Group and Operational Working Group and provide feedback.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing the principles of the Veterans’ Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan and to ensuring that all veterans living in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, including safe, effective and person-centred healthcare. The work to develop the new mental health pathway will be progressed this financial year with the intention that tests of change will be actioned at the earliest opportunity. We do not anticipate any significant impact from current spending controls.

This information is not held centrally by either Scottish Government or Public Health Scotland (PHS).

PHS does not capture waiting list information on all NHS services and where they are captured, many are sourced from aggregate returns submitted to PHS by NHS boards. It is therefore not possible to identify the number of individuals that ‘have been on an NHS waiting list’. In addition, the aggregate data supplied by NHS boards does not provide patient-level information and as such, age breakdown is not available.

It is for local planning authorities to implement relevant planning legislation, policies and guidance as they deem appropriate and to ensure that the provisions of the planning system are applied properly within their areas. General guidance on the processing and determination of planning applications is available in Planning Circular 3: Development Management Procedures.

In line with long-established planning legislation, planning applications are determined in accordance with the development plan unless material planning considerations justify a departure from the plan. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) forms part of the development plan, alongside the local development plan for each area.

NPF4 signals the key priorities for ‘where’ and ‘what’ development should take place and is combined with national planning policy on ‘how’ development planning should manage change. It places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system. NPF4 Policy 11 provides support in principle for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies including small-scale renewable energy generation proposals. However, it also confirms that potential impacts on communities and individual dwellings, the environment and other receptors are important considerations in the decision-making process.

In some instances, solar panels and wind turbines can be installed on domestic properties under permitted development rights without the need for a planning application. Guidance on this is contained in Section 6 of Planning Circular 1/2024: Householder Permitted Development Rights.

The Scottish Government has had no engagement with local authorities, higher education institutions, and private providers in order to establish local housing market intelligence hubs. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities through their Local Housing Strategy and Development Plan to determine the appropriate housing required in their area, informed by a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA). HNDA Guidance encourages local authorities to establish a Housing Market Partnership (HMP) to oversee the development, production and sign-off of a HNDA. The structure and membership of a HMP is determined locally to reflect the circumstances and requirements of individual partnerships.

All Health Boards should have appropriate arrangements in place to ensure co-ordination of care for patients across primary, community and hospital health care services. This includes patients with a terminal illness.

To date the Scottish Government has provided over £342,000, of which, £125,000 was provided this financial year, in funding to the Royal College of General Practitioners “Primary Care Secondary Care Interface” project. The project is considering ways to improve this co-ordination and interface working arrangements. The College is working with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and Health Boards on this project.

The responses to the consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland's homes are currently being analysed, and a report on the feedback received will be published in due course.

I have asked Janet Egdell, Interim Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

National Records of Scotland (NRS) have today published: ‘Scotland’s Census 2022: Health, disability and unpaid care’. This is the final topic release from Scotland’s Census 2022. Later in 2024, NRS will publish multivariate data. This means we will publish tables which include more than one census topic variable. More detail about the schedule for future reports can be found here.

Scotland’s Census results are designated as Accredited Official Statistics and form an integral part of the statistical system in the UK. The Office for Statistics Regulation, the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, awards Accredited Official Statistics designation based on the quality, good practice and comprehensiveness of official statistics.

The Scottish Government has today published a consultation seeking views on allowing proxy voting by councillors. The consultation is available at - http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781836018704

Page 161 of the ‘Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland: 2022 Report to Parliament’ by the Climate Change Committee (Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland 2022 Report to Parliament (theccc.org.uk)) contains the following recommendation:

“Legislate the Circular Economy Bill and set targets to reduce waste and improve recycling rates beyond 2025, ensuring these are more ambitious than existing targets. Targets should be set on the basis of separate waste streams (rather than 'All waste') and where possible consider carbon-based metrics”