Chamber and committees

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

HMP Glasgow will have a design capacity of 1,344 prisoner places which includes 120 cells designed to accommodate two people.

Table 1 presents the estimated gross cost of setting the Higher Property Rate equal to the Standard Multiplier in England, updated to include 2024-2025.

In England, in 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, the Standard Multiplier was 51.2p, or 1.3p above the Small Business Multiplier of 49.9p.

In 2024-2025, the Standard Multiplier is 54.6p, or 4.7p above the Small Business Multiplier of 49.9p.

In Scotland, the Higher Property Rate in 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 was 2.6p above the poundage, which was 49p in 2021-2022 (having been temporarily reduced from 49.8p in 2020-2021 in response to the ongoing impact of COVID-19), and 49.8p in 2022-2023, 2023-2024.

The costs therefore represent the impact of setting the Higher Property Rate at 51.2p instead of 51.6p in 2021-2022, and 51.2p instead of 52.4p in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

The Higher Property Rate in 2024-2025 is 6.1p above the poundage, which remains at 49.8p from 2023-2024. The costs therefore represent the impact of setting the Higher Property Rate at 54.6p instead of 55.9p.

The figures for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 are presented after General Revaluation Transitional Relief is applied.

The figures are gross estimates and are not adjusted for any other relief. Figures are broken down by property class, a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, which may not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a given property.

This table is based on the valuation roll as at 1 October 2021, 1 October 2022, 1 October 2023 and 1 October 2024.

Figures from 30 March 2023 and 1 April 2023 were used to calculate General Revaluation Transitional Relief.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated gross cost of reducing the Higher Property Rate to the level of the English Standard Multiplier (£), broken down by property class.

Across government, particularly in the Digital Directorate, a number of teams meet regularly with OfCom and mobile phone providers to discuss a wide range of issues. As social tariffs remain a reserved matter for the UK Government, the majority of these discussions do not focus on social tariffs however the exceptions to this are listed below:

The purpose of Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter is to support, guide and recognise the work of organisations doing digital inclusion. SCVO will support organisations to take action to meet each pledge. The Charter is one tool that is being used to engage organisations and encourage them to act on digital inclusion.

It is the intention that the Charter will provide a useful source of data on the different activities being undertaken across all sectors to tackle digital exclusion. When organisations are asked to renew their pledges after a two-year period, they will be asked to demonstrate any progress they have made.

As with any charter or pledge, the levels of commitment by signatories is likely to vary. The priority is to secure Charter signatories who can deliver meaningful actions, rather secure large numbers of signatories with superficial commitments.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking a joined-up approach to digital inclusion. We engage across government and with the UK and the other devolved nations to understand and share good practice. We will continue to work in this way and aim to continue supporting coordinated approaches across government.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommendation that the four UK Nations should move towards implementing a programme of targeted lung screening for those between 55-74 with a history of smoking, was based on evidence from the lung health check pilots which continue to inform the Scottish Expert Advisory Group (SEAG) work.

The UK NSC established an expert Lung Task Group to oversee modelling work and explore the issues around implementation, which is attended by all four UK nations. In addition, representatives from the SEAG attend both the NHS England Lung Screening Implementation Group and the Welsh equivalent. Representatives from these groups have in turn attended the SEAG, to share learning and develop evidence-based feasibility advice.

Officials continue to invest in the University of Edinburgh who have been conducting a research study, LungScot, into targeted lung health checks across four health boards. This important work will help to inform the considerations of the SEAG as work progresses towards a business case which will highlight the challenges and opportunities for a Scottish Programme.

Lung cancer remains a national priority, with Scotland's first optimal cancer diagnostic pathway for lung published 12 December 2022. This pathway sets optimal timeframes for each step to enable diagnosis by day twenty one and treatment for most by day forty two. Work continues to develop and share best practice to ensure patients receive faster access to treatment.

As part of normal practice in processing any marine licence or section 36 consent application, officials from the Marine Directorate Licensing Operations Team will meet with applicants and as such, have met with Flotation Energy on multiple occasions for the projects they are developing, both before and after April 2023. Meeting arrangements between MD-LOT and applicants are set out on the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/marine-licensing-and-consenting-offshore-renewable-energy-projects/pages/meeting-arrangements-with-md-lot/

Offshore Wind Directorate officials have also met with Flotation Energy multiple times, including at conferences and as part of regular stakeholder engagement, to discuss opportunities and challenges of their projects and the wider offshore wind sector.

Ministers meet developers as part of regular engagement with the renewables sector. For example, the Deputy First Minister met Flotation Energy in September 2024 to discuss supply chain opportunities, the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy attended an Offshore Energies UK Roundtable in January 2024, at which the Flotation Energy CEO was present and the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy met with the Flotation CEO in March 2023 to discuss Flotation Energy’s plans for offshore wind developments in Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not collect or record information relating to the volume of ministerial correspondence that is fast-tracked.

We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to improving respiratory services and understanding respiratory care in Scotland. Due to the extremely challenging fiscal position the Scottish Government is facing, we have not been able to progress the development of the national respiratory audit programme this financial year. We aim to do so in the financial year 2025 to 2026.

Community cohesion stretches across a number of policy themes and outcomes. For example, our Vision for Justice three year delivery plan remains to deliver a just, safe resilient Scotland. This will see us living in safer, more tolerant and inclusive communities, free from inequality and hate. We are progressing with delivering on our three year plan, and key milestones. We also continue to promote the use of the Place Standard Tool as an effective tool for community engagement, including within community planning and spatial planning. It includes themes and prompts relating to exploring community cohesion, and its use can in itself promote trust and increased participation in decision making, as well as drive improvements in neighbourhood quality. We don’t have formal measurable objectives regarding use of the tool.

The report Social Capital and Community Wellbeing in Scotland (published on 1 October 2024) provides a measure of social capital that includes ‘community cohesion’ as one of the four domains, and it provides a range of measures to track community cohesion over time and broken down by geography and population subgroups.