Chamber and committees

It is important to note that resilience of the Communications Sector, which includes telecommunications and internet, is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of mobile and broadband connectivity for almost all aspects of everyday life which is why we are working closely with BT, Ofcom, UK Government and other network operators to ensure the migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital based services is as seamless as possible.

Ofcom is closely monitoring the migration from PSTN to VOIP and they are clear that industry must protect customers during transition.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage closely with the UK Government and the regulator (Ofcom) for assurance that resilience of the telecoms network in Scotland is a priority.

It is important to note that resilience of the Communications Sector, which includes telecommunications and internet, is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is operator-owned and the operators are entitled to replace or remove it, so long as they continue to meet their regulatory obligations.

To ensure that consumers can still make emergency calls during a power cut, Ofcom has placed regulatory obligations on telecoms providers.?

The guidance states that providers must have at least one solution (such as a battery back-up unit or means to connect to a mobile network) available that enables customers to access emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power cut, and that it must be offered free of charge to customers who are at risk as they are dependent on their landline.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage closely with the UK Government and the regulator (Ofcom) for assurance that resilience of the telecoms network in Scotland is a priority.

An evidence based approach is central to the development of our policy to restrict promotions on less healthy food and drink.

Further to our 2018/19 consultation , we recently consulted again on our proposals on restricting the promotions for foods high in fat, sugar or salt to further inform the evidence base and development of this policy. This provided an opportunity for people and organisations to share their views on these proposals in the current context, including relating to cost of living pressures. Responses to this consultation are now being analysed and will help to inform development of this policy.

We continue to engage with a range of stakeholders and update our wider evidence base to inform a suite of impact assessments in order to assess whether the proposed measures are proportionate as well as to consider their impact on health inequalities. This includes engagement with businesses to inform a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment that will set out the anticipated costs and benefits of these measures. These impact assessments will be published upon introduction to Parliament of the Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill.

An evidence based approach is central to the development of our policy to restrict promotions on less healthy food and drink.

Scottish Government published economic modelling that estimated that removal of price promotions such as temporary price reductions, multi-buy and 'Y for £X', just on discretionary foods such as cakes, biscuits, confectionary, crisps, etc., has the potential to reduce calorie intake by 613 calories per person per week.

While this research was commissioned in 2019, publication of this modelling was delayed to May 2022 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The data used for this analysis is from the Kantar World panel dataset for Scotland from 2013 to 2018, which provides information about purchases at the level of products by households and whether they were made under a price promotion (e.g. x GBP pounds less). A 5 year period was used for the modelling to ensure that as many possible households could be included in the estimation and to avoid the effects of specific annual fluctuations.

This modelling is only one part of the wider evidence base on this policy. We are using a wide range of evidence and data sources to consider the potential impacts of restricting promotions, ensuring we have a robust and balanced evidence base to inform policy making.

An evidence based approach is central to the development of our policy to restrict promotions on less healthy food and drink.

Further to our 2018/19 consultation , we recently consulted again on our proposals on restricting the promotions for foods high in fat, sugar or salt to further inform the evidence base and development of this policy. As part of this we have engaged with a range of industry organisations, including manufacturers and food producers, to seek views on our proposals. Responses to this consultation are now being analysed and will help to inform development of this policy.

We continue to engage with a range of stakeholders and update our wider evidence base to inform a suite of impact assessments in order to assess whether the proposed measures are proportionate as well as to consider their impact on health inequalities. This includes engagement with businesses to inform a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment that will set out the anticipated costs and benefits of these measures. These impact assessments will be published upon introduction to Parliament of the Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill.

An evidence based approach is central to the development of our policy to restrict promotions on less healthy food and drink.

We are using a wide range of evidence and data sources to consider the potential impacts of restricting promotions, ensuring we have a robust and balanced evidence base to inform policy making.

Evidence gathering remains ongoing and we continue to add to our evidence base and engage with a range of stakeholders. We are undertaking analysis to inform a suite of impact assessments in order to assess whether the proposed measures are proportionate as well as to consider their impact on health inequalities. These impact assessments will be published upon introduction to Parliament of the Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill.

Financial support for travel is available for patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. Health boards are responsible for reimbursing patient travel expenses, in line with Scottish Government guidance, and payments will continue as normal until the review of the guidance is completed.

Where travel is necessary, Boards are expected to support patients to identify and access support available, taking account individual circumstances and ensuring patient care is at the centre of all decisions.

The impact of the unprecedented global pandemic has been felt all across the health service, and while we regret that the planned review had to be paused it will be taken forward as soon as possible, and requires prioritisation alongside our ongoing response to Covid and recovery of services.

Information relating to processing times of new applications is published as part of routine statistics publications on Adult Disability Payment. The most recent publication provides information covering the period from 21 March to 31 July 2022. These statistics showed that:

• the shortest time taken to process an application was less than one day;
• the median average processing time was 36 working days; and
• 2% of new applications in the time period took 81 days or longer to process.

The published statistics can be found at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications . The next publication, covering to 31 October 2022, will be released in December 2022.

Through our £1 million partnership with the Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF) we have begun to support communities to address the impacts of loss and damage in Bangladesh, the Pacific Region and Malawi. This includes supporting the rights and needs of climate-forced displaced people, as well as helping families make more informed decisions about migration as a means to diversify livelihoods. Separate to the CJRF funding, the Scottish Government is also providing £500,000 to support communities in Malawi facing losses and damages resulting from recent tropical storms. The Scottish Government is funding research on needs assessments and case studies as part of our commitment to build evidence around how to most effectively address loss and damage.

The First Minister and I will be hosting a conference in October [11 & 12] in partnership with the High Level Champions and Global Resilience Partnership, which will explore how we can mobilise finance, drive solutions and develop best practice for addressing losses and damages. We hope to demystify how to fund loss and damage by establishing clear routes to action with the outputs of the conference synthesised into a report launch at COP27.

Adult Disability Payment opened for new applications across Scotland on 29 August 2022, following successful pilots that began in March.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission is responsible for forecasting spending on Adult Disability Payment and publishes estimates on the number of people expected to receive Adult Disability Payment in each financial year. In their May 2022 forecast, the Scottish Fiscal Commission estimated that there would be 34,000 recipients of Adult Disability Payment in 2022-23 in Scotland. This would include successful new claims and cases transferred from Personal Independence Payment and Working Age Disability Living Allowance. They attached a high degree of uncertainty to their estimates and they have indicated they will revise the assumptions as more data becomes available.

The Commission does not forecast the number of new claims per month for Adult Disability Payment. However, internal Scottish Government analysis estimates that approximately 44,000 new claims for Adult Disability Payment will be received by the end of February 2023.