Chamber and committees

Development of the 43 UK Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) is an important element of the UK Fisheries Act (2020) and the 2022 UK Joint Fisheries Statement (JFS). The four UK fisheries policy authorities (UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and DAERA) have been working together and in partnership with stakeholders to develop the FMPs according to the parameters set within the JFS.

A significant amount of work has already been completed, however, this work is complex and further stakeholder engagement and consultation is needed. The statutory deadlines therefore need to be amended to ensure the right time and space to develop and deliver robust and effective plans.

A consultation paper proposing amendments to Annex A in the JFS, which contains the list of FMPs and the revised timetable for their delivery, has today been published. The consultation will be led by DEFRA and will run for 6 weeks from 10 October to 21 November. The deadline for the Scottish-led FMPs will be moved to the end of 2026.

We already have a strong suite of management measures in place to sustainably manage our fisheries and safeguard our fish stocks. FMPs will support further improvements where these are needed and will help deliver increased transparency in the way in which fisheries management takes place across the UK.

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

Latest devolved employability statistics show that over 61,000 people have started receiving support through our No One Left Behind approach, with over 19,000 people moving into work.

Today we have published the No One Left Behind Employability Strategic Plan 2024-2027, which outlines the key priorities for No One Left Behind over the next three years and identifies the actions we will take to deliver on these priorities, reaffirming our commitment to continuous improvement.

www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836017738

This includes a commitment to introduce a local, flexible model of Specialist Employability Support across all 32 Local Authorities from Summer 2025. This approach will adhere to the principles of No One Left Behind whilst ensuring a dedicated service offer for disabled people and those with long term health conditions.

The Scottish Government is planning to require ScotRail to procure replacement trains for the current fleet, known as the High Speed Trains (HST) fleet which operate on its InterCity routes between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Inverness.

The aim for the replacement trains will be to provide a more consistent, comfortable experience for passengers on the InterCity routes.

This will ensure the reliability of Intercity routes for the long-term, will reduce emissions from Intercity services and will provide a path towards a decarbonised Intercity network.

The decision follows a process of appraisal to look at different options to replace the trains. These options take into consideration the potential transition from diesel power to electric trains, the availability of funding and affordability challenges.

A contract notice will be published in the coming weeks, with a more detailed delivery timeline available at the point of contract award.

The Scottish Government has subsidised the temporary removal of ScotRail peak fares for twelve months in a move to encourage modal shift from private car to rail while making rail travel more affordable and accessible over the pilot period. The cost of the full year subsidy was approximately £40m.

The success of the pilot has been measured through analysis, which uses daily patronage data (from April 2022 to start of July 2024) covering the period before and nine months of the pilot.

This analysis shows that while there has been a limited increase in the number of passengers during the pilot, it did not achieve its aims of encouraging a significant modal shift from car to rail. In light of the financial challenges facing the Scottish Government and the level of additional and continuing subsidy that would be required to continue the pilot versus its contribution towards tackling climate change with modal shift from car and tackling child poverty which are key Scottish Government missions, the pilot will end on 27th September 2024.

The pilot primarily benefitted existing train passengers and those with medium to higher incomes and although passenger levels increased to a maximum of around 6.8%, it would require a 10% increase in passenger numbers for the policy to be self-financing. The pilot will have been welcome in saving many passengers hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds during the cost of living crisis but this level of subsidy cannot continue in the current financial climate on that measure alone.

I am aware, however, that a significant minority of people cannot choose when they travel to and from work who did and would benefit from lower priced rail travel and who might find the return to peak fares challenging. I can therefore announce the introduction of a 12-month discount on all ScotRail season tickets and permanently amending the terms of flexipasses to allow for 12 single journeys for the price of 10, used within 60 days, equivalent to a 20% discount for those who travel less frequently.

For example, prior to the pilot someone travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow would have paid £28.90 for an anytime return. They will now pay £31.40 for an anytime day return but with the 20% discount this reduces to £18.52 if they use an annual season ticket to travel at least 4 days per week or £21.25 if using a flexipass for a return journey. Weekly and monthly season tickets are also available with the 20% discount which offer savings over buying tickets on a daily basis.

Prior to the pilot, someone travelling between Barrhead and Glasgow would have paid £6.60. While this will increase to £7.20 for an anytime day return it reduces to £4.06 if they use an annual season ticket to travel at least 4 days per week. Someone using a flexipass on the same journey will pay £4.85 for a return journey.

Super off-peak tickets will also be reintroduced.

The final evaluation of the Pilot is available on the Transport Scotland website.

The Scottish Government would be open to consider future subsidy to remove peak fares should UK budget allocations to the Scottish Government improve in future years.

At this stage we've had no confirmation on whether recent UK Government announcements on housebuilding will generate additional consequential funding for Scotland. This is dependent on whether the UK Government policy is funded from within existing UK departmental budgets or through new money.

There remains significant uncertainty over our overall funding position. The current Spending Review period concludes at the end of the 2024-25 financial year and we currently have no details of our block grant funding from 2025-26 onwards.

More information on both matters will be provided following the UK Autumn Statement on 30 October 2024.

The RSV programme for older adults will run from 12 August to the end of September. The childhood flu programme will launch from early September. We are currently working with Public Health Scotland (PHS) and Health Boards to confirm a start date for the adult flu programme, which the JCVI has advised should start in early October.

Although the RSV and flu programmes may overlap in September, there are no plans to co-administer the RSV vaccine alongside the flu vaccine this winter. This is because current data suggests that administering them together has the potential to blunt the RSV vaccine's effectiveness. For those who are eligible for both RSV and flu, they will therefore have two separate appointments.

If the JCVI announces a COVID-19 winter programme, it is likely we would co-administer the COVID-19 vaccine with flu, as has been done in previous winters, for maximum convenience for the patient.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to improving, decarbonising and modernising the small ferry fleet and better meeting the needs of island residents, businesses and communities. After careful consideration of the SVRP Phase 1 outline business case and procurement options, I can announce that a competitive process will begin today (Tuesday 16 July) to secure delivery of seven new electric vessels for our small vessels fleet. This will be progressed by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited as the procuring authority. It is expected that the relevant processes will be completed in around eight months, at which point a contract can then be awarded. I will provide further updates to Parliament at key stages of the procurement process.

As part of the 2023-24 COVID-19 and Flu winter vaccination programme the NHS in Scotland delivered over 3.57 million vaccines, including 1,647,596 adult flu vaccines and 538,580 child flu vaccines.

Vaccination uptake rates in the 65 years and over group reached 79.8%, which is above the World Health Organization’s target ambition of 75%.

A detailed breakdown of the seasonal flu vaccination 2023-24 uptake figures for each cohort can be found via the Public Health Scotland vaccination surveillance dashboard PHS Vaccination Surveillance (shinyapps.io) .