Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises improving population health as a key priority and invests in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Healthy Working Lives (HWL). HWL is a programme delivered by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and statistics on the online platform is a matter for PHS. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17658 on 18 May 2023. 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/questions-and-answers .

Colleges are responsible for their own operational decisions, including course provision, and must adapt and respond to the current economic constraints flexibly.

The Scottish Government, despite the unprecedented fiscal challenge, has maintained college and university resource budgets at last year’s levels and I understand that Fife College will continue to offer counselling courses in Academic Year 2023-24.

The recently published Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy places strong focus on prevention, early intervention and recognises the importance of a diversity of service provision.

Later this year we will publish the accompanying Delivery Plan and the Workforce Action Plan. Thereafter, we will publish actions to support students.

Introduction of the new trains into passenger service is a matter for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) given SPT is responsible for both the Glasgow Subway modernisation programme and the operation of the Glasgow subway and is not the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government understands that SPT did make an application, as part of the regulatory process, for an exemption from the Department for Transport (DfT) under the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Applications for Exemption Orders) Regulations 2010 for the headroom in the new trains which incorrectly stated the first new trains would enter passenger service January 2023 to March 2023. SPT has advised that this incorrect statement was clarified and rectified with the DfT at the time.

Testing of the new trains and development of the safety case is ongoing and the trains will not be handed over to SPT until the fault free run testing is complete, with introduction of the fleet expected to be autumn 2023 as set out in SPT’s Partnership Report on Subway Modernisation - progress update for its 23 June 2023 meeting .

The Scottish Government recognises improving population health as a key priority and invests in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including Healthy Working Lives (HWL). HWL is a programme delivered by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and the detail of the spend on the online platform is a matter for PHS. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

A grant of £15 million for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults was distributed to Third Sector Interfaces across Scotland in August 2022, to support local, grassroots community organisation. £14,975,678.28 had been distributed by the end of March 2023. Third Sector Interfaces reported a total underspend of £24,321.72 for that year.

A grant of £1,136,695 was provided to support administration costs and the capacity building efforts of Third Sector Interfaces in 2022-2023. Third sector interfaces reported a total underspend on the administration grant of £4,948.63.

From academic year 2023-24, the Scottish Government have updated the residency criteria for home fees status and student financial support in Further Education and Higher Education. This update means we can now consider applications for tuition fees, bursaries and/or loans from students with all forms of leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom providing they meet the other eligibility tests set out in Regulations. This extension of support has seen more groups of students become eligible, including those students granted leave on the British National (Overseas) visa route.

The Scottish Government does not have any immediate plans to waive the requirement for 3 years ordinary residence in the UK for this group.

The Scottish Government is working to make information around the development and delivery of chronic pain more publicly available and we are currently reviewing the information on the Scottish Government website. We will be updating the chronic pain webpage in summer 2023 to provide information, including membership of the Pain Management Task Force and relevant working groups, on how we are developing and delivering the Pain management - service delivery framework: implementation plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government is committed to the decarbonisation of the transport sector in a sustainable way to deliver a just transition. Our Climate Change Plan includes a commitment that by 2032, 30 per cent of Scottish Government owned ferries will be low emission. Many ports across Scotland have already published plans committing to decarbonising their operations, including the introduction of shore power.

The Scottish Government is working with Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd to increase the availability and use of shore power on the ferry routes it directly supports.

As shipping policy is reserved, we are committed to working with the UK Government and other governments to support decarbonisation proposals both at a UK level and legislation to decarbonise the shipping sector globally through the International Maritime Organisation. It is vitally important that the UK Government, and all other governments, prioritise the decarbonisation of industries beyond current spending periods and in response to the Climate Emergency.

National Grid connection issues have been raised by port operators in Scotland as a significant barrier to installing shore power, so work to improve these connections is imperative. We note that the UK Government has committed to publishing an action plan later this year on accelerating new grid connections, including grid connections that may support shoreside electrical power at ports. We would intend to work closely with the UK Government on these matters to ensure that circumstances in Scotland, especially those prevalent at our more remote ports, are given proper consideration.

The Scottish Government fundamentally disagrees with the principle of the UK Government making decisions in devolved areas. Though the funding of Scottish projects is welcome, this ought to be channelled through the Barnett formula, allowing Scottish Ministers and Councils to make independent decisions about its use. By cutting across devolved policies, it results in unnecessary fragmentation and confusion for local authorities and partner agencies. Overlooking Scotland’s unique economic needs, and largely ignores rural, and sparsely populated regions.