Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27895 on 28 May 2024. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access the care that they need to live their lives well. This includes increasing access to diabetes technologies.

Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million of additional funding to support the increased provision of diabetes technologies.

I am delighted to confirm that this financial year, £8.8 million of funding will be made available to expand access to diabetes technologies in Scotland. The focus will primarily be on providing access to all children that want Closed Loop Systems, but will also allow us to continue increasing access to adults.

This investment will allow us to continue developing innovative care models for diabetes in Scotland that have a focus on digital pathways and peer support.

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/written-questions-and-answers .

The information requested is not held centrally.

Investigation of potential fixed link connections (bridges, causeways and/or tunnels) between Mull and the Scottish mainland forms part of STPR2 recommendation 41. Details on why a fixed link to Mull is part of this recommendation can be accessed at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/52545/recommendation-41-potential-sound-of-harris-sound-of-barra-fixed-link-and-fixed-link-between-mull-and-scottish-mainland.pdf

The STPR2 recommendation notes, that further work is undertaken on business cases to better understand the benefits, costs and challenges associated with these options. These studies would further consider the feasibility of improving island connectivity through additional fixed links by replacing existing ferry services currently delivered by CalMac Ferries Ltd as part of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract.

These studies would also analyse in further detail the potential long term savings associated with the public sector funding required to maintain the ferry services and would involve input from communities that may potentially be affected.

The number of premises that are either due to be delivered or have been delivered on the 15 islands that have had new subsea cables installed as part of the Scottish Government’s £600 million R100 contracts are in the following table.

Our 110,000 affordable homes target includes that “at least” 10% of those homes will be delivered in rural and island areas. We allocate Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding to local authority areas based on our Strategic Housing Investment Framework agreed with COSLA in 2012. Local authorities then prioritise the use of this funding as outlined in their Strategic Housing Investment Plans. This includes the size, tenure and location of homes.

We are investing in rural and island areas through both our mainstream Affordable Housing Supply Programme as well as demand-led funds including the Rural and Island Housing Fund and the Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund which are part of our approach to addressing the specific housing issues that rural and island areas face. From 2016-2017 to 2022-23 we have supported the delivery of 10,094 affordable homes in rural and island areas. This accounted for 16% of homes delivered over this time period.

We will invest nearly £600m in affordable homes this year including our demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund and Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund.

The BT Subsea Team has confirmed that there have been no recorded faults or repairs required to the R100 subsea cables to Scottish islands since deployment in 2022.

Transport Scotland conducts machine-based based surveys using specialist vehicles each year to gather information on the surface integrity of the road; the friction characteristics of the surface; and the structural capacity (strength) of the underlying road construction. This provides an annual snapshot of the changing road condition across the network, which is supplemented with a series of targeted inspections completed under the term maintenance contract to obtain specific information about the road asset.

The combined information is used as part of an annual cycle to determine maintenance programmes and investment requirements. This annual process results in the production of a 3-year Programme, which is reviewed and refined in light of available funding until a final programme is determined.

A copy of the latest three-year programme can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 65070) and it sets out the works that are currently proposed for delivery over the three period from April 2024 until March 2027. The works are listed by road/route and the Section References are provided but the data is not available grouped by local authority area. Delivery of these works is subject to the availability of funding and operational constraints.

Longer term the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), published in December 2022, notes that investing in the Trunk Road and Motorway network is important in order to improve safety and resilience of the network for the communities and businesses of Scotland. STPR2 recommendations for strategic roads focus on safety, climate change adaptation and resilience. For safety improvements these will be a primary, but not exclusive, focused on rural sections.

Following a competitive assessment process, successful applicants are required to produce a mid-project progress report during their nine-month duration and an end of project report, enabling officials to monitor and evaluate the efficacy of projects. The fund will be considered as part of the wider evaluation of the Arctic Connections policy framework, in line with commitments in Scotland’s International Strategy.

Preparatory work and engagement is underway to develop the Rural Delivery Plan. A data dashboard was published in December 2023, measurable objectives are being considered and investment mapped. The Rural Scotland Data Dashboard can be found at https://infogram.com/1pzg5qxldkwy2zf29ve97mvgdmb1dggnyrm?live .

Minutes from the Rural Delivery Plan Ministerial Working Group are publicly available and provide details of key developments of the Rural Delivery Plan. Minutes can be found online at www.gov.scot/groups/rural-delivery-plan-ministerial-working-group/ .

The Rural Delivery Plan Ministerial Working Group is supported by officials from the Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands portfolio, and a small amount of funding will be dedicated to supporting the Rural Delivery Plan.

The Rural Delivery Plan is an opportunity to set out the actions that government is and will be taking which impact rural, island and rural coastal communities, with funding from across ministerial portfolios benefiting rural Scotland.