Chamber and committees

In Scotland there are key categorised responder organisations, defined in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA), such as the blue light services, health boards, local authorities, and SEPA that are responsible for ensuring the effective management of emergencies. They are required by the CCA to be part of one of three Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs) who are supported by staff provided by Scottish Government.

Resilience Division leads on civil contingencies and resilience planning within Scottish Government, though all policy areas are responsible for risks that sit within their portfolio, such as Health for public health outbreaks, and Animal Health and Welfare for animal health outbreaks. Resilience Division supports internal and external partners to prepare, respond and recover from emergencies such as severe weather, major incidents and public health outbreaks.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6F-00531 on 2 December 2021 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/ormain.aspx .

The proposal for a Carers Outcome will be fully considered as part of the upcoming Review of the National Outcomes. Scottish Ministers are required under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act (2015) to review the National Outcomes within five years of their previous publication. On 21 September 2021, I confirmed to the Finance and Public Administration Committee that external engagement for the next Review will commence in 2022, with the aim of laying the statutory report in Parliament during the third Parliamentary term in 2023.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to the University of Edinburgh to explore the feasibility of targeted lung health checks in those from areas of deprivation. We continue to support this work which is progressing and remain in regular contact with researchers. Results and learning from this work will be appropriately considered, once available.

Any decision on whether or not to introduce a new national screening programme in Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy.

In 2007, the UK NSC recommended against the introduction of a lung cancer screening programme; however, it is currently reviewing this and will take into account new evidence that has emerged since the previous recommendation.

We do not have a definite timescale for when the NSC will publish its findings, but we are expecting an update in the coming months.

Following completion of this review, the UK NSC will make a new recommendation. If the recommendation is to introduce lung cancer screening then the Scottish Screening Committee, in consultation with medical experts in this field, will advise Scottish Ministers on the most appropriate course of action for Scotland.

The UK National Screening Committee’s review into whether a programme of national lung screening should be introduced will rigorously review the harms and benefits of lung screening, and will include consideration of efficacy, health economics and mortality. The Scottish Screening Committee will consider all of these elements once latest evidence is gathered.

As noted in the answer to question S6W-05600 on 19 January 2022, the Scottish Government is currently awaiting the outcome of the UK National Screening Committee’s review into whether a programme of national lung screening should be introduced. This will rigorously review the harms and benefits of lung screening, and will include consideration of efficacy, health economics and mortality.

At the same time as the ongoing UK NSC review, the Scottish Government has provided funding to the University of Edinburgh to support an exploratory piece of research into the feasibility of the introduction of lung health checks within Scotland targeting those from areas of deprivation at higher risk of lung cancer.

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 .

Scottish Water has not loaned any money to Business Stream (SWBS). Scottish Water Business Stream Holdings Ltd (SWBSH) loaned £10million to Business Stream (SWBS) in April 2020 as part of a pre-existing funding facility. Following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, precautionary Covid-19 funding facilities were put in place for SWBS during 2020-2021. As part of these funding arrangements, the existing £10million loan was converted to equity, thereby strengthening the financial sustainability of SWBS. This £10m was from previous profits earned by SWBS and paid as dividends to SWBSH. To date no further loans have been made to SWBS and there has been no requirement for SWBS to access the precautionary Covid-19 financial support arrangements. Scottish Water customers have not been impacted by these funding arrangements.

Business Stream has continued to support its customers by providing a range of measures to help ease the financial burden for those that have been impacted most by the pandemic, including offering flexible payment plans and an enhanced version of the industry’s charging Deferral Scheme.

In Scotland, water charges continue to be linked to council tax bands to ensures that charges are the most progressive in the UK. Higher banded houses are usually expected to be occupied by higher income households and so linking water charges to council tax band will generally reflect ability to pay. In addition, the linkage to Council Tax means that many discounts and exemptions which apply to Council Tax - principally to ensure affordability - are also available for water and sewerage charges (for example single occupant discount, student exemption).

The Principles of Charging for 2021-27 were published on 7 December 2020 and include measures that seek to protect those least able to afford water charges by increasing the maximum discount under our existing water charges reduction scheme (WCRS) from 25% to 35% - this should protect those households from any charge increases across this period. These changes are expected to provide an extra £86 million financial support over the 2021-27 period. Currently over 470,000 households receive some level of council tax reduction. Revised arrangements are expected to nearly treble the number of households that are eligible to receive a reduced water and sewerage bill because of their financial circumstances.

Scottish Water’s average monthly capital expenditure in the first eight months of the 2021-22 financial year was £67million. Of that, less than £9million a month was on capital works that had been due to complete during the 2015-21 regulatory period.

A range of considerations have been taken into account by Scottish Water to set charge levels for 2022-23 including the level of inflation, potential council tax increases, the economic circumstances of customers, customer views, the cash balances of the business and the implications for charges across the rest of the 2021-27 regulatory period.