Chamber and committees

Staffing levels and resource allocation within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are operational matters for the Board of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Prior to April 2013, it was the responsibility of the eight legacy fire and rescue services to determine their staffing needs against their priorities.

With the introduction of the SFRS, one of the priorities of the national service has been to reduce unnecessary duplication. From April 2013 any changes in SFRS staffing have been managed within a workforce plan and target operating model which has been designed to meet the needs of the national service, and is based on the risks that exist within the communities of Scotland.

As confirmed by Audit Scotland earlier in 2015, the creation of the SFRS was managed effectively, the merger had no impact on the public and SFRS’s performance is improving. As the SFRS continues to evolve, and works to consider how best to contribute to supporting community safety, the number of fire-fighters and support staff will continue to reflect the needs of communities and services priorities.

Having said all of the above, the Scottish Government has faced severe funding constraints since 2010, due to the austerity programme of the UK Government, which has created significant real terms reductions in both the Scottish Government’s resource and capital budgets. This funding pressure, alongside a desire to improve operational improvements, was a key driver for the creation of a single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the challenging financial position has constrained the ability of the Scottish Government to increase funding for SFRS.

This challenging financial climate has been exacerbated by the VAT treatment of SFRS by HM Treasury since the creation of SFRS, despite repeated challenges to Treasury policy by Scottish ministers.

The VAT position, where SFRS is the only rescue service in the UK that is charged VAT, results in some £10.3 million per annum, currently, in resources being taken as a windfall by HM Treasury, despite the Treasury providing for VAT exemptions for London Legacy and Highways England, in similar circumstances, since the passage of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2011.

Restoration of a VAT exemption could relieve a significant amount of resource funding pressure on SFRS and could provide greater scope for recruitment of firefighters to fill vacancies that emerge and/or allow greater scope for capital investment. Scottish ministers continue to make the case for such a VAT exemption to be restored, given it would appear the decision not to do so, to date, is a political decision on the part of UK ministers, rather than a legal one.

The Scottish Government funds the World Pipe Band Championships through a number of public bodies.

Scottish Enterprise contributed £150,000 to the World Pipe Band Championships in 2010-11.

VisitScotland has provided a total of £437,000 over the last seven years for the World Pipe Band Championships. The figures for each year are set out in the following table:

The Scottish Government supports the traditional music sector through Creative Scotland, which disburses nearly two million pounds each year to organisations directly forming part of the traditional music sector.

Creative Scotland awards have been for £50,000 in 2011-12, £10,000 in 2012-13 and £5,000 in 2014-15 to the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland (TMSA).

Creative Scotland has also devolved £35k funding to Fèisean nan Gidheal to deliver the Traditional Arts Small Grants Fund which offers grants of up of £1,000 to organisations and individuals involved in Scottish traditional arts to support them to create, perform, tour and showcase work.

In 2008-09, the then Scottish Arts Council (SAC) made three awards of £64,757 to the TMSA. In 2009-10, the SAC made six awards totalling £84,690 and in 2010-11, the SAC made three awards totalling £48,000.

In addition, VisitScotland funded the TMSA in 2014 as part of Homecoming Scotland 2014 and special Homecoming Scotland 2014 sessions with £15,000 to help with musician costs and marketing.

Since 2008, the Scottish Government has provided a total of £202,000 in direct funding towards the mod. The figures for each year are in the following table:

£27,280 has been awarded in 2015-16.

The following agencies have also provided a range of support to the mod.

VisitScotland has provided a total of £212,000 over the last seven years. The figures for each year are in the following table:

£25,000 has been awarded in the 2015-16.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority, the Gaelic Books Trust and Education Scotland also offer support for the literature day at the mod.

Since 2010, Creative Scotland has provided £29,600 to the mod. A breakdown is included in the following table:

The Scottish Government funds the arts through Creative Scotland. Creative Scotland has not made any direct awards to fringe events at the mod but has awarded funding to artists to support their attendance.

The Scottish Government supports arts and culture primarily through Creative Scotland, and does not have its own ringfenced traditional arts budget. Creative Scotland and its predecessor body the Scottish Arts Council had a number of ringfenced funds for the traditional arts. Creative Scotland has now significantly simplified its funding model for applicants and all applicants apply directly to the regular or open funds, following feedback from the cultural sector. Since Open Project Funding was launched in October 2014, it has awarded £1.4 million to 156 individuals, organisations and projects whose work falls within the traditional arts, including support for Gaelic and Scots.

This includes writers, musicians, theatre makers, festivals and creative organisations across Scotland, such as major events like Heb Celt Festival and the Celtic Media Festival, arts organisations such as Proiseact nan Ealan, through to musicians such as Ross Ainslie and Breabach.

Creative Scotland's portfolio of Regularly Funded Organisations, who receive funding over a period of three years, consists of many organisations who are active in the traditional arts, Gaelic and Scots or wholly focussed on this area of creative work. This includes Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland including the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Feisean nan Gaidheal, An Lanntair, Taigh Chearsabhagh Trust, The Gaelic Books Council, The National Piping Centre, Feis Rois, Celtic Connections, Hands up for Trad, the Scottish Poetry Library and other organisations whose work supports traditional artists working across Scotland.

Creative Scotland has also devolved £35k funding to Fèisean nan Gidheal to deliver the Traditional Arts Small Grants Fund which offers grants of up of £1,000 to organisations and individuals involved in Scottish traditional arts to support them to create, perform, tour and showcase work.

Now that they are no longer limited to a ringfenced fund, our traditional arts compete very strongly and are able to access greater funding and are having greater success in securing funding from Creative Scotland.

The amounts spent in the period October 2014 to September 2015 in the various areas requested are shown in the following table.

Although not specifically referred to in this question, the costs of IT staff and capital expenditure on IT assets have also been shown for the period under review. This is to help provide a fuller picture and clarity when compared to previous responses on IT spend and investment at Registers of Scotland.

The extent to which vaccinations, including flu vaccines, can be administered on behalf of the NHS in community pharmacies is determined by existing primary legislation, the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. This requires that arrangements for vaccination or immunisation may be made only with medical practitioners, either directly or by others acting under their direction.

As part of this year’s arrangements for the 2015-16 seasonal flu programme anyone eligible to receive the flu vaccine through the NHS programme can make arrangements to do so through their GP practice. As part of the childhood programme, children who are aged two to five (and not yet in school) will be offered it at their GP practice and all primary school children will be immunised in school.

We are in the process of undertaking a review of vaccination in Scotland, and this will include consideration of how we might make vaccines available in different ways in the future. As part of this we will give consideration to whether some vaccines might be available through community pharmacy or other providers, what the benefits of this might be, and what steps would be needed to make this happen.

The Scottish Government supports the general principle of driver education as an alternative to prosecution, where appropriate.

At present, prosecutors may offer diversion from prosecution courses in relation to careless driving, but there is no equivalent diversion scheme in relation to speeding.

We are therefore working with key partners from our Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board – including Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service – to assess whether speed awareness courses would make an effective additional contribution to road safety in Scotland.

The introduction of any such speed awareness courses in Scotland would require a robust evidence base and the approval of the Lord Advocate, who would also decide how they would be used in practice.

Since 2007, the Scottish Government has taken a range of actions to encourage the reformulation of food and drink products and support consumers to reduce their sugar intake.

Most recently, the Supporting Healthy Choices voluntary framework, published in June 2014, sets out the case for reformulation and the action we believe is necessary to reduce the amount of sugar, as well as calories, fats and salt, in food and drink products. This includes reformulation of products, reducing portion sizes and the development of healthier recipes. Soft drinks with added sugar and confectionery are highlighted as key targets for reformulation.

The introduction of front of pack labelling has also given consumers access to clear, easy to understand nutritional information at a glance to help them make healthier choices. On 2 November 2015, Food Standards Scotland launched their ‘Look at the Label’ campaign to help increase consumer use and awareness of food labels and help them choose healthier products.