Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provides funding for the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People (NCTS) which provides free bus travel throughout Scotland for eligible older and disabled people. However, concessionary travel on other modes of transport, such as rail, is the responsibility of local authorities, which have discretionary powers under the Transport Act 1985 to provide and fund local concessionary travel schemes for residents. The extent and terms of any such scheme are for individual local authorities to consider and decide upon but are limited to be within the local authority or region boundary.

Further information on the specific Strathclyde Concessionary Travel Scheme can be found here: Concessions | SPT | Strathclyde Partnership for Transport

The length of residential rehabilitation programmes varies substantially. Data from the publication ‘Pathways into, through and out of Residential Rehab in Scotland ’ published in November 2021 shows that placements across private providers are typically shorter (5-12 weeks), while third-sector providers are typically longer (14-156 weeks). The mean average core programme length across all providers was 23 weeks. Some providers suggested that this was flexible based on individual need.

Scottish Government officials are currently conducting an analysis of the newly-passed EU Nature Restoration Law to identify where it intersects with existing Scottish Government policies and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The Scottish Government remains committed to maintaining alignment with the EU, where possible. The recent consultation on our biodiversity strategy and delivery plan set out an ambitious range of actions which aim to tackle the nature crisis. We have already invested heavily in tackling the nature crisis such as through our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund which has funded a wide range of projects across Scotland and our £250 million commitment to restore degraded peatlands.

The Scottish Government will produce a Section 36 report, as soon as is reasonably practicable, and in accordance with our statutory duty as outlined in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

There are no current plans to extend the provisions of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 to cover volunteers in the NHS. There is a staff in scope list available on the Scottish Government website which confirms the professions and services that are covered within the Health section of the Act.

Volunteers in health care services are not referred to in the Act and volunteers who do work in clinical roles in health care, for example as community first responders, while performing an important role, have no minimum contractual requirement, are not rostered on shifts and do not replace clinical employees. For these reasons they are not considered to be within the scope of the Act.

The Act commenced in April 2024 and the Scottish Government and Healthcare Improvement Scotland have been engaging extensively with Health Boards to help them prepare to meet the duties of the Act. The Act is in it’s infancy and the Scottish Government will review it only once several years of data is available to inform a coherent review.

The Scottish Government is currently working to publish the Hydrogen Sector Export Plan (HSEP) after Summer recess. The publication of the HSEP had been previously planned to take place in June 2024. However, the timetable for publication was revisited due to the start of the pre-electoral period on the 25 May 2024 which prevented official publications during this period.

The length of residential rehabilitation treatments varies substantially. This data on individual placements is not collated centrally. The Scottish Government have commissioned PHS to establish the necessary data infrastructure to monitor residential rehab in Scotland. It will include more detailed information on treatment length. This monitoring data is not yet available.

We are committed to discharge this report as soon as reasonably practicable once the Scottish Parliament has reconvened after summer recess.

The published pre-election guidance sets out that announcements and publications from the Scottish Government, particularly those including a cross border or reserved element, can have a bearing on the UK general election campaign. Regrettably, in line with the guidance applying during the pre-election period, a decision was made not to publish this report as planned ahead of the Scottish Parliament entering summer recess on 29 June. We are committed to discharge this report as soon as reasonably practicable once the Scottish Parliament has reconvened after summer recess.

Recruitment and training of registered mental health professionals is a matter for employers such as NHS boards and Local Authorities. These bodies make informed decisions about recruiting counsellors and psychotherapists or training new mental health practitioners, according to the needs of local service providers and working with relevant professional bodies. The Scottish Government expects employers to apply standards and frameworks which are appropriate to the specialism being recruited for.

In September 2023, we published Mental Health Core Standards , initially applying to adult secondary mental health services. These outline national expectations to boards regarding staffing levels and appropriate skills.