Chamber and committees

We understand the importance of sport and physical activity for children and young people in Scotland and the positive impact that it has on their physical, mental and social health.

Through sport scotland, our national agency for sport, we are working in partnerships with Scottish Governing Bodies of sport (SGBs), local authorities, leisure trusts, sports clubs and community organisations, schools, colleges and universities to provide opportunities for all to participate in sport, to break down the barriers, financial or otherwise, that keep too many people from leading active lives.

sport scotland has provided the SFA with an investment of £1,347,400 in the current financial year to help support a wide range of grassroots activity, supporting the SFA’s Football for All strategy. This includes developing children and young people’s football, all of which aims to provide a pathway for anyone to enjoy participating in football.

As set out in the Programme for Government we are working with sport scotland to ensure that Active Schools programmes are free for all children and young people by the end of this Parliament, providing them with more opportunities to take part in sport, such as football, before, during and after school.

In the 2021-22 academic year (last full year of data - 2021-22 data reflects the return to activity following the COVID-19 pandemic), 218,000 participants made 3.5 million visits to Active Schools activities with Football being the most popular and visited activity.

It is the responsibility of Local Health and Social Care Partnerships to put in place services to meet local needs, including the needs of adults with ADHD.

The 2020 Programme for Government included a commitment to consider a National Clinical Pathway for ADHD. In order to deliver on this, the Scottish Government commissioned the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to carry out a feasibility study to investigate how such a pathway would work and benefit adults diagnosed with ADHD. The Feasibility Study was published in January 2021, with the report finding that a multi-disciplinary neurodevelopmental approach, inclusive of ADHD, was needed.

Following on from the study, the Scottish Government has provided funding of £650,000 for adult neurodevelopmental pathway trials. The final report , including the findings and recommendations of the trials were published in March. We have accepted the recommendations and we are working with NAIT on implementation.

Transport Scotland officials last met with members and officials from Dumfries and Galloway Council to specifically discuss upgrades to the A75 at the spring Convention of the South of Scotland on 28 February 2022. Transport Scotland’s Director of Transport Strategy and Analysis presented a paper which included details about STPR2 Recommendation 40 (Access to Stranraer and the ports at Cairnryan).

In addition, Transport Scotland officials have quarterly liaison meetings with Dumfries and Galloway Council officers, Police Scotland and the Trunk Road Operating Companies to discuss road maintenance and other operational issues. The most recent meeting took place on 16 February 2023.

Dumfries and Galloway Council were one of 165 organisations which responded to the consultation on the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) draft report, undertaken between January and April 2022. The Council’s responses covered a range of topics, including potential improvements to the A75. All responses were considered in production of the suite of final reports and statutory impact assessments, published on 8 December 2022.

The funding proposal is in the final stages of completion and will be sent to the UK Government for consideration during week commencing 1 May 2023.

The UK Government’s own economic modelling shows that the agriculture and semi-processing sectors will lose out because of the UK-Australia trade deal. The approach taken in the negotiation of that deal also does not align with our Vision for Trade, which references the benefits of trade agreements but makes clear that these must include appropriate safeguards for our producers in sensitive sectors, like beef and lamb. The former Secretary of State for DEFRA, George Eustice MP, who was in post while these recent trade deals were negotiated, expressed a similar view when he said in the UK Parliament on 14 November 2022 that “Wedid not need to give Australia or New Zealand full liberalisation in beef and sheep – it was not in our economic interest to do so”. Also, and in sharp contrast, the recent EU trade deal with New Zealand seems to have secured significantly stronger protections for domestic EU producers.

Overall, the gains for Scottish food producers of the UK-Australia trade deal are marginal. While tariffs will be removed on a range of exports, these only benefit certain products such as Scotch Whisky. These gains are offset by the liberal market access the UK has agreed which will allow the import of agri-food products, often produced on a mass scale and to lower standards of production than in Scotland. This will have an adverse impact on our agri-food producers and economy.

Tariff liberalisation may benefit consumers by marginally increasing choice and reducing the price of imported products, for example red meat, wine, dairy and eggs. However, there is a greater risk to the Scottish economy if this displaces domestic products.

Ultimately, these Trade deals go nowhere near replacing the lost trade from the disastrous Brexit deal the UK Government negotiated with the EU.

In the Statement to Parliament by the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, on the 26 January 2023, a Delivery Plan for STPR2 to provide further insight on the prioritisation of the recommendations will follow later this year, and this will set out the investment priorities over 20 years.

Whilst it is important to note that progress is already being made on 38 of the 45 recommendations, it has not been possible to fund all of our current commitments from the existing capital spending review. Thus, it is important that the Delivery Plan is developed in the context of the on-going cost of living crisis and the Scottish Government’s fiscal outlook. These financial challenges have a bearing on the investment pipeline of projects and programmes, both pre-existing and STPR2 recommendations, plus statutory and legal commitments.

The Scottish Ministers, in exercise of their powers under Section 88 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, offer to give to the Scottish Police Authority an annual grant in connection with delivery of the operational policing aspects of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme. These operational aspects are undertaken by three regional safety camera units covering the north, east and west of Scotland.

The value of the grant for the 3 year period 2020-2023 is set out below.

ScotRail implemented the consulted timetable in South West Scotland in May 2022 and advised this was a new starting point and passenger use would be closely monitored. As a result, in May 2023, a further five additional services will operate during the day between Ayr and Kilmarnock, improving access to employment, education, healthcare and leisure facilities for communities in south west Scotland, as many of these services originate or terminate at Girvan.

ScotRail advise that there are currently no plans to change the five trains per day which currently operate between Girvan and Stranraer – these operate at the times customers told ScotRail were most useful to them. ScotRail will continue to monitor passenger use of rail services to Stranraer and engage with communities to ensure the service level meets local needs.

Across Scotland safety cameras are deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding. This is in accordance with criteria contained in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook.

There are a range of sites along the A75 where mobile safety camera resources are deployed.

An annual site prioritisation exercise is underway to assess the performance of all existing safety camera sites across Scotland and to identify locations which meet minimum criteria requirements. If new locations are identified on the A75 which meet minimum criteria requirements then consideration will be given to deploying additional camera resources on the route.