Chamber and committees

The treatments available for those living with renal vascular compression depend on the underlying cause. There are many potential causes of renal vascular compression which all have specific treatment options. Treatments available range from surveillance (in less severe cases), medication such as ACE inhibitors and aspirin, and various types of surgery.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on consultant specialties.

Waiting time information is available from Public Health Scotland and is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. However, as treatment pathways vary, specific information is not available on the timescales for treatment for those living with renal vascular compression.

The Staff Governance Standard, which is applicable to all staff employed in NHSScotland, requires health boards to appropriately train and develop staff, as well as provide a safe working environment. The Scottish Government monitors compliance annually to ensure health boards, as employers, are meeting this standard. This includes providing the necessary training for staff according to statutory requirements.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education has developed a workplan which contains a suite of interdependent workstreams, including workforce planning.

These workstreams contain a range of proposed actions which are in the process of being further developed and which will have individual timescales for reporting to the Board.

The Board last met on 1 February 2024 to discuss the workplan. Papers from this meeting and future meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course.

Skye and Lochalsh Mental Health Association was awarded funding from the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to support their Keeping Warm Project and mental health training.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults is distributed in all 32 regions of Scotland by Third Sector Interface (TSI) organisations who, working in collaboration with other local partners, are responsible for allocating the funding to local community initiatives which support mental health and wellbeing. This is based on local needs and in line with national criteria issued by Scottish Government.

The grant terms and conditions relating to this funding to Skye and Lochalsh Mental Health Association are determined by Highland Third Sector Interface

The Scottish Government welcomed the Committee’s thorough and wide-ranging report and we are committed to working with local government to deliver our shared climate change goals.

Following the Committee’s Inquiry, COSLA and the Scottish Government is working collaboratively to develop a Climate Delivery Framework to agree shared approaches to delivering action on climate change. As recommended by the Committee, we have also established a Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS) jointly funded with local government, which will help build the capacity of local authorities to reduce area wide emissions. A single data platform, currently being procured, will enable consistency of approach and adoption of best practice methodologies across local authorities and their delivery partners. This will provide all 32 local authorities with data-informed evidence, insights and intelligence they need for continuous improvement of their climate action plans.

The Scottish Government does not fund Moray Mental Health directly from its mental health programme budget, therefore no objectives have been set.

Further to the response given by Miri McAllan MSP, in a particularly challenging fiscal landscape, the Scottish Government has had to take difficult decisions to deliver balanced and sustainable spending plans for the 2024-25 financial year.

The UK Autumn Statement was a worst-case scenario for Scotland. Our block grant funding, derived from the UK Government’s spending decisions, has fallen by 1.2 per cent in real terms since 2022-23 and our capital spending power is due to contract by almost 10 per cent in real terms over five years.

A significant proportion of the expenditure in the Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition portfolio is legally and contractually committed, and I have ensured that those commitments are met in full in this budget as well as allocating funding to support critical maintenance and renewal expenditure to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to a safe and reliable transport system. This has been compounded by continuing high inflation, which has further reduced our room for manoeuvre.

The reduction in the rail services line reflects increased revenue, as passenger numbers recover, which reduces the subsidy required by ScotRail. This accompanies a significantly reduced capital budget required, reflecting the accounting and recognition of lease arrangements in year.

As Miri McAllan MSP indicated, the Equalities and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement and Carbon Assessment were published alongside this Budget. These impact assessments not only analyse the budget and the impact of the decisions contained in it, they also consider the process of making those decisions, and how we make sure the needs of all people are actively considered. The Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition portfolio was actively engaged in the analysis and production of these assessments.

The overall policy intention behind simple procedure is to provide a quicker, less formal, and more accessible route to justice for individuals involved in low-value civil disputes. It is therefore suitable for party litigants to raise or defend an action and conduct their cases to a conclusion themselves.

While the current monetary limit is £5,000, there are provisions for flexibility and case-specific considerations within the simple procedure framework. Even if the sum sought exceeds the monetary limit for simple procedure cases parties can agree to transfer a case to the Simple Procedure. In such cases, there is no obligation to lower the sum sought to meet the £5000 limit.

The Scottish Government considers the average value of simple procedure claims does not support an immediate need to increase the £5000 limit. We remain of the view that the current limit and flexibility within the simple procedure framework strikes the right balance between providing an accessible and cost-effective legal avenue while ensuring fairness and proportionality in resolving disputes.

The Government will continue to keep the monetary limit for simple procedure under review.

The Scottish Government has provided grants for 2 projects delivered by the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council (WSREC) via the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) since 2019.

1. CCF-5601 – Cook, Grow and Sew – Branching Out (2018-2020)

2. CCF-6523 - Cook, Grow, Sew - Branching Out (2020-2022)

The answer to S6W-24394 on 19 January 2024 outlined the objectives of the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) programme and covers the 2018-2020 project.

The main objectives for CCF-6523 were as follows:

• Supporting 2000 people in their community to increase their awareness and understanding of Climate Change and enabling them to make informed choices on how to move to low-carbon lifestyles.
• 260 minority ethnic and vulnerable households will reduce their carbon emissions by 36 tonnes CO2e, by receiving home energy visits, workshops and surgeries across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire.
• 725 minority ethnic individuals across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire will reduce their food waste, waste production and material consumption by 42.9 tonnes CO2e through advice, repair/reuse workshops and events.
• 115 minority ethnic individuals reduce food emissions by 8.0 tonnes CO2e across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire through gardening, home growing support, partnership workshops and foraging sessions.
• 32 minority ethnic young people with focus on asylum seekers and refugees will be capacity built to share environmental learning to peers and networks. A further 8 minority ethnic led organisations become ecos-conscious and support wider communities through environmental activities.

The Scottish Government has also provided funding to the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council through the Victim Centred Approach Fund.

Organisations that receive support from VCAF are required to demonstrate how the services they provide, or propose to provide, can contribute towards delivery of one or more of the following priorities:

• Priority 1 - Victims will have access to practical and emotional support, regardless of: whereabouts in Scotland they live; the nature or severity of the crime; whether it has been reported; or what stage of the justice journey they are at.
• Priority 2 - Victims will have access to joined-up services that are inclusive and accessible to all, are trauma-informed, provide streamlined support, and reduce the need for victims to recount their experiences to several different organisations.
• Priority 3 - Families bereaved by crime committed in Scotland or abroad will have access to specialist practical and emotional support.
• Priority 4 - Victims / survivors of gender based violence will have access to consistent and specialist criminal justice advocacy support.
• Priority 5 - Adult victims of human trafficking and/or slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour will have access to support and assistance.

Full details on the terms and conditions for the Victim Centred Approach Fund are set out in the application guidance .

The Scottish Government is open to considering all options and will continue to work with the industry and other stakeholders to achieve improvements in pig welfare.