Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

Today, the Scottish Government has published a position paper, "Taking a Feminist Approach to International Relations”. To date, the Scottish Government has been engaged in a period of evidence gathering, listening and learning from others. This has included the publication of an independent evidence report in June 2023 and today’s publication forms the first part of an ongoing response.

This position paper commits us to a set of principles which will help us guide our work and identify the focus and parameters of the policy, with an initial focus on the four priority areas of international development, trade, climate justice and peace and security. We recognise the development of Scotland’s feminist approach as an ongoing process. In line with our commitment to international knowledge exchange and policy partnerships, we are committed to continuous dialogue with stakeholders. We are clear that our work must be evidence-based and that a ‘one size fits all’ approach will fail to deliver for us all. The Scottish Government is determined to be a good global citizen and a feminist approach will support us to make a constructive contribution to addressing global challenges and achieving fairer outcomes.

The report will be available at: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835215982

While the management of Scottish waters is an area of devolved competency, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations through the delivery of the Marine Wildlife Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI) which is a joint plan for tackling bycatch across the UK to minimise, and where possible eliminate, bycatch of sensitive marine species. This includes an objective to improve our understanding of bycatch through monitoring, which we continue to do through our observer programmes.

Sustainability, support for biodiversity, and consideration of the wider ecosystem is at the heart of how we manage Scotland’s fisheries and protect our marine environment. For this reason, actions contained within both Scotland Fisheries Management Strategy and in the Blue Economy Vision for Scotland, sets out our ambition for the sustainable management and shared stewardship of Scotland’s seas and coasts.

The Future Catching Policy will take concrete action to support fishers to avoid bycatch of fish and other sensitive marine species – the aim is to reduce waste and increase the sustainability of the Scottish fishing fleet. As a first priority, we will take firm measures to increase selectivity by introducing additional technical measures were required to reduce unwanted catch, working with stakeholders to explore and deliver solutions.

The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) supports communities across Scotland to participate in, and benefit from, the energy transition to net zero emissions. Since its inception, CARES has offered funding of over £61 million to over 800 projects and helped support the installation of 58.6 MW of renewable energy.

CARES funding is allocated across financial years. The breakdown of funding offered to groups for financial years 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 by local authority area is set out in the following table.

CARES is a demand-led scheme, and so relies on organisations submitting successful applications for funding. This means that there is often a difference between the CARES budget and the funding offered to projects.

The figures provided below relate to the date when funding was offered, and so do not necessarily correlate to when the funding was drawn down or spent by communities.

Statistics relating to Adult Disability Payment are published quarterly – the latest releases covers the period to 31 st July 2023 and is available on the Social Security Scotland website:

Social Security Scotland - Adult Disability Payment: high level statistics to 31 July 2023

Table 1 of the publication provides statistics on the number of applicants there have been for Adult Disability Payment, and Table 8 provides statistics on processing times. We can't provide data on longest processing times as we are unable to report on individual cases.

The Scottish Government is committed to an infrastructure solution to address landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and shares the urgency communities and businesses place on maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route. At the recent Cabinet public discussion on 2 October in Inverary, the First Minister gave a firm commitment to a solution to the challenges at the Rest and Be Thankful, including a commitment for the funding.

Spending as set out in the Scottish Budget 2023-24 is confirmed which includes progressing the necessary detailed design work for the long term solution, currently progressing at pace. The detailed development and assessment of the preferred option will culminate in the publication of draft road Orders, compulsory purchase Orders and Environmental Impact Assessment Report for formal comment and we expect to publish draft Orders by the end of 2024.

Progress following publication of draft Orders will depend on the level and nature of any representations, including objections, to the published draft Orders. Procurement of a main works contractor for the permanent, long term solution can only commence upon completion of the statutory authorisation process.

The current estimated cost of the preferred option is approximately £405 million - £470 million (at 2023 prices). We will continue to develop and assess the scheme proposals in order to deliver the best value for taxpayers’ money.

Funding to take forward the construction stage of the long-term solution in future years will be determined as part of the annual Scottish Budget setting process and subsequent capital spending reviews.

We have made a commitment to increase pay for those delivering direct social care to children and adults to £12 per hour from April 2024. Pay and conditions are of central importance in the wellbeing and retention of the social care workforce. We will continue to work with partners, including those representing Personal Assistants who support children and families, to build a more sustainable workforce who feel valued.

We have set up a short-life working group to better understand the pressures facing the children’s services workforce and to create and access more regular, real-time data about the workforce and vacancies, to achieve better planning of resources, improve workforce development and assist with career planning and pathways. This will also assist with retention of staff and more successful recruitment in the sector. We are committed to attracting and retaining the right people, developing them in their roles and raising the status of social care as a profession.

It will be for the Chair of the independent review of Adult Disability Payment to decide how best to engage with a variety of audiences. The independent review will secure the input of disabled people.

The Scottish Government’s universal Baby Box programme, the only one in the UK, opened for registration on 15 June 2017. Nationwide delivery of Baby Boxes began on 15 August 2017 for all babies born and resident in Scotland.

The total number of Baby Boxes issued in the NHS Forth Valley Health Board area up to Friday 20 October 2023 is 14,587.