Chamber and committees

The location of the 42 automatic fish counters that are known to Scottish Government are provided in the following table. The vast majority of these are not owned or operated by Scottish Government, and it is not possible to confirm their current operational status.

The Scottish Government operates one fish counter in the North Esk Salmon Fishery District and is a joint operator, of a fish counter in the Helmsdale district with the District Salmon Fishery Board. We recently supported the installation of three new fish counters in the Ayr, Deveron and Laxford districts. These are in the process of being validated and are not yet producing data.

The Scottish Government does not collect data specific to the production of flax or other sustainable fibre crops. Currently, flax is not a major crop in Scotland, however we recognise there are potential benefits to flax production, and we are keen to speak with those interested in growing this and other sustainable fibre crops.

The Scottish Government does not offer support specific to the production of flax or other sustainable fibres. However, non-crop specific agricultural support is provided to farmers in a variety of ways, including through the Basic Payment Scheme, and we encourage those looking for further information to read more about these measures on our official website at https://www.mygov.scot/farm-payments-support .

We are aware of ongoing research by the Soil Association Scotland, which is running trials to compare several varieties of flax, and also work by the Rowett Institute to explore flax production.

Network Rail is a wholly owned subsidiary company of the UK Government. The responsibility for determining and monitoring its operation, maintenance and renewal expenditure rests with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

Transport Scotland funds Network Rail in accordance with the ORR’s determination. Therefore, Scottish Government does not hold the full investment information broken down by local authority within Scotland.

Therefore, I recommend that the member contacts Network Rail or the ORR for the detailed information requested for how much has been spent on rail infrastructure in each local authority area in each of the last ten years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22317 on 7 November 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

On 17 October the First Minister announced plans that will see Scottish Government investment in arts and culture more than double, so that in five years investment will be £100 million higher than it is now. Ministers will take decisions about where the funding is allocated in 2024-25 and future years subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget process and associated approval by the Scottish Parliament. The draft budget will be published later this year and will be the subject of Parliamentary scrutiny in early 2024. The Scottish Government intends to present the Draft Budget 2024-25 to Parliament on 19 December 2023.

Since the launch of the Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) in December 2018, the group have engaged mainly through online events. Two in-person policy lab events have been held in Scotland with officials attending from WEGo member governments - in Edinburgh on 1-2 May 2019 and in Glasgow on 21 November 2022.

Two Scottish Government officials took part in a short WEGo meeting with officials from other governments in Reykjavik, Iceland on 15 June 2023 whilst attending the Wellbeing Economy Forum held by the Icelandic Government. The cost of the officials attending the Forum was £2,415.02. I spoke to the Forum on 14 June 2023 in my role as Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, but did not attend the WEGo meeting. My expenses for the visit are published here: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts: June 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Ministers will take decisions about where the funding is allocated in 2024-25 and future years subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget process and associated approval by the Scottish Parliament. The draft budget will be published later this year and will be the subject of Parliamentary scrutiny in early 2024. The Scottish Government intends to present the Draft Budget 2024-25 to Parliament on 19 December 2023.

The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture was made aware in the week leading up to the announcement.

Care and support for people with chest, heart and stroke conditions or long COVID is being provided across the full range of services being delivered by our NHS. This includes local primary care teams, community-based rehabilitation services and referrals for further investigation delivered in secondary care settings where needed.

The Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee identified three initial priorities for implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan (2021) which were; child to adult transitions, access to data and pulmonary rehabilitation. The child to adult transitions sub-group has produced recommendations which will be shared shortly. We have recently commissioned Public Health Scotland to begin scoping work to develop a respiratory audit programme, and we are working closely with services across Scotland to deliver improvements in pulmonary rehab.

We are making progress on delivery of our Heart Disease Action Plan (2021) and have recently completed a scoping exercise with cardiac rehabilitation services to identify priority areas for improvement.

Since publication of the Stroke Improvement Plan in June, the Scottish Government has appointed a Consultant Stroke Physician as Clinical Lead for Stroke to lead on its implementation. We are developing a bundle of rehabilitation measures for inclusion in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit and are also developing measures of patient experience of rehabilitation.

We have established a £10 million long COVID Support Fund to support NHS boards to increase the capacity of existing services, develop these into more clearly defined local pathways and provide a more co-ordinated experience for people living with long COVID. We made an initial £3 million available from the fund over 2022-23, and a further £3 million is being made available from the fund over this financial year.

Our Heart Disease Action Plan, Respiratory Care Action Plan and Stroke Improvement Plans recognise the importance of timely and equitable access to care for people living with chest, heart and stroke conditions. We are working closely with NHS Boards and people with lived experience, as well as our national advisory groups as we implement these strategies. We have also established a £10 million long COVID Support Fund to support NHS boards to increase the capacity of existing services, develop these into more clearly defined local pathways and provide a more co-ordinated experience for people living with long COVID.

We are aware that people living in remote and rural areas may face disparities in access to health care. To address this we are committed to publishing a Remote and Rural Workforce Strategy and have recently established a National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care.