Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to the founding principles of the NHS. As is the case across the UK, hospitals in the independent sector were contracted to provide additional capacity for NHS priority patients throughout the pandemic. NHS Scotland makes limited use of the independent sector, in contrast to the position in NHS England.

Our National Treatment Centres (NTCs) Programme is the single biggest increase in planned care capacity ever created in NHS Scotland; these centres are planning to deliver over 20,000 additional planned care procedures by 2024-25.

NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is also playing a central role in working with Health Boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign.

CfSD’s clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) have supported several new and innovative pathway developments, many of which are now being successfully scaled up across Scotland, including Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT), Patient Initiated Review (PIR) and Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS). These improvement programmes will support delivery of the targets and provide sustainable solutions for the future.

I was invited to attend the November meeting of the Anti-Racism in Education Programme Board. I did attend, and met with Programme Board members, commending the work they have undertaken to date and reiterating that there is no place for discrimination or prejudice in our schools.

The selection of a site and the configuration of wind turbines is a matter for the wind farm developer. This process involves comprehensive analysis to ensure the most suitable placement and design for wind turbines. Developers may have to balance the benefits of a compact site, which can minimise construction cost, and the gains from maximising energy capture from greater separation distances.

The Hagshaw Energy Cluster provides an example of how industry stakeholders can work collaboratively to promote and adopt a coordinated approach to future renewable energy development.

Policy 11: Energy of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) states that potential cumulative impacts are important considerations in the decision-making process. All applications are subject to site-specific assessments.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23719 on 20 December 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23719 on 20 December 2024. 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23719 on 20 December 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

The Scottish Government has no plans to do so. The consultation planned for 2024 will, in relation to divorce and dissolution, cover court procedures rather than the grounds of divorce and dissolution or how a marriage can be voided.

The Scottish Law Commission’s 1992 Report on family law (SLC 135) (scotlawcom.gov.uk) recommended that marriages should not be voidable on the ground of impotency (see paragraphs 8.21 to 8.29). The then Scottish Executive indicated in its 2000 White Paper Parents and Children that it did not intend to take forward this recommendation noting that “the concept of a voidable marriage on this ground in civil law would provide a solution to couples who would otherwise be required to seek divorce, against their religious beliefs.”

This matter was further considered in the consultation on the draft Bill which became the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014. Paragraph 139 of the Policy Memorandum for the Bill as introduced said “Consultees suggested that impotency should be abolished as grounds for voiding a marriage. However, other consultees suggested that the concept of “voidable” marriages can have some advantages, particularly for those who might wish to enter another marriage but might not be able to do so (on religious grounds) if they were divorced.”

The Scottish Government’s understanding is the rule that a marriage is voidable by reason of permanent and incurable impotency is little used. However, it is possible that abolishing it could remove an option for some couples.

The Scottish Government remains strongly opposed to the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and any associated secondary legislation which affects devolved services. This legislation seeks to undermine legitimate trade union activity and does not respect the Scottish Government’s Fair Work principles. We should be working with trade unions to reach fair and reasonable settlements respecting the legitimate interest of workers, not seeking to curb their right to strike.

Under the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act it is a matter for individual employers in the affected sectors to decide whether to issue work notices to trade unions specifying the workforce required to meet minimum service levels for a particular strike period. We have no intention of directing any employers within their control to issue work notices and will do all we can to oppose this appalling piece of anti-worker and anti-trade union legislation, which will undermine not enhance industrial relations.

The Scottish Government rightly made the decision to freeze some fares as part of its response to the cost of living crisis, however this is simply no longer sustainable.

Caledonian Sleeper fares will increase by 8.7% from 1 January, excluding seated tickets. Similarly, from 1 April 2024, all ScotRail fares will also increase by 8.7%, including season tickets and flexi-passes which have been frozen since January 2022.

We know that any increase is unwelcome for passengers, therefore we have kept the rise as low as possible to maintain the attractiveness and affordability of rail as a travel option. That is why we are extending our ScotRail peak fares pilot for a further three months until June 2024.

The timing of the ScotRail fares increase has been moved away from January, when personal budgets are often more stretched than other times of the year, to April bringing it into alignment with the financial year.

The basis of the increase has also been moved away from the use of RPI six months prior to January, to one based on CPI 12 months prior to April.

Fares remain, on average, lower than across the rest of Great Britain.

Scottish Government has contracted AssistFM to map existing breakfast provision. This mapping is expected to be completed in Spring 2024. There are no plans to publish it separately, as this work is just one of the elements which will inform policy on school breakfasts, and a plan for breakfast provision, designed around the needs of children and families.