Chamber and committees

Officials received a scoping paper from Police Scotland that outlines their programme for delivery, particularly on what they are looking to deliver and a detailed timescale. My officials met with Police Scotland on 13 July and during the meeting they discussed the development of the business case. The business case will look at the service design, delivery, organisation policy and life time management of the National Dashcam Safety Portal.

My officials remain in discussion with Police Scotland on this matter and will meet with them again later in August as we look to progress this important road safety initiative.

There are currently no plans to exempt mid-market rent (MMR) properties from the requirements in the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022.

As MMR properties are delivered through Registered Social Landlord subsidiary companies and are therefore not subject to regulatory oversight by the Scottish Housing Regulator, they require to be offered as a Private Residential Tenancy, meaning households benefit from all of the rights and protections flowing from that tenancy. This includes the current temporary rent cap measures, in place to support tenants during this time of economic uncertainty.

While the focus of the emergency measures is on protecting tenants, the Scottish Government fully recognise that the ongoing impacts of the cost crisis may also be impacting some private landlords. Therefore, MMR providers are able to apply to Rent Service Scotland to increase the rent for a property, by up to 6%, in order to partially take account of increases in certain prescribed property costs.

Earlier this year the emergency rent cap was expired in relation to the social sector, after discussions led by COSLA, in respect of local authorities, and SFHA and GWSF for Registered Social Landlords, reached an agreed position with their members that would see increases of 6.4% and 6.1% respectively, as an average across Scotland. This voluntary approach to rent setting is intended to equate to an approximate average rent increase of less than £5 per week. Due to rents in the private rented sector being approximately twice as high as in the social sector, a 3% increase in the average rent of a two-bedroom private rented property (the most common size) is broadly comparable in monetary value to the average increase in the social sector.

The report from the Perinatal Sub-Group on the outcome of the options appraisal process identified skills maintenance as a key concern for those units no longer categorised as a NICU.

This is based on the expectation that small and sick babies will continue to be delivered unexpectedly out with Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU’s) and require stabilisation and transfer.

Local Neonatal Units (LNU’s) will continue to deliver intensive care and care for babies from 27+0 weeks that need stabilisation and treatment, so both nursing staff and medical staff will continue to have experience in delivering these aspects of intensive care.

The Scottish Government will work with the Scottish Perinatal Network and NHS Education for Scotland to take forward a number of actions to ensure that appropriate learning and development opportunities are available for staff impacted by the changes.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collect information for all UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and will have taken the decision as the information collected could not adequately reflect the interlinked, complex reasons for students ending their studies.

As part of the new HESA Data Futures Collection, the Reason for Engagement Ending has been adapted to focus on whether a student has achieved any qualifications or credits when they withdraw. This will provide more robust and meaningful data.

Further information on the new variable is available from the HESA website here:

codingmanual.hesa.ac.uk/22056/Leaver/field/RSNENGEND

The new model will see Scotland moving to a networked model of three neonatal intensive care units (NICU) working alongside local neonatal units (LNU) and special care units (SCU), supported by transitional care and community care services. This aligns with existing service models across the UK.

The transfer and repatriation of mother and babies is a normal component of neonatal care provision in Scotland, ensuring babies receive the most appropriate care at the correct time.

In order to support health boards to move forward with detailed implementation planning, the Scottish Government will commission healthcare planning expertise to undertake national capacity and modelling work.

We will now work with all Health Boards affected to plan for and implement this service change over the course of the next year, informed by the testing that has been underway over the last few years.

We will continue to provide funding to these Health Boards to help transition to the new model.

No adoption records have been made available via ScotlandsPeople Centre, nor the ScotlandsPeople website.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to provide further reassurance following the removal of index entries to the Adopted Children Register from the ScotlandsPeople website. Relevant entries were removed as a precautionary measure while NRS reviews the way this information was made available.

The new Small Business Unit will be scoped out as part of a new Business and Better Regulation Directorate that will be formed from 18 September. Budget allocations will be finalised following budget planning work now underway.

Barnett consequentials are not ring-fenced for a particular purpose or allocated on an individual basis, rather the totality of funds available to the Scottish Government are considered for allocation in the Scottish Budget and subsequent revisions. The 2023-24 Scottish Budget document, which was laid before parliament on 15 December 2022 provided detail of all commitments funded from within that overall Budget envelope.

In-year changes to budgets, including allocation of any additional Barnett consequentials that have accrued since the Budget was laid will be set out in forthcoming Budget Revisions documents.

The Scottish Government responded to:

(a) 2843 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2019

(b) 2864 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2020

(c) 3609 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2021

(d) 4031 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2022

A full breakdown of the total number and value of contracts awarded to consulting companies covering the last five fiscal years for the Scottish Government only, is provided in the following table.