Chamber and committees

I can confirm that excellent progress is being made with the Scottish Government’s rolling programme of electrification. The Glasgow to Barrhead line will see electric services operating on the route from December 2023. Indeed Network Rail and its contractors have recently successfully completed a six week programme of key installation work to facilitate the electrification works and changes at various stations along the line of route. I would like to thank passengers for their patience during these works.

I can also confirm that I have now approved full funding for the delivery of the East Kilbride Enhancement Project. This will deliver electrification of the route, a relocated station at Hairmyres, a new accessible station at East Kilbride, accessibility works at other stations and a 1.4km extension of the Hairmyres double track section to enhance operational resilience and flexibility of service on the route. This project represents a further £139.8m commitment from this Government which will contribute to our wider net zero objectives and will enable the introduction of electric services on the route from December 2025.

Both of these projects were priorities of our Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan which was published in July 2020. In line with commitments for review within the Action Plan a refresh will be published later this year reflecting current progress and the expected budgetary position.

Further to the answer to S6W-20732 on 6 September 2023, grant funding arrangements are expected to be agreed with grant applicants in advance of the conveyancing process.

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

We already work with registered social landlords and local authorities to agree annual funding allocations to support the purchase of second-hand properties through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. This streamlined approach is designed to allow these organisations to act upon opportunities as they arise.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many third sector partners are providing Community Link Worker programmes within Health and Social Care Partnerships, across Scotland.

This is a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Government collects data on teachers through the annual teacher census, statistics from this are available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

The announcement of five year resource planning assumptions for all local authorities for this parliament provides a clear demonstration of this Government’s commitment to support the delivery of affordable housing.

Affordable Housing Supply Programme investment in the City of Edinburgh will be at a record level of £234m over the parliamentary period and an additional £10m of funding has already been made available in the first two financial years of this parliament to deliver more social and affordable homes in the city.

Scottish Government has also approved a grant of £1.72m through the Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund to support City of Edinburgh Council to bring 100 void homes back into use. These will be used to house Ukrainian Displaced Persons for up to 3 years, after which they will revert back into the wider social housing supply in Edinburgh. My officials continue to work closely with the City of Edinburgh Council on a number of other opportunities to further boost the supply of social rented homes for those fleeing the invasion of Ukraine. I would continue to encourage the Council to speak to my officials about any projects they can identify that meet the criteria for the Fund.

I have met with the City of Edinburgh Council Housing Convener to discuss housing issues in the city, and my officials regularly meet with colleagues from the Council to discuss progress with the delivery of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. These discussions focus on maximising the delivery of as many social and affordable homes as possible.

Limitations when making a representations to the Scottish Ministers on applications made under the Electricity Act 1989 are set out in relevant regulations, namely the Electricity (Applications for Consent) Regulations 1990 and where an application concerns EIA development, Part 5 of the Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment)(Scotland) Regulations 2017 . Relevant regulations set out the time within which, and the manner in which representations to an application may be made. For applications for EIA development, the time within which representations may be made is by a date not earlier than 30 days after the last date on which a relevant notice is published. For all other applications, the time within which representations may be made is by a date which is not less than 28 days from the last date on which a relevant notice is published.

Representations may be made via the energy consents unit website at https://www.energyconsents.scot/Register.aspx , by email to [email protected], or by post to Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit, 4th Floor, 5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G2 8LU. Representations must identify the proposal and specify the grounds for representation.

Written or emailed representations should be dated, clearly stating the name and address of the person making the representation. Emailed representations should also include the full return email address of the person making the representation.

Following the Grenfell Phase 1 Report recommendations, the Scottish Government made the decision not to implement a requirement for personal emergency evacuation plans and instead produced the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing High Rise Domestic Buildings . Additionally, in February 2020, to assist those with responsibilities for providing personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs), the Scottish Government produced the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing and Similar Premises .

This guidance explains how a person-centred approach can be effective and contains information on the use of PEEPs in appropriate settings. The guidance also provides links to the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for the Evacuation of Disabled Persons from Buildings .

The Scottish Government is committed to the creation of a Scottish Veterinary Service (SVS) to ensure there are highly trained staff to provide Scotland with good animal health and food safety to meet all our needs across the public and private sector for animal health issues.

A Programme has been established to manage the work required to create an SVS, which includes determining which functions the Service should deliver, and conducting a financial appraisal of the operational and investment costs of the Service.

The financial appraisal will be refined throughout the programme as actual costs are better understood, as is standard practice, and the conclusions will be communicated in due course.