Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has a duty to ensure that Government policies protect the rights of disabled people and reduce inequalities. Strategies, Plans and policies related to net zero, energy and transport are thoroughly assessed to ensure they do not discriminate against disabled people through our Equalities Impact Assessment requirement.

We also engage with protected groups to develop fair policy. Examples include engagement on Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework and co-designing Just Transition Plans for the energy and transport sectors.

We are currently working with several disability organisations to enable them to engage with their members on the development of our Just Transition Plans, to ensure the needs of disabled people are reflected both in the Plans and in wider Scottish Government policy.

Academic year 2021-22 saw increases in enrolments, student headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) places on the previous year; as well as increased numbers upskilling and reskilling on short courses, and increased opportunities for those furthest from the workplace.

Colleges continue to evolve their offer, whether full-time, part-time or a tailored mix, taking account of the diverse needs of learners; while continuing to respond flexibly to the social and economic needs of the regions they serve through the delivery of short courses aimed at upskilling and reskilling.

The Scottish Government’s Scam Prevention, Awareness and Enforcement Strategy 2021-24 states that an initial update would be published at an appropriate time within 18-24 months of its publication in March 2021. However, our response to the cost of living crisis has meant refocusing resource to ensure that the urgent help and advice required by consumers was delivered as quickly as possible.

We intend to provide a progress update to the Scottish Parliament by the end of this calendar year.

There is no recommended minimum distance between onshore wind turbines and residential properties. Policy 11 of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) makes clear that potential impacts on communities, nature and other receptors will be important considerations in the decision-making process. Additionally, the policy requires that project design and mitigation will demonstrate how impacts on communities and individual dwellings, including residential amenity, visual impact, noise and shadow flicker will be addressed. All applications are subject to site-specific assessments.

We funded ASH Scotland and Young Scot to develop online resources on vaping which are available for young people, and their teachers or carers on the Young Scot website. We are working with colleagues in Education to review additional resources on vaping and tobacco smoking to ensure they provide the best impact.

However, it is up to individual schools to decide what to teach against the experiences and outcomes of the Curriculum for Excellence. Children and young people will learn about a variety of substances, and explore the impact risk taking behaviour has on life choices and health.

Enforcement of legislation around the sale and purchase of nicotine vapour products (NVPs) is carried out by Local Authorities as part of the Enhanced Tobacco Sales Enforcement Programme (ETSEP). This is overseen by the Society for Trading Standards Officers in Scotland (SCOTSS) and funded by the Scottish Government.

SCOTSS membership includes representation from every Scottish local authority trading standards service. We regularly meet with SCOTSS, our last meeting took place on 21 June 2023, and our standing agenda includes enforcement in relation to NVPs and tobacco.

Through this engagement, we continue to support strong national and local alliances to tackle the availability and sale of tobacco and NVPs to under 18s.

The impact of climate change policies on disabled people is a key consideration in just transition planning. We are currently engaging widely on priorities for our Just Transition Plans to ensure the transition to net zero and climate resilience reflects the needs of everyone across Scotland before developing the specific policies and engaging in bilateral meetings at Cabinet Secretary level. We are currently working with several disabled people’s organisations to enable them to engage with their members on our behalf and ensure that the needs of disabled people are reflected both in the Plans, and in wider Scottish Government policy.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their answer is:

Scottish Water does not report or evaluate leakage based on parliamentary constituency area and it normally reports leakage on an annual basis to account for the effect of seasonal variations. However, it has estimated that the total leakage in the Glasgow region was recorded at 77.3 Ml/d in December 2022, a 19% increase over the previous month as a result of the extreme weather conditions.

Leakage management and reduction is a priority for teams across Scottish Water - finding and fixing the wide variety and complexity of leaks; these can range from low level "weeps and seeps" to large-scale bursts on the pipe network. Nationally they are responsible for 30,516 miles of water pipes across both urban and rural communities on the mainland and islands.

Despite the challenges, at the end of 2022-23 Scottish Water achieved its lowest ever level of leakage across Scotland, continuing the trend of year on year reductions in leakage since 2007.

The increase in college withdrawal rates from 2020-21 to 2021-22 highlights the challenges faced by our colleges and their learners with the ongoing disruption to delivery caused by COVID, and the emergence of the cost-of-living crisis.

College learners faced repeated interruptions to normal delivery in 2021-22, particularly with the emergence of the Omicron variant; while some learners chose to enter employment due to the buoyant labour market and the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis.

We recognise that for many students, leaving college courses early for employment is a positive choice, despite its negative classification as a withdrawal within the Scottish Funding Council’s statistics. The SFC are currently working with the sector to better identify those who leave college to take up work opportunities.

Attainment is a complex area with many contributing factors. Our colleges provide education and training for a wide group of learners with different backgrounds, experience and levels of prior attainment.

Raising attainment is a shared priority across the education portfolio and we will continue to work with the sector to help students overcome barriers to learning to ensure they can reach their full potential.

Further to the recommendation of the Drug Death Taskforce we are continuing to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations regarding the expansion of access to drug paraphernalia.

This includes the provision of smoking inhalation devices which have been seen as an essential harm reduction tool for those smoking crack cocaine. The distribution of these devices would require an amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. As this legislation is reserved, such an amendment is not within the competence of the Scottish Parliament.