Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, however it is estimated that one in ten women in the UK currently have endometriosis .

The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) supports communities across Scotland to participate in, and benefit from, the energy transition. CARES has advised over 1,000 organisations, offered funding of over £61 million to over 800 projects, and helped support the installation of 58.6 MW of renewable energy.

311 organisations are currently progressing live projects through CARES. A breakdown by local authority area is provided in the following table.

These figures relate to the date when CARES funding was offered, and so do not necessarily correlate to when the funding is drawn down or spent by organisations.

The National Care Home Contract sets the rate for publicly funded care home placements and is negotiated annually between COSLA, Scottish Care and Scotland Excel. The Scottish Government is not a contractual party to it. We are pleased Scottish Care members voted to accept the 6% uplift offer from COSLA to agree the contract for 2023-4.

The Scottish Budget for 2023-4 provides record funding of over £19bn for health and social care, providing new investment of over £1bn and supporting recovery and reform to secure sustainable public services.

However, we recognise the challenges facing social care services such as energy costs, the costs of living and Brexit which has impacted the recruitment and retention of staff.

We continue to engage with the sector and other partners regularly to build a more sustainable workforce that feels truly valued and properly rewarded for their work.

Glasgow City Council were awarded funding from the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) to support its project at Govan Graving Docks in February 2023.

The low carbon VDLIP is a capital programme which aims to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and support place based approaches to delivering regeneration and sustainable inclusive growth, as part of a just transition to net-zero. It is available on a competitive basis to all Scottish local authorities and Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company.

The VDLIP Independent Panel assess project proposals and make recommendations to Scottish Government on which projects should be funded, based on the aims and objectives of the fund.

A full list of projects warded funding from VDLIP is available at Low Carbon Fund: Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme projects - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

The fund will reopen for projects seeking funding for 2025-26 in April 2024.

Local authorities are responsible for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes. The 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies included 42 formal flood protection schemes. Local authorities were expected to start work on development of these schemes by 2021.

Flood protection schemes can have significant impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, and so require careful and detailed planning and consultation, it was recognised that construction work may not be completed within the 2015-2021 timeframe.

15 of the flood schemes have now been completed.

Schemes (a) under construction are as follows:

The Scottish Government remains committed to medium and long term solutions to address landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful.

Improvements to the existing Old Military Road through the Glen Croe corridor are being made to make it a more resilient diversion route until the long term solution to the problems at the Rest and Be Thankful is in place.

The current cost estimate for carrying out all phases of the medium term solution is £24million to £32million. Spending as set out in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, as approved by the Scottish Parliament, is confirmed and includes funding to commence the delivery of the medium-term improvements, which are expected to start later this year.

Funding to take forward the construction stages of Phases 2 and 3 of the medium term solution will be determined as part of the annual Scottish Budget setting process and subsequent capital spending reviews.

The Scottish Government is committed to an infrastructure solution to address landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and shares the urgency communities and businesses place on maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route.

The medium term solution consists of improvements to the existing Old Military Road through the Glen Croe corridor to make it a more resilient diversion route until the long term solution is in place. These improvements will improve the resilience of the diversion route, reduce journey times, and are the quickest to implement, of relatively lower cost and would have the least impacts overall across the range of criteria assessed of the medium term options considered.

A detailed programme for the proposed improvements is being developed. These include debris catch fences, temporary bunds, drainage improvements and widening and discrete realignment to improve bends and avoid flooding. It is expected that these works will be carried out on a phased basis starting later this year with Phase 1 which is realignment of the southern end of the route. It is anticipated that Phases 2 and 3 will commence in financial year 2024-25, subject to obtaining any necessary statutory authorisation consents. Construction of these phases is expected to take approximately 12 months subject to weather conditions.

The Scottish Government remains committed to medium and long term solutions to address the landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful. This scheme is a priority for the Scottish Government, it is a key recommendation in STPR2, it is included in the Programme for Government 2023 to 2024 as well as the First Minister’s Policy Prospectus.

The recent exceptional rainfall on the A83 at the start of October resulted in seven landslides reaching the A83 trunk road, encompassing two very significant landslides at the A83/A815 junction, four landslides at Glen Kinglas and one small landslide at the Rest and be Thankful. Four further landslides were captured by hillside mitigation above the trunk road that includes pits, bunds and catch-fences, with two slips occurring at Glen Kinglas and two at the Rest and be Thankful.

The recent storm events in the areas have not impacted the development of the scheme, and we are still very much focussed on progressing this scheme as quickly as we are able to bring the benefits to those who use the A83.

The Scottish Government is committed to an infrastructure solution to address landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and shares the urgency communities and businesses place on maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route. At the recent Cabinet public discussion on 2 October in Inverary, the First Minister gave a firm commitment to a solution to the challenges at the Rest and Be Thankful, including a commitment for the funding.

Spending as set out in the Scottish Budget 2023-24 is confirmed which includes progressing the necessary detailed design work for the long term solution, currently progressing at pace. The detailed development and assessment of the preferred option will culminate in the publication of draft road Orders, compulsory purchase Orders and Environmental Impact Assessment Report for formal comment and we expect to publish draft Orders by the end of 2024.

Progress following publication of draft Orders will depend on the level and nature of any representations, including objections, to the published draft Orders. Procurement of a main works contractor for the permanent, long term solution can only commence upon completion of the statutory authorisation process.

The current estimated cost of the preferred option is approximately £405 million - £470 million (at 2023 prices). We will continue to develop and assess the scheme proposals in order to deliver the best value for taxpayers’ money.

Funding to take forward the construction stage of the long-term solution in future years will be determined as part of the annual Scottish Budget setting process and subsequent capital spending reviews.

The Scottish Government’s universal Baby Box programme, the only one in the UK, opened for registration on 15 June 2017. Nationwide delivery of Baby Boxes began on 15 August 2017 for all babies born and resident in Scotland.

The total number of Baby Boxes issued in the NHS Forth Valley Health Board area up to Friday 20 October 2023 is 14,587.