Chamber and committees

Rail accessibility remains a matter reserved to the UK Government. For the current Rail Regulatory Control Period 6 (2019-2024) the Scottish Government nominated the following stations for the Department for Transport’s Access for All Programme:-

Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow, Uddingston, Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie.

Following the nominations, the UK Department for Transport Access for All Programme and mid-Tier Programmes for this Control Period provided funding for access improvements at Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow and Uddingston. The UK Government has chosen not to provide funding for Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie stations.

Step free access has already been delivered at Anderston, Croy, and Johnstone with the remaining stations where the UK Government accepted the Scottish Government’s nominations due to be completed by the end of the rail funding period in 2024.

The Scottish Government is clear that one life lost on our roads is one too many and along with partners is committed to eradicating fatal and serious collisions on our roads.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050. For the first time, a full range of mode and user specific targets for key priority groups such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and over-represented age groups have been created to focus our partners on key priority areas.

The framework is supported by annual delivery plans that includes a wide range of road safety initiatives from road safety partners. These initiatives are continuously monitored through our three tier governance structure, with progress and outcomes published within our annual reports on the Transport Scotland website.

In addition, our Road Safety Framework Fund gives road safety partners the opportunity to co-design and co-deliver road safety initiatives that support the delivery of the framework. A condition of the grant funding is that each project is independently evaluated to determine the impact it is having on road safety performance.

Since 2019-20, local authorities have been allocated an annual share of £8 million from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget to support the implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans. This is in addition to £2 million allocated in 2018-19 from the same budget for each local authority to develop a rapid rehousing transition plan, and £5 million in 2020-21 from the Winter Plan for Social Protection to help mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic.

The additional £2 million allocated in 2023-24 for rapid rehousing transition plans is new money. No additional rapid rehousing transition plan funding was made available in 2022-23.

We remain committed to working with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes from fish farms, including through the revision and publication of the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, and the introduction of penalties where escapes occur with the ultimate aim of redistributing this money to support wild salmonid conservation and research.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20615 on‎ 14 August 2023 which confirmed that the Scottish Government had launched a consultation seeking views on proposals to extend the tracking and monitoring requirement to under 12 metre commercial fishing vessels.

I urge all stakeholders to engage with this consultation, which closes on 7 November 2023. The consultation documents can be found here: https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/improving-inshore-fisheries-data/

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 recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3 billion, to support policies which tackle poverty and to protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

We are continuing to support free welfare, debt and income maximisation advice services with funding of over £12.3 million allocated this year.

In particular, the Scottish Government is investing over £6.67 million of funding to support free debt advice services in Scotland, part of our wider package of funding for income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services.

A further £2.3 million is being made available, through the Scottish Legal Aid Board under the Early Resolution and Advice Programme (ERAP), to offer direct assistance and legal representation for people at risk of or facing court action connected to debt related eviction or repossession. This includes in-court advisors based in Sherriff courts across Scotland.

Additionally, the Home Owners Support Fund, currently the only such scheme in the UK, offers support to those on low incomes who are at risk of falling behind on their mortgages and facing repossession or eviction. The Fund sits alongside advice services and legal aid support for homeowners.

This investment provides households across Scotland with a holistic, multi-channel offering, ensuring they are able to access advice and support in a manner which suits their needs.

As set out in the Bute House Agreement, and our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group report, we are committed to improving the regulatory framework which applies to fish farm containment and escapes. We note calls in the Salmon Interactions Working Group report for escapes to be regulated by licence. We will consider this in forming our policy options, including how the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture would fit within or alongside any enforcement regime. The publication and introduction of a new technical standard is our immediate priority.

Since 2019-20, local authorities have been allocated an annual share of £8 million from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget to support the implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans. The additional £2 million in 2023-24 for rapid rehousing transition plans has also been allocated from the Ending Homelessness Together Budget.

In October 2021 we published our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group (SIWG) report, and we are continuing to progress delivery of those commitments, which include action to minimise the escape of farmed fish to help protect Scotland’s wild salmonid populations.

Alongside our response to the report of the SIWG, the Marine Directorate published its first assessment of genetic introgression in wild salmon in 2021: A national assessment of the influence of farmed salmon escapes on the genetic integrity of wild Scottish Atlantic salmon populations | Marine Scotland Data Publications.

This was the first report as part of the National Introgression Programme for Scotland (NIPS) and based on sampling undertaken in 2018/2019. NIPS is an ongoing nationwide project that is researching the link between fish farm escapes and introgression in wild salmon populations.

In 2021 a second NIPS survey was conducted across the country with samples and data from this is currently being analysed. A further NIPS survey was also initiated in 2023 and sample collection is now underway. Analysis of the NIPS surveys from multiple sampling years will provide a picture of temporal changes in levels of introgression.

The Joint Working Group on Sources of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform is exploring proposals for meaningful changes to be introduced to Council Tax, this includes the consideration of approaches to longer term reform of the Council Tax system.

The Scottish Government have provided local authorities with nearly £13.5 billion of funding in 2023-24, a cash increase in local government day to day spending of over £793 million which represents a real terms increase of £376 million or 3 per cent.