Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to enhancing protection for our marine environment in the face of the twin crises of climate change and loss of nature.

Although we are no longer progressing with our proposals for Highly Protected Marine Areas, we want to develop a new pathway to enhancing marine protection with all those who will join us round the table. There is a wealth of innovative ideas in our island and coastal communities and we want to hear more of these to help us develop an approach which is fair, just and brings people together.

We are also committed to supporting any group that wishes to pursue community-led marine protection in its local area. We have already seen successful initiatives in Arran and in St Abbs and Eyemouth and we will do everything to support those communities that want to follow in their footsteps.

Additionally, we have an on-going programme of work to implement fisheries management measures in existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where they are yet to be introduced, and to protect some of the most vulnerable priority marine features outside the MPA network.

After the summer recess, we will be consulting on proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore MPAs, beyond 12 nautical miles. The options to be consulted on have been the subject of extensive engagement over many years with a wide range of marine stakeholders. Inshore MPAs and priority marine features also require fisheries management measures and consultation on these inshore measures will take place in 2024.

Another step is the consultation on proposals to close fishing for sandeel in all Scottish waters which the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands launched on 21 July. This is a crucial step in safeguarding an important food source for many species, and it could aid the long-term sustainability and resilience of marine ecosystems.

Our Fisheries Management Strategy commits to rolling out Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) to key parts of Scotland’s fishing fleet. REM will offer enhanced scientific benefits, enabling us to boost the data and knowledge we have which in turn will help deliver an improved evidence base. This can be of significant benefit to not only the fishing industry but also fisheries managers and could improve our ability to provide enhanced protection to our marine environment going forward.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering fisheries management measures for existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where such measures are not already in place, as well as key coastal biodiversity locations outside of these sites. As outlined in the Parliamentary Statement of 29 June 2023, due to the complexity of the of the inshore area and the number of sites, the fisheries management measures will not be delivered before March 2024. The Scottish Government will consult on the proposals for offshore areas after summer recess and on proposals for inshore areas in 2024.

The Scottish Government has put in place a range of incentives in the Highland area to support NHS dental provision. Specifically:

• Scottish Dental Access Initiative. These grants are available to applicants wishing to open a new or expand existing practice provision. Payments of up to £100,000 for the first surgery, and £25,000 for each subsequent surgery are available through this initiative.

Scottish Government officials were in regular discussions with UK Government officials regarding the Internal Market Act (IMA) exclusion process for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Throughout these discussions officials made it clear that not providing a timely and complete exclusion would jeopardise the future of the DRS in Scotland and by extension the viability of Circularity Scotland. Scottish Ministers and officials wrote to UK Ministers a number of times throughout April and May highlighting the risk to the scheme and to Circularity Scotland due to the uncertainty around the IMA exclusion. This included letters from myself on 19 May and from the First Minister on 22 April and 3 May 2023.

“Tranche two” Marine Protected Areas are included in work currently ongoing to implement fisheries management measures within existing Marine Protected Areas.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20143 on 15 August 2023 for details of the timescale for this work.

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’s guidance ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: a positive approach to the promotion and management of attendance in Scottish schools’ makes clear the need for schools to follow up absence immediately, and to continue to follow up absence for those for whom there are welfare concerns.

Local authorities are expected to have robust processes and guidance for children who do not attend school from the first day they are absent until they are re-engaged with education. Where children are missing for extended periods of time, or are not on a school roll or being educated otherwise, the Children Missing from Education Guidance and Service can support local authorities in this.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on children persistently absent from school centrally. Information on rates of children persistently absent from school would be for local authorities to collect.

The total number of publicly funded schools reported as in good or satisfactory condition in the School estates annual survey from 2016 to 2022 is shown in the table below. Figures from the 2023 survey are not yet available.

The number of schools by condition rating for each local authority is reported separately for Primary, Secondary and Special schools in Tables 4.2 to 4.4 in the annual school estate statistics supplementary data tables https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-estate-statistics-2022/documents/ .

Table 1: Schools in good or satisfactory condition by local authority and year

Broadcasting is reserved to the UK Government. We have not had any recent discussion with the UK Government on this particular issue, however we remain strongly committed to a fairer and more representative service for Scotland, and we will continue to press for its improvement to ensure it better reflects the specific needs and interests of Scottish audiences in terms of all programming, including sport.

We will continue to support expanding the offer for audiences to enjoy Scottish international football and other major sporting events on free-to-air broadcast TV.

Although the Scottish Government cannot influence access rights, and the listed events regime is the responsibility of the UK Government, we maintain a close interest in audience and stakeholder views in Scotland and we meet regularly with representatives of Ofcom and the broadcasters to urge them to consider how they can ensure that audiences in Scotland receive the best possible level of service.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting all Boards to achieve the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We allocated nearly £40m additional funding in 2021-22 to NHS Boards to improve CAMHS, which included £4.25m specifically for clearing backlogs. In 2022-23 we allocated a further £36.7m via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all.

We recognise that performance varies across Health Boards and we continue to provide targeted, tailored support towards those Boards with the longest waits and poorest performance. We have asked Boards to submit trajectories up to March 2024 for performance against the CAMHS standard, and for clearing long waits.

This is a matter for Local Authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

However, you may find it helpful to contact The Society for Chief Trading Standards Officers in Scotland (SCOTSS) who may be able to assist you with this request.