Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to the decarbonisation of the transport sector in a sustainable way to deliver a just transition. Our Climate Change Plan includes a commitment that by 2032, 30 per cent of Scottish Government owned ferries will be low emission. Many ports across Scotland have already published plans committing to decarbonising their operations, including the introduction of shore power.

The Scottish Government is working with Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd to increase the availability and use of shore power on the ferry routes it directly supports.

As shipping policy is reserved, we are committed to working with the UK Government and other governments to support decarbonisation proposals both at a UK level and legislation to decarbonise the shipping sector globally through the International Maritime Organisation. It is vitally important that the UK Government, and all other governments, prioritise the decarbonisation of industries beyond current spending periods and in response to the Climate Emergency.

National Grid connection issues have been raised by port operators in Scotland as a significant barrier to installing shore power, so work to improve these connections is imperative. We note that the UK Government has committed to publishing an action plan later this year on accelerating new grid connections, including grid connections that may support shoreside electrical power at ports. We would intend to work closely with the UK Government on these matters to ensure that circumstances in Scotland, especially those prevalent at our more remote ports, are given proper consideration.

The Scottish Government fundamentally disagrees with the principle of the UK Government making decisions in devolved areas. Though the funding of Scottish projects is welcome, this ought to be channelled through the Barnett formula, allowing Scottish Ministers and Councils to make independent decisions about its use. By cutting across devolved policies, it results in unnecessary fragmentation and confusion for local authorities and partner agencies. Overlooking Scotland’s unique economic needs, and largely ignores rural, and sparsely populated regions.

The Scottish Governments SME Loan Scheme has been in operation since 2008. Loans are considered impaired when the loanee misses three consecutive payments. Since inception, the total level of SME Loan repayment default is £1,333,630 as of 1 April 2023. The SME Loan Scheme has paid out over £45 Million in loan funding since inception which means the percentage of default is just under 3%.

The levels of funding associated with bus and rail operations can be found in Transport Scotland's annual accounts. Please note the annual accounts for 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023 will be available later this year.

Links provided below for the five years as requested:-

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2022

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2021

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2020

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2019

Annual Report & Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2018

The Home Energy Scotland funding schemes are delivered under contract by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) on behalf of Scottish Government. Although delivered by EST, decisions around the design of the schemes are the sole responsibility of Scottish Government.

The purpose of the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme is to decarbonise heat in homes through installation of zero emissions heating systems, and reduce heat demand through energy efficiency measures, in line with the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy.

Recently we have seen a substantial increase in the number of applications received to the scheme. Much of this rise has been driven by a surge in applications for solar PV and energy storage systems, the majority of which are not installed alongside a zero emissions heating system and therefore do not contribute directly to decarbonisation of heat in homes.

So we have reviewed funding to ensure that we are focusing finite public funding in the ways which best support the Heat in Buildings strategy aims.

Solar PV and energy storage systems will continue to be funded through the scheme, but only where installed alongside a certified renewable heating measure (such as a heat pump), or where there is already one in place. As such, funding is being targeted at measures which will have the biggest impact on reducing emissions from heating homes.

Measures and funding offered through the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan scheme are currently under review, but in the meantime, the conditions under which solar PV and energy storage are offered loan funding have been aligned with the HES Grant and Loan scheme.

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, and it is for individual Boards to determine how best to utilise this funding to meet the needs and priorities of their local populations, including stroke care. The 2023-24 Scottish Budget delivers record funding of £19 billion for Health and Social Care services.

On top of this baseline funding, the Scottish Government has provided specific funding to NHS Boards for the development of a thrombectomy service to treat ischaemic stroke: £833,000 in 2019-20, £2.4 million in 2020-21, £6.6 million in 2021-22 and £7.2 million in 2022-23.

In addition, funding to support the delivery of the Stroke Improvement Plan was £40,574 in 2018-19, £42,050 in 2019-20, £175,674 in 2020-21, £182,980 in 2021-22 and £174,489 in 2022-23. The 2023-24 budget has allocated £12.5 million in revenue spending for the further development of a national thrombectomy service and development of stroke policy.

Information on the outcomes of students enrolled at Scottish colleges is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in their annual college performance indicators release.

College Performance Indicators 2021-22 (sfc.ac.uk)

The SFC are continuing to develop and improve this data collection and are working to collect more robust data on the reasons why people are not completing their courses.

Data is not readily available for universities on those completing courses within a set time length as some university courses have more flexibility with mode and course length. The number of enrolments and qualifiers on courses at Scottish universities is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Enrolments: Figure 3 - HE student enrolments by level of study 2017/18 to 2021/22 | HESA

Qualifiers: Figure 15 - HE qualifications obtained by level of qualification 2017/18 to 2021/22 | HESA

As students withdraw from university for a number of interlinked reasons, HESA no longer collect information on why students withdraw. Their statistical release concentrates on the proportion of students not continuing with university study. This Non-continuation release was last published in March 2022:

Table D - Percentage of UK domiciled full-time entrants who did not leave within 50 days of commencement not continuing in HE after their first year by location of HE provider and academic year 2014/15 to 2019/20 | HESA .

The Scottish Government has put a range of measures in place to address the risk of future pandemics. These are informed by learning from experience of the Covid-19 Pandemic about the need to respond differently to non flu pandemics. We continue to maintain stockpiles of PPE and medicines to address a pandemic threat and we are also working with 4 Nations partners to review the countermeasures and capabilities required to address future pandemic threats and ensure our resilience measures remain robust. In Scotland, we have established the Standing Committee on Pandemic Preparedness to bring together scientists and technical experts to advise the Scottish Government on the future risks from pandemics and how we can be as prepared as it is possible to be for these.

Of the 800 additional nurses, midwives and allied health professional recruited from overseas, as announced on 8 June 2023, 357 have started in their post with the remaining due to arrive in the coming weeks.

As at 29th June 2023, the number of premises in the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency scheduled for connection through the Reaching 100% (R100) North contract is 2,206. The contract build for these premises is scheduled to begin in 2025, with live connections planned to be available through 2026, 2027 and 2028. Connections are delivered in line with plans submitted by BT plc as the successful bidder for the R100 North contract. The build is structured in phases that have been designed to maximise efficiency in order to deliver the greatest possible outcome for our investment.

A further 1,975 premises in the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency are eligible for a connection through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS), offering up to £5,000 to secure a superfast broadband connection. This is a demand-led scheme and it is therefore a decision for residents and businesses whether or not they choose to secure a connection in this manner.

The R100 programme builds on the success of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme which made a significant contribution to broadband coverage in the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency, delivering five subsea cables and over 15,000 fibre broadband connections in the area. In April 2015, just before DSSB build began in the region, superfast coverage was just 1.3%. By the end of that year, it was already up to 25.4%, and now stands at 80.5% as a direct result of Scottish Government intervention.

We continue to invest heavily in our future consultant workforce and have been increasing the number of available training places in Radiology in line with recommendations made by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG).

In 2018 we committed to increasing the Clinical Radiology training establishment by 10 places per year over a five year period. That commitment was met in full last year, bringing the total number of extra places created in this specialty since 2014 to 68, with 10 additional Clinical Interventional Radiology training places also being created over the same period.

The SSoTTG is actively considering the need for further uplifts as part of its annual review of medical training establishments and will be making recommendations later this year for expansion taking place in 2024.