Chamber and committees

Funding of £18 billion is provided for health and social care in 2022-23.

As set out in the Emergency Budget Review (2 November), in common with the overall Scottish Budget, the Health and Social Care budget is facing unpreceded challenges as a result of inflation and the ongoing impacts of Covid and Brexit.

It has therefore been essential to review health and social care spending, with £400 million reprioritised and fully retained within the Portfolio, to ensure that it is directed where it is needed most, including supporting enhanced pay offers.

The Scottish Government has established the National Strategy for Economic Transformation Delivery Board to oversee the successful implementation of our economic strategy. As part of the Delivery Board’s work, it will engage with key delivery partners like Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) in driving a ‘Team Scotland’ approach to transforming the Scottish economy. A recent example is the involvement of ZWS in the Delivery Board’s Green Economy Jobs deep dive with delivery partners to explore what is being done to secure green jobs in Scotland.

Scotland’s Wild Salmon Strategy commits to publish an accompanying Implementation Plan. A Stakeholder Advisory Group is advising on the development of the Implementation Plan. The Plan will set out the detailed actions to be taken by Government, industry and the third sector to achieve our vision of flourishing populations of wild salmon in Scotland.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS do not record the number of prison cells taken permanently out of use.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) purchased Glenprosen Estate for £17,555,000 and incurred legal costs of £47,495 and surveyors cost of £6,802. The total cost of the acquisition was £17,609,297.

A wide range of resources are available for schools to promote learning and teaching about, and remembrance of, the Holocaust. These resources focus on the Holocaust but also promote awareness of Jewish people, culture and their contribution to society and address the issue of antisemitism in the world today. Professional learning to support teachers to embed Holocaust education across secondary schools in Scotland is also available, including a subsidised standalone Masters module on Citizenship and Holocaust Education.

While some of these resources are funded by the Scottish Government, it does not monitor or record how many schools utilise education resources on the Holocaust overall. The Curriculum for Excellence enables teachers to tailor the content of lessons to best suit learners in their particular circumstances. Within the broad general education there is the opportunity to teach the Holocaust, not only within social studies, but across the wider curriculum. There is also an opportunity to teach the Holocaust within the History qualifications in the senior phase.

The Scottish Government has awarded funding of £444,000 in 2022-2023 to support the delivery of the Once for Scotland approach stated in the plan.

We have awarded the Care Inspectorate £194,000 to enable them to build on the learning from the Care About Physical Activity (CAPA) programme. The project will work across care homes, care at home, housing support and day services for adults.

£250,000 has been awarded to Thistle Foundation to deliver a range of organisational development interventions to support rehabilitation teams to reshape their rehabilitation services.

The Scottish Government is in the process of establishing an advisory Board, which will help to identify local rehabilitation leads, ensuring appropriate appointments to take forward the aims identified in Rehabilitation and Recovery.

Establishing a Rehabilitation Governance Board is one of the delivery outcomes of the Rehabilitation and Recovery: A Once for Scotland Person-Centred Approach to Rehabilitation in a Post-COVID Era. The approach paper states that we will “Develop clear reporting and accountability arrangements to ensure delivery of the recommendations”. The Scottish Government is in the process of establishing the Board, which will help to identify local rehabilitation leads, ensuring appropriate appointments to take forward the aims identified in Rehabilitation and Recovery. Recruitment to the Board will begin in the New Year and it is expected members will represent a broad-range of rehabilitation workforce and may be drawn from NHS Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and third sector partners.

The scope for the Project Neptune report published on 8 September 2022, which examined the governance arrangements of the existing tripartite arrangements, specifically excluded Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Limited. Further consultation regarding the future options will be commencing shortly and we will carefully consider the responses.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to restructure and integrate Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Limited under the tripartite agreement between Transport Scotland, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited and CalMac Ferries Limited.

The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) sets out the Scottish’s Government’s approach to appraising investment decisions. The SPFM is available by way of the following link Scottish Public Finance Manual (www.gov.scot) .

The Green Book is a well-established guide for government project and programme appraisal. It sets out a thorough appraisal process and Scottish Government encourages all policy areas to follow Green Book guidance where proportionate and applicable. The Green Book can be found by way of the following link The Green Book (publishing.service.gov.uk)