Chamber and committees

NHS Health Boards and local authorities are responsible for the provision of, and funding for, services for deaf children. This includes the provision of specific therapeutic approaches.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Sensory Centre and CALL Scotland to provide advice and training to school staff on support, including the use of assistive technology, for children and young people with specific communication and sensory needs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19040 on 22 June 2023. 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

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-15749, S6W-15748 and S6W-15747 on 15 March 2023. Since this question was last answered, the ‘keeping pace’ power has not been used further by Scottish Ministers. 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

Our investment through the R100 programme will be transformational for many of Scotland’s most rural communities and is providing a full fibre backbone that will enable reliable connectivity services to be delivered.

An individual’s ability to access digital healthcare can be impacted by a number of factors, not just their rurality and the availability of digital infrastructure in their area.

That is why, while recognising the importance of access to digital healthcare, it should be promoted as one choice for patients but not the only available option. Digital healthcare programmes are subject to Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) to assess the impact of accessibility.

The ethical framework will be used to deliver investment which meets the aims of the Scottish Government’s Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital. Adherence to these principles is set out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the project partners and the framework will be secured through the terms of the MoU. If the principles are not adhered to, NatureScot and the Project Board will work to address this and, if necessary, NatureScot will withdraw from the partnership if the investment does not deliver against the principles in the way intended.

The project partners have not started the public consultation and engagement stage of the project yet and are working to secure resource to do this for the local pilot projects. They will engage with communities as soon as resource is in place for the engagement activities in order to shape the pilots and identify how best to deliver community benefits. The project team are currently working to design the engagement process.

Of the 26 new buses that have space for transporting bikes there are 13 planned to operate on routes in Aberdeenshire.

The Scottish Government has established a Strategy Steering Group to oversee the development and delivery of a Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy, and aims to publish a draft strategy for consultation by the end of 2023.

The following table shows the number of a nimals involved in injury collisions that were hit in the carriageway.

Scottish Government Directors General wrote to the chief executives of most public bodies in early 2023, setting out expectations for sustainable and impactful public services. As part of this, public bodies were encouraged to consider where savings and benefits can be achieved by working together, including for example through shared approaches on estates. Public bodies have since provided feedback and we expect Directors General to write again shortly.

The Resource Spending Review re-affirmed the Scottish Government commitment to minimise cost and maximise best value in relation to the Scottish public sector estate, which includes to increase co-location, collaboration and the interoperability of offices. A new programme of public sector property improvement work, being the Single Scottish Estate, is helping with delivery of these commitments and will support publicly-funded bodies to, where appropriate, co-locate as well as with other ways to optimise the estate footprint. I wrote to Chief Executives of public bodies on 24 May to update them on this work.