Chamber and committees

A short-term pilot led by the Refugee Survival Trust and third sector partners in Glasgow commenced on Monday 30 January and will run until July.

The pilot provides free bus travel to people seeking asylum living in Glasgow for three months, along with information and digital support to access and use the pass.

The information gathered from this pilot will help inform options on how to deliver our Programme for Government commitment to consider how best to provide free bus travel to people seeking asylum in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18462 on 15 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 .

There were 34 Fixed Penalty Notices issued for infringements detected at sea by Marine Scotland officers from our Marine Protection Vessels in the last 12 months. Of these 3 were not paid within the required time and were reported to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Office (COPFS). No other prosecutions were reported directly to the COPFS.

Given the importance of sandeel to the wider ecosystem and the subsequent benefit in aiding long-term sustainability and resilience, it remains an overarching Scottish Government position, which is reflected in Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy, not to support fishing for sandeel in our waters.

There are several measures in place for the protection of sandeel stocks through the network of Marine Protected Areas. Furthermore, the Northeast UK closed area in sandeel management area 4 has been in place since 2000 and, the UK has not allocated sandeel quota to UK vessels since 2021.

However, recognising a commitment to consider what additional measures could be put in place to manage the sandeel fishery, in May 2023 I announced that the Scottish Government will be undertaking a public consultation this summer on potential measures to manage fishing for sandeel in Scottish waters. I refer the member to the answer to S6W-18244 on 19 May 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 met with the Chair of the Scottish Sentencing Council on 17 May. At that meeting, we discussed a range of matters relevant to the work of the Council. This included the approach that the Council plans to take to the review of guidelines that it produces. It was outlined that when reviewing offence or offender-specific guidelines, the Council will carry out an interim review when a guideline has been in effect for a year, considering data on relevant cases and engaging with sentencers to assess whether the guideline has had the intended effect and identify any unintended consequences. This will be followed by a full review after three years which the Council will publish, setting out the impact of the guideline in the medium term. The review of sentencing guidelines is a role that the Council undertakes independently.

The Scottish Government do not hold the requested information.

As the request relates to operational data the member may wish to contact Police Scotland at ([email protected]) who might be able to provide at least some of the information being requested.

Visits to schools by the Health and Safety Executive or any other organisation, are a matter for individual schools within each education authority area. The member may wish to contact the Health and Safety Executive direct in order to request this information. Contact details are available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/maps/scotland.htm

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested, this is because individual landlords are responsible for the maintenance costs of ensuring their tenant’s homes meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

Health and Social Care Partnerships are responsible for planning for the health and social care needs of their residents.

Funding for general medical services is based on population level data about registered patients and practice shares are continuously adjusted to reflect the movement of patients.

Scottish Government continually reviews in conjunction with all Boards, including NHS Lothian, areas for inclusion within the Scottish Dental Access Initiative. This provides funding to dentists who wish to establish a new practice, or extend an existing practice in areas where access to dental services is challenging.

Scottish Government will continue to liaise with NHS Lothian and local Health and Social Care Partnerships to understand all their service-related infrastructure plans and priorities.

This is a matter for ScotRail. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.