Chamber and committees

I had the pleasure of attending the launch event for this important report. The Scottish Government welcomes the Age Scotland report and recognises that living in the right home with the right support, including housing adaptations, can be the key to enabling older people to live safely and independently at home.

We know that there are issues with the way in which adaptations are being accessed and delivered locally, so we are considering how the process can be streamlined and made easier for people who need adaptations.

We are also working to increase the supply of accessible and adapted homes. Whenever possible, all new affordable homes are built to Housing for Varying Needs accessibility standards. Housing for Varying Needs offers good practice in the design of homes to help them achieve a good standard of accessibility and flexibility so that they meet people’s needs as they change over time.

We plan to launch a formal consultation on proposals to update the Housing for Varying Needs design guide, and on proposals for introducing the Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, over the coming weeks.

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 .

The Scottish Government rightly made the decision to freeze fares as part of its response to the cost of living crisis. While this has now remained in place for around 18 months, it is simply no longer sustainable.

From 3 July 2023, ScotRail fares will increase by 4.8%, compared to 5.9% fares rise across the rest of Great Britain, current RPI of 8.7% and the August 2022 RPI rate of 12.3%. This fares rise does not include season tickets and flexi-passes which will remain frozen at current prices, ensuring those who use rail frequently are not discouraged from continuing to do so.

This below inflation increase means fares remain, on average, lower than across the rest of Great Britain.

We know that any increase is unwelcome for passengers, therefore we have kept the rise as low as possible to maintain the attractiveness and affordability of rail as a travel option. The change also comes as we pilot other ways to make rail travel more attractive and affordable. For example, someone currently using a peak return ticket travelling between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley will pay £1.30 more after 3 July but will save £14.00 during the ScotRail peak fares removal pilot which launches in October 2023.

For over a decade the Scottish Government has kept fares increases down by ensuring they are in line with RPI, or even lower in the case of off-peak fares.

The statistics released today show that last year Scotland created 8,190 hectares of new woodland, with England creating 3,130, Wales 1,190 and Northern Ireland 450 hectares respectively. Throughout the whole of the UK, Scotland is outstripping other countries and creating around 63% of all new woodland.

Scotland has by far the most ambitious woodland creation targets in the UK and despite the challenges of Brexit, Covid and winter storms, landowners have created around 51,000 hectares of new woodland in the past five years or around 102 million trees.

The current planting levels are disappointing and the Scottish Government announced an action plan earlier this week designed to speed up the woodland creation application process and encourage more landowners to get trees in the ground.

A Scottish Forestry Summit, with industry leaders and land management bodies, will be held later in the year to secure agreement on getting planting levels back on track.

Woodland creation targets are set in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan and are rising year on year, rising to 18,000 hectares a year by 2024-25.

The Scottish Government has published a public consultation on a Human Rights Bill for Scotland today, 15 June 2023 and it will be open until 5 October 2023. The consultation seeks views on policy proposals to inform a new Human Rights Bill, which will be a significant milestone in Scotland’s human rights journey, building on past work to embed a human rights culture.

Publishing this consultation delivers on our commitment to bring forward proposals in the first half of 2023 and will be supported by a broad programme of engagement. I would encourage everyone with a view to respond. The consultation is available at https://consult.gov.scot/equality-and-human-rights/a-human-rights-bill-for-scotland-consultation/ .

Today, we have published our 10-year Cancer Strategy for Scotland , with an underpinning three-year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland . Our strategy sets out our long term vision for cancer services in Scotland. It takes a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways, from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. The action plan takes stock of the current pressures faced by the NHS and identifies how we can progress to our final vision. In 10 years’ time we see a Scotland where more cancers are prevented, and where our compassionate and consistent cancer service provides excellent treatment and support throughout the cancer journey, and improves outcomes and survival for people with cancer. We will continue to work closely with the NHS to ensure there is appropriate capacity to respond to patients’ needs. Notably, we aim to reduce later stage disease (stages III and IV) by 18 percentage points. This will ensure patients are being diagnosed earlier, which makes cancer easier to treat and ultimately improves outcomes.

This data is not held by the Scottish Government. Local authority kerbside collections of glass are mixed with glass from various other sources like recycling centres and commercial collections for reprocessing. This is then aggregated through transfer stations, sold to various brokers and split between reprocessing plants. At each stage there will be process losses which lead to glass going to aggregate rather than remelt. It is therefore not possible to trace the origin or eventual destination of recycled glass specifically from kerbside collections.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is categorised into 3 stages. Generally, if a patient has stage A, the condition is monitored and treatment is not recommended. This is because there is no benefit in receiving treatment at this stage, and it can cause significant side effects.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18042 on 30 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.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that that this information is not held by the Registers of Scotland.

In order to establish the position for titles held in the Register of Sasines, an inspection of individual search sheets and deeds would be required, along with company searches to establish that the company was not registered in the United Kingdom.

These titles will move to the Land Register on the occurrence of a trigger event (such as transfer or long lease) or via a voluntary registration application made by the owner.