Chamber and committees

Work has commenced on all 20 of the short term actions in the plan, with 12 now considered to be ‘complete’.

As set out in the Report on Progress, it is the case that a number of the short term actions will necessarily continue beyond their short-term timescales and will be ongoing throughout the life of the plan.

Work continues apace on the final eight actions, where it is considered that work needs to continue to augment the outputs achieved in the one year timeline set out in the Plan.

The Plan’s medium term actions are for delivery within one to three years. Work has commenced on the majority of these actions, with two already completed and the remainder progressing well and on track for completion by August 2024.

Work is ongoing with partners across Scotland to deliver the aims, priorities and actions in the Plan.

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

SPS now anticipate the publication of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy to be completed by end of October 2023.

Competing priorities impacted stakeholder capacity to contribute within the planned timeframe, and a need to divert SPS resources to support several acute cases of mentally unwell people in SPS care have contributed to a delay in publication. The revised date now reflects the impact of those delays, whilst ensuring sufficient time is allocated in order to analyse the critical evidence gleaned from mental health experts and those in our care with lived experiences.

There are currently 2522 publicly available charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

The draft Long-term Plan for Vessels and Ports was developed in consultation with various stakeholders including local authorities and is a delivery plan for the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles Ferry Services networks. The draft Plan was shared with key stakeholders on 30 December 2022 and made available at Draft for consultation - Long-Term plan for vessels and ports on the Clyde & Hebrides and Northern Isles networks (2023 – 2045) - Islands Connectivity Plan | Transport Scotland . We expect to launch a formal consultation on the plan over the summer period and we will welcome further comments from stakeholders during this time.

However, the draft Long-Term Plan recognises that local authority ferry fleets face similar challenges to those facing the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles Ferry Services networks.

Ferry services provided by Orkney Islands Council, including developing equivalent investment plans and spending on vessels and ports, are wholly a matter for Orkney Islands Council. The Scottish Government continues to engage regarding these matters, including through the Orkney Islands Councils' Ferry Replacement Task Forces.

Alongside our aim to accelerate the development of industrial scale renewable hydrogen projects, the Scottish Government continues to foster demonstration, innovation and manufacturing and workforce skills development in the hydrogen sector.

To support research and innovation in hydrogen production, storage, and distribution, we launched the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme in 2022 and offered over £7m in grants to 32 projects last May.

Additionally, our £26 million Low Carbon Manufacturing Challenge Fund provides support to Scottish manufacturing businesses looking to grow through the development of low carbon products.

Many of the levers required to support the emergence of a flourishing hydrogen economy in the devolved nations are reserved to the UK Government, and so we will continue to work closely with the UKG to ensure that our collective vision for the development of the hydrogen economy is aligned and the benefits are realised across all nations of the UK.

Orkney Islands Council is wholly responsible for their inter-island ferries, including setting the service levels. However, the strategic document of the Islands Connectivity Plan will aim to set a vision and outline good practice for delivery of ferry services in Scotland which will support local authority delivery plans.

The provision of allotments is the responsibility of local authorities as set out in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, Part 9.

In accordance with section 121 of Part 9 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, local authorities report annually on the provision of allotments in their areas. The legislation clearly defines the mandatory information to be included in the annual allotment reports including, but not limited to;

• the location and size of each allotment site,
• the number of allotments on each allotment site,
• the rent payable,
• the number of people on the waiting list and how many have been waiting 5 years or more,
• the number of allotments on each allotment site that are accessible by a disabled person,
• the number of allotments adjusted to meet the needs of a tenant who is a disabled person,
• the income received, and expenditure incurred, by the authority in connection with allotment sites,
• such other information as may be prescribed.

Reports are available online from each local authority. The Scottish Government does not collect this information centrally and does not hold historic data on allotment provision.

The Scottish Government’s target is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

Our long term plans recognise that changing circumstances or unforeseen events may require us to adapt, and we intend to carry out a review at the mid-point of the 110,000 target period (2026-27), to assess if current plans should continue unchanged or be adapted.

To note that the homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes, as identified in Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) prepared annually by local authorities.

NHS Health Boards deliver the Pregnancy and Newborn screening programme locally. Scottish Government does not hold the information requested centrally.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collate data about electric vehicle charge points which are not part of the ChargePlace Scotland public charging network. Data about public charging devices on privately-managed networks can be obtained from third party data suppliers, such as Zap-Map, who publish monthly statistics on electric vehicle charging infrastructure.