Chamber and committees

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.

On 13 June the Cabinet met with Fraser McKinlay – Chief Executive Officer of The Promise Scotland and Fiona Duncan – Chair of The Promise Scotland and Independent Strategic Advisor for the Promise.

The national standards for the delivery of adult tier 2 and tier 3 weight management services require that weight management services should be provided to those above 18 years of age. There should be no upper age limit for people accessing these services.

In the interest of patient safety and the clinical effectiveness of the intervention, age limits may be set for more intensive interventions, based on published evidence.

In relation to more intensive weight management interventions, such as the type 2 diabetes remission programme of total diet replacement, the criteria set by the national clinical advisory group in relation to age is men and women aged 18–65 years. This was done in keeping with the protocol from the DiRECT clinical trial. The standards set out that exceptions may be made where appropriate.

The standards reference bariatric surgery because of the essential role of tier 3 weight management services in the preparation and progression for such surgery. However, as bariatric surgery is a tier 4 service, it is not within the scope of the standards. For bariatric surgery as a weight loss intervention, an upper age limit of 44 years is set for priority groups within the National Performance Forum Obesity Treatment: Best Practice Guide.

In all instances, NHS boards have responsibility for service delivery and patient treatment and make decisions to offer services based on clinical judgement and local needs.

While the promotion of workforce diversity is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Scottish Government set clear ambitions on equality, diversity and inclusion in the Strategic Police Priorities 2023 and the Fire and Rescue Framework 2022 .

Police Scotland’s Joint Equality Outcomes for Policing include outcomes on workforce diversity monitoring, leadership, recruitment, progression and retention. Progress across a broad range of activity is highlighted in the Police Scotland EDI Mainstreaming and Equality Outcomes Progress Report 2021-2023 , published in April this year.

SFRS has developed a Positive Action toolkit to proactively engage with Scotland’s diverse communities, host community targeted recruitment events and present SFRS as an inclusive employer. SFRS also has a range of initiatives to encourage retention of its diverse workforce for example in developing a Race Employee Network and in mainstreaming its dignity and respect policies.

We have no current plans to introduce legislation on minimum distances between onshore wind turbines.

The number of unpaid carers who receive short breaks or respite is reported in the accompanying tables of the Scottish Government Carers Census . This collection only covers unpaid carers who have a support plan and/or receive support from local services, rather than the total caring population. Table 1 below does not include data from 2018-19, as it is not comparable to subsequent years.

Table 1: Number and percentage of people who received short breaks or respite in 2019-20 to 2021-22 (all areas submitted) (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)

The National Statistics on recorded crime do not include a specific code for crimes of ‘sextortion’ (i.e. extortion involving the threat of sharing sexual information about the victim). There are however two types of crime that include activity that could be considered to constitute ‘sextortion’.

Table 1 shows the estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online, from 2019-20 to 2022-23. This is based on an annual review of crime records (commenced in 2019-20) which aims to estimate how many cyber-crimes are recorded in Scotland. It should be noted the figures below are based on a sample of police records (rather than all police records), so should be seen as providing a broad estimate of the volume of this type of crime, rather than an exact count.

Whilst not all online threats and extortion will necessarily have a ‘sextortion’ based element, it is very likely a high proportion (and certainly the majority) of the cases shown below do. Where ‘sextortion’ related crimes are recorded under this heading, it will be where the perpetrator has made demands for money or other valuables.

Table 1 - Estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online: 2019-20 to 2022-23

No-one Dies Alone is one way to provide emotional support and companionship to people at the end of life, especially those who may be more isolated. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of this support and an overarching aim of the new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy that we are developing is that Scotland is a place where people and communities can come together to support each other, take action, and talk openly about planning ahead, serious illness, dying, death, and bereavement.

The Scottish Government does not have plans to roll out the No-one Dies Alone initiative but does support the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care to develop and promote public health initiatives such as No-on Dies Alone, to support communities and volunteers to care for those who are near the end of life.