Chamber and committees

Through the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF ), we are co-investing with a diverse range of Scottish manufacturers to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions through increased energy efficiency and deep decarbonisation projects. The requested information can be found in the following table:

Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund applications and awards (to date):

The consultation has been published today and is available on the Scottish Government’s Consultation Hub, Citizen Space https://consult.gov.scot/lifelong-learning-and-skills/rural-and-islands-college-merger-proposal

It seeks views on the proposals put forward by the boards of management of North Highland College (UHI North Highland), West Highland College (UHI West Highland) and Lews Castle College (UHI Outer Hebrides) to merge into a single, incorporated college.

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review published its final report on 30 September 2022 and set out over 200 proposals for reform. The report recommendations are complex and wide-ranging, and cross-government work is underway to consider them and assess their implications.

We intend to set out our initial Scottish Government response to the Review report, including priority actions that will be taken forward, by summer 2023.

Scottish Government works to support the development of the game and more particularly the venison sector in Scotland as part of its wider ambition to grow the food and drink sector.

The strategy for the venison sector, ‘Beyond the Glen’, is industry-led and through this, the industry aims to raise their profile and promote sustainability and growth. We support the sector in delivery of the strategy through ongoing engagement to understand and respond to the challenges they face.

Scottish Government has provided support in delivery of the strategy, including though funding of £60,000 for an online promotion campaign in 2021 and £80,000 from the Covid Recovery Opportunities Fund for an ongoing pilot project for new local chill and processing facilities.

Scottish Government is also providing funding of £20,000 for an industry project which is currently underway to assess current capacity and infrastructure through Approved Game Handling Establishments, collection centres, chills and other smaller local processing enterprises. The project is looking ahead towards projected cull increases over the next 10 years so that all carcasses where possible can be accepted into - and processed - for the human food chain.

We will continue to explore ways that we can work with the industry to ensure its continued development.

“Beyond the Glen” is an industry-led strategy and therefore responsibility for delivery does not lie with Scottish Government. We work to support the industry in development of the sector, including through delivery of the strategy, and we have provided additional funding where possible.

The Scottish Venison Association (SVA) is proposing that a review of the strategy should be undertaken in 2023. Part of this activity will include an internal review of the SVA.

We know that currently not everyone has the same experiences or outcomes when they engage with mental health services and supports. We want to ensure that everyone’s needs are met, including those with learning disabilities and autism.

We are committed to publishing a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy in Spring 2023, building on the implementation of our Mental Health Covid Transition and Recovery Plan. The new strategy will allow us to look ahead to make sure we are doing the right things to meet changing mental health needs over the coming years; and will set out a clear vision for future population mental health, wellbeing and care; and our priorities to help us get there.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure that children and young people, who have neurodevelopmental profiles with support needs, receive the support that they require. To support implementation, we have provided funding to NHS Boards to build capacity to provide access to specialist neurodevelopmental professionals.

We are now developing quality standards to support general adult secondary mental health services. These aim to improve the quality and safety of mental health services, and will be part of a suite of standards and specifications for mental health services, building on the work of the CAMHS service and neurodevelopmental specifications.

The Scottish Government has worked with people with lived experience and stakeholders over the last 18 months on a new leadership and engagement framework to develop policy around mental health support for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

This new way of working puts people’s voices and experiences firmly at its heart and is about real sustainable change and has included literature reviews, workshops to collect views and experiences, reports and an evaluation of the process. Currently there are working groups to implement the actions following the workshops and reports.

Responsibility for the management of local roads, including decision making on street layouts, remains with local authorities as set out in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.

The Scottish Government supports local authorities to deliver safe and accessible active travel infrastructure through the provision of the £35 million Cycling Walking Safer Routes grant which goes directly to local authorities on a pro rata basis.

Support is also provided to local authorities to deliver safe walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure that is accessible to all through the Scottish Government funded Places for Everyone programme (PfE). Through the PfE programme, support is available at the design stage, and with completion of Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA), to ensure access for all and equality of opportunity in public space.

The Scottish Government is funding Living Streets to research the user experience and consistency in design for walking and cycling infrastructure such as continuous footways and bus stop bypasses.

Where new infrastructure is found to cause accessibility issues for visually impaired people, we would encourage people to engage with their local council.

The Scottish Government notes the Made for Cycling report and recognises the opportunity on offer for Scottish cycling tourism to further develop and for Scotland to establish itself as a world-class cycling destination, as identified within the publication.

The topic paper highlights some of the positive work that VisitScotland has undertaken in recent years, including the creation of a new Cycling Industry Guide, to help businesses and communities maximise the sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits from a growing interest in cycling and cycling tourism. These business advice assets are especially important as Glasgow and Scotland gear up to host the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships between 3 – 13 August.

This event provides a platform to generate behaviour change across Scotland –bringing benefits for individuals, communities and businesses as a result.

Scotland has a target to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045. The fishing industry has an important part to play, alongside all sectors of our society, in reducing emissions and helping to create a low carbon economy with clean, green jobs – and of course it already provides a low-carbon source of food in many cases.

As part of Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 (FFM Strategy) we have committed to developing a climate change action plan for sea fisheries in partnership with stakeholders. Our immediate focus has been on identifying and filling key evidence gaps. This has included a range of research projects, focused conversations with stakeholders and a wide-ranging survey to help us understand the industry’s attitudes and needs. We have also committed funding through Marine Fund Scotland to support innovation and development of fishing vessel adaptation solutions.

We have committed to establishing a Fisheries Climate Change Sub-group which will be part of our already established stakeholder forum – the Fisheries Management and Conservation Group (FMAC). Together with FMAC we will commence the development of a fisheries climate change mitigation project to focus activity and identify key actions for progression.

The transition to net zero will no doubt be challenging for the fishing sector, but also presents an opportunity to make a positive impact by adjusting practices and growing Scottish businesses and supply chains in a sustainable way. We are currently scoping our broader approach to Just Transition and this will be a key theme part of our climate change planning.

The Scottish Government is currently working with partners to produce a Student Mental Health plan to be delivered in Spring 2023. The Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group, that I chair, is driving this work forward. Membership includes NUS Scotland, Think Positive, Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland. The Plan will provide a framework for mental health services in universities and colleges and will be linked to the wider Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.