Chamber and committees

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was adopted on 13 February 2023. Delivery of NPF4 is not the sole responsibility of one organisation or sector and implementation of the proposed actions will support leadership and collaborative working across the public and private sectors throughout Scotland.

Our NPF4 Delivery Programme will guide how NPF4 will be implemented by all relevant stakeholders and aims to create the conditions under which place-based collaboration can underpin the implementation of NPF4, by clearly setting out strategic actions, responsibilities and ways of working. The Delivery Programme proposes a governance structure that will include providing oversight of NPF4 implementation and delivery, supporting its incorporation into Scottish Government and wider stakeholder decision-making, promoting alignment across sectors and providing a framework through which delivery partners can communicate, identify barriers to delivery and be solution-focused. This includes establishing a new Planning, Infrastructure and Place Advisory Group, with a core membership of key external delivery partners and key agency representation, supported by a Scottish Government secretariat.

The statistical release on Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme expressions of interest data reconciliation exercise was published by the Scottish Government on 17 February 2023: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-expressions-of-interest-data-reconciliation-exercise-february-2023/ . This is a one-time ad-hoc release of management information and does not constitute an Official Statistics or National Statistics release.

The Cost of Living National Performance indicator is disaggregated by disability on the National Performance Framework Data Explorer. It was last updated on 3 Feb 2023 with the 2018-21 data, showing that disabled people spent 34% of their income on housing, fuel and food compared to 23% of income among non-disabled people. As this data precedes the cost of living crisis, Scottish Government published an analytical report on the available cost of living evidence on 2 November 2022. The report includes a summary of available evidence on disabled people’s costs. We know that disabled people often incur additional living costs and are disproportionally affected by the cost crisis, with evidence of higher prices for energy bills, food, and fuel costs. The Scottish Government provides a range of disability benefits to help disabled people and those with long-term conditions. Disability benefits are designed to provide financial support to disabled people to mitigate the additional costs of living with a disability or health condition. The Scottish Government is uprating disability assistance by 10.1% in April 2023, in line with the September CPI inflation rate. We are currently working with Disabled People’s Organisations and their members to develop a new Disability Equality Strategy in 2023. The cost crisis and disability poverty have been identified as key areas of focus in this strategy.

Retail has an essential role to play if we are to deliver on our ambitious targets to reach net zero by 2045, which is why the Retail Strategy’s Delivery Plan contains a commitment to develop a Just Transition Plan for retail that includes an action to promote the steps that retailers and their supply chain operatives can take to reduce carbon consumption and environmental impacts.

The specific information requested on the quantity of such clothing that has been sold in each of the last five years is not held by the Scottish Government .

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges facing the planning system, in particular planning authorities. Appropriate resourcing is a key challenge for delivery of NPF4 and we are committed to working collaboratively with our partners to make progress with this, including through our work with the High Level Group on Planning Performance. NPF4 Policy 3 (c) is underpinned by NatureScot’s Developing With Nature guidance published on 13 February 2023. We have also committed to developing guidance on Policy 3 more generally. Through ongoing work to bring forward the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, we are exploring opportunities to enhance ecological expertise that is needed locally to implement nature positive approaches. We have commissioned research to explore options for developing approaches to measuring biodiversity at the ‘site’ scale in Scotland. This research will involve a programme of engagement with stakeholders as it progresses.

As part of the Scottish Diabetes Group, we have established work streams to identify efficiencies and opportunities within the Scottish Ambulance Service. This work is still in very early stages, however there is an established process in NHS Fife and NHS Grampian that links Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) data from the patient report form with SCI-Diabetes. This system ensures local diabetes teams have information about patients presenting to SAS with hypoglycaemic episode, in order to provide rapid, informed and appropriate follow up care. We are working closely with SAS and NHS Boards to further increase this connection across Scotland.

The Scottish Diabetes Group will take forward actions to improve services provided by NHS24 for people living with diabetes in the next year.

Scottish Government officials and Glasgow City Council have been engaging regularly since November 2022 to undertake a Joint Assurance Review to ensure exit planning for the disembarkation of the MS Ambition remains on track.

The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council have been meeting with guests to help them make an informed decision about their next accommodation and where possible, we are seeking to move a displaced people according to their needs. This has been supplemented by ongoing and regular discussions between the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, regional local authorities, and CoSLA, where host and accommodation matches for MS Ambition-based Ukrainians are identified as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Scottish Government officials are undertaking work to ensure that the interactions between Minimum Unit Price and the Deposit Return Scheme are fully understood. This work includes engagement with stakeholders.

For example, a planned evaluation of the Deposit Return Scheme will explore consumer behaviours prior to the scheme’s introduction, a year after implementation and two years after implementation.

MV Hebrides is 99 metres in length, 15.8 metres wide and her operational draught, which is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the vessel’s hull, is 3.3 metres.

Further information is available on CalMac’s website by following the link: https://www.calmac.co.uk/fleet/mv-hebrides

Analysis has been undertaken to estimate how many guests on MS Ambition will likely be matched into longer term accommodation based on the availability of hosted and Responsible Social Landlord properties in Glasgow and the surrounding areas. Analysis into the availability of accommodation for guests disembarking MS Ambition remains ongoing and is being revised as new data becomes available via the monitoring of the disembarkation process.