Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12086 on 22 November 2022. All 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 annual Winter Service period began on 1 October 2022 and continues through to 15 May 2023. The publicity launch for Transport Scotland’s Winter Service 2022/2023 took place on 3 November, Winter service launch 22/23 | Transport Scotland .

For the 2022-23 winter service Transport Scotland has 240 vehicles available for spreading salt and ploughing snow, typically one spreader for every 16 km of trunk road. Salt barns are full and more salt is currently in stock than was used across both Scotland’s trunk and local roads during the whole of last winter.

Enhanced patrol provision will be in place across the network and route specific snow plans have been updated. To prevent snow or ice forming, gritters also provide precautionary salt treatments to roads, depending on the forecast weather conditions.

Financial spend on delivery of winter service by Transport Scotland’s Operating Companies for 2022/23 is forecast to be £29,194,484.

The 2022-23 budget allocation for emergency road repairs (Category 1 defects) is currently £1.8M, however, this may be subject to change depending on the severity of repairs experienced throughout the period.

Energy suppliers and advice services operating in Scotland have advised us in the course of our regular engagement that electric prepayment meters have a minimum top up amount of £5. The maximum credit a traditional (non-smart) prepayment meter can hold is £255, which is also the maximum value that can be placed on a top-up key.

Gas prepayment meters have a minimum top up amount of £1 and gas meters can generally hold up to £999 credit. Unless the top-up key is already full at the moment when a customer tries to redeem the voucher, there should be no reason that they are unable to top up.

I would urge any affected consumers to contact their supplier or otherwise call Energy Advice Scotland on 0808 196 8660 or at energyadvice.scot for assistance in resolving the problem.

Officials met with the Scottish Huntington’s Association (SHA) on 16 May 2022 and discussed the excellent services offered by the charity and ongoing work to secure HD specialists for four further health board areas.

Since then we have progressed our work in commissioning Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to support quality assurance of the implementation of the HIS General Standards for Neurological Care and Support. A self-assessment template and guidance is being developed, supporting service-led self-evaluation of neurological services.

We welcome the engagement and expertise of third sector organisations including the Neurological Alliance of Scotland (NAoS) and the SHA and support their involvement and leadership in the development and implementation of this key activity.

Undertaking this work will identify areas of improvement across NHS Scotland and help to drive forward better standards of care for people with neurological conditions, including Huntington’s Disease.

We are also undertaking work to better understand specialist service provision for people in Scotland with neurological conditions, including Huntington’s Disease and the specialist provision provided by SHA and the NHS, with the aim of developing improvement. We have invited representation from NAoS and welcome input from SHA and other condition specific organisations to inform this.

This process will also align with relevant commitments from the Neurological Framework, Transforming Roles agenda and the National Workforce Strategy.

I refer the member to my answer to the question S6W-12401 on 7 December 2022 . 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 

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12496 on 5 December 2022. 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 budget provides funding for the national Childsmile programme as well as wider measures to tackle oral health inequalities in all age groups. Funds that are allocated are based on need, and final confirmation of spend will be included as part of the Scottish Government provisional outturn.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days .

Scotland’s green jobs revolution is underway and a recent report from the Universities of Strathclyde and Warwick provided an initial estimate that up to 100,000 roles are ‘new and emerging’ green jobs in Scotland. Although the researchers regard this as an upper estimate, it is encouraging to see a strong greening of jobs in Scotland.

ONS are also exploring a methodology of measuring green jobs separately. They have launched a consultation and expect to produce estimates around mid-2023.

Statistics from the ONS Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (LCREE) survey provide estimates of renewable FTE employment statistics in Scotland. No data is available to provide additional geographic breakdowns below the Scotland level at present.

As the flowing table shows, for the 5-years 2016-2020 (latest data available), the estimates of direct jobs in renewable electricity increased from 5,000 to 6,800, an increase of 36% over the period.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has confirmed that the timetable for repairs to the funicular had to be extended due to unforeseeable delays caused by the weather and Covid. In addition, technical challenges resulted in additional works needing to be carried out. Significant cost inflation in the construction sector and the weakness of sterling in international exchange rates also contributed to the cost increase.

I have asked Stuart Black, HIE’s Chief Executive, to write to you direct with a full explanation of the cost increase.