Chamber and committees

As outlined in the Scottish Budget 2023-24, the Scottish Government remains committed to introducing Air Departure Tax when a solution to the Highlands and Islands exemption issue has been found. The Scottish Government is carefully considering the implications for this of the UK subsidy control regime that was introduced in January 2023.

Until Air Departure Tax is introduced, the UK Government will maintain the application of Air Passenger Duty in Scotland.

The Scottish Government and the UK Government are working together to provide feedback to all those who submitted Green Freeport bids. That process is under way. In fact officials are meeting members of the Clyde Green Freeport bidding coalition today. Officials from both governments also stand ready to work with the unsuccessful bidding coalitions to consider whether and how it might be possible to build on aspects of their plans, outside the Green Freeports programme, to deliver jobs and growth in their respective regions.

We have significantly increased access to digital mental health treatments, products and services since the first cCBT treatment was rolled out in 2017. We now have 27 different computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) treatments available across all NHS Boards. In 2022 we launched Mind to Mind, a wellbeing site with short videos from advice from clinicians and people with lived experience of mental health services and links to support services. The majority of appointments using Near Me, the video conferencing service available across NHS Scotland, are for mental health and offer people access to support if they are unable or prefer not to attend in-person services.

This increase in cCBT treatments has been gradual, with products being piloted with a small number of Boards before national rollout. From 1 treatment in 2017 this increased to 12 in 2020 to reflect higher demand for digital support during lockdown. This increased to 21 treatments in 2021 including two new products that could be accessed by anyone in Scotland via a link, rather than requiring a referral from a GP or mental health professional. We continue to explore more options around self-referral and the role cCBT treatments play in offering mental health support that is accessible at any time.

All Ministerial engagements, including visits to police stations, fire stations, courts or prisons, is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the amount of money lost through cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Scotland, and the data held for the Criminal Proceedings statistics is unable to separately identify any related charges and convictions which involve cryptocurrency. Collecting data on this subject is very challenging, with the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) highlighting that for most types of cyber fraud, a majority of victims did not report the incident to the authorities.

Scottish Government statisticians are continuing to develop the evidence base in this area. For example, the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics now include analysis of cyber-crimes recorded by the police. In 2021-22 almost half (48%) of recorded fraud was estimated to have been online/through the internet, representing around 8,000 crimes. Whilst this will include incidents of cryptocurrency scams, these cases are not separately identifiable within the data. Work is also being taken forward to develop and incorporate a new module into the SCJS, which will allow us to estimate the volume of fraud and computer misuse experienced in Scotland, including those crimes not reported to the police. These new questions will include details of financial loss arising from cyber fraud. Users will be kept informed as to the development of this work, including when the first results are expected to be published.

The Scottish Government published a National Carers Strategy on 21 December. This sets out a cross-government approach to tackling issues that affect carers, including through health and social care policies. The Strategy sets out our intentions regarding carers’ healthcare at chapter 3. We will consider how to provide flexible health appointments for carers, including how we provide replacement care for appointments as part of the implementation process of the Strategy.

There are already a range of services in place that can support unpaid carers to better manage their health. Some have a carer-specific focus, while others are more general. The Scottish Government will continue to raise awareness of these services among unpaid carers and will ensure that our health services consider the needs of carers. Taking a strategic approach to this will support a joined-up approach that supports all aspects of carers’ lives, and this will be done under the auspices of the National Carers Strategy.

The Charge Place Scotland (CPS) network currently hosts 2445 publicly available electric vehicle charge points. Historical data relating to CPS’ development is not available broken down by Local Authority area.

The following table shows the total number of installations across the CPS network in each year since its inception. There are 105 charge point installations that cannot be reconciled with a specific year due to different methods of recording installs employed by CPS’ operators since the network was established, hence the current publicly available total is higher than the figures in the following table.

The information provided only presents charge points registered on the Scottish Government funded CPS network. The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to commercial electric vehicle charging networks.

As stated in the answer to S6W-13242 responsibility for the publication of costs on delayed discharges rests with Public Health Scotland, and future plans for publication of this information is currently being reviewed by PHS .

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as responsibility for the maintenance of Police vehicles sits with the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable. Police Scotland has confirmed that they hold a stock of replacement dash cameras which can be fitted to their vehicles should one develop a fault; dependant on the locality of the vehicle, type of equipment fitted and the type of fault, this can be done on the same day.

I have asked Police Scotland to write to the member with this information.

There were 25 trainee doctors undertaking specialty training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2013. In 2017, 23 trainees were in post in the same specialty.