Chamber and committees

Investment underpinning Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Routemap does not specifically target the issue of pharmaceutical pollution. However, in partnership with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Water is carrying out the Chemical Investigation Programme (CIP) Scotland which involves sampling for priority substances of emerging concern; pharmaceuticals are considered to be substances of emerging concern. The current phase of the programme involves a process optimisation trial at Wastewater Treatment Works that aims to help improve understanding of whether better treatment can be achieved at Scottish Water’s assets.

Scottish Water is also a member of the One Health Breakthrough Partnership (OHBP – www.ohbp.org ) which is funded by the Scottish Government and brings together key stakeholders across the water, environment, and healthcare sectors who are committed to addressing pharmaceutical pollution in the environment through source control. The partnership is looking to develop sustainable “up-stream” solutions to minimise pharmaceuticals entering wastewater and surface water, and reduce the environmental impact of our healthcare practices.

The Scottish Government sets Statutory Guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund, outlining the responsibilities for Local Authorities in their administration of the Fund and making clear guidance available on how to apply for a grant. Local Authorities are required to ensure that other services which have contact with people in crisis have up to date information about the Fund, including promotional posters and leaflets. At a national level, the Scottish Government continues to signpost the Scottish Welfare Fund, including through our cost-of-living campaign website.

The Independent Review into the Scottish Welfare Fund was published on 24 March 2023. As set out in answer S6W-16168 on 24 March 2023, the Scottish Government is working to publish an Action Plan by the end of Spring 2023. The Action Plan will set out policy improvements that the Scottish Government will deliver with Local Authorities and wider stakeholders, including on improving clarity and consistency of communication and promotion.

As set out in my response to PQ S6W-16276 on 6 April 2023, Transport Scotland intend to publish the Outline Business Case for the Aberdeen to Central Belt Rail Enhancement Project later in the year. This will provide the requested details of the specific infrastructure upgrades and their contributions to journey time savings.

In the meantime, Transport Scotland has been updating key stakeholders on the progress of the design of this project.

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

A final draft of the updated version of Planning with People: Community engagement and participation guidance published in April 2023 was shared with Healthcare Improvement Scotland – Community Engagement in February 2023. The guidance is co-written with COSLA, and Healthcare Improvement Scotland were involved in the process.

As is stated in the updated version of Planning with People, the established principles and requirements for major service change decision-making process for NHS Boards, remain unchanged from those outlined in CEL 4 (2010).

All respondents to the consultation were asked if they consent to their response being published, either anonymously or with their name attached.

Where a respondent has given consent, their response will be published and shared with the independent review.

Where a respondent has not given consent, their response will not be published and their response will not be shared with the independent review.

An independent analysis of the consultation will take full account of all responses. The analysis will be published on gov.scot and passed to the independent review of Adult Disability Payment when it commences.

Information on average student loan debt is published, in table 5, by the Student Loans Company.

Student Loans in Scotland: 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant scheme will invest, as a minimum, capital funding of £30 million in 2023-24 to enable the delivery of heat decarbonisation projects across the public sector, including the NHS, and £1.5 million of resource funding to enable the building of a pipeline of investment ready, strategic heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects across the public sector. Since the scheme was relaunched in 2022-23, Health Boards have successfully applied for over £13 million.

In addition, the Scottish Government has funded Health Boards to prepare initial net-zero route maps which will be used as a basis for planning the decarbonisation of the NHS estate.

More information on NHS Scotland’s approach to decarbonisation is set out in the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 which is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-climate-emergency-sustainability-strategy-2022-2026/

Consultation with statutory stakeholders was completed in January 2023. It was agreed through this process that given the May 2023 timetable was an interim step due to resource constraints, it could not be viewed in isolation and it was appropriate to hold a public consultation on the longer term proposals. ScotRail advises that this public consultation will be held in the coming months.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water [and this data is not held by Scottish Government] I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

In respect of published guidelines on reporting, Scottish Water is not currently required to report the number of days for which overflow event monitoring is unavailable. Overflow events are calculated in January using available telemetry data downloaded throughout the year.

As part of Scottish Water’s annual reporting of overflow events, a lack of data available would be noted within the commentary along with any additional explanatory information.

As outlined within Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Routemap, there is significant investment underway to increase data monitors on our overflows by 2024. As part of this work, data capture and availability is being reviewed to allow further enhancements. In due course, we will publish information on the number of days for which monitors are unavailable to support the reporting of 2023 overflow events in January 2024.

The Scottish Government is enabling access to superfast broadband through the £600 million R100 contracts (North, Central and South) and the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS).

All three island local authority areas are covered by the R100 North Contract, with build already underway in Orkney and Shetland which is expected to conclude in 2026. Build is currently expected to begin in Na H-eileanan Siar in 2025 and conclude in 2028.

In 2022, as part of the R100 North contract, 16 new subsea fibre broadband cables were laid, providing future-proofed, resilient connections to 15 Scottish islands, including 4 islands in Shetland and 7 in Orkney.

All premises not in commercial or R100 contract plans can access a minimum of a superfast service via the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme. However, this is a demand-led scheme, meaning it is ultimately up to tenants and owners to secure a connection through this route.