Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that local bank branches provide an important service across Scotland – particularly for rural communities. The regulation of financial services is reserved to the UK Government and, therefore, Scottish Ministers cannot intervene in commercial decisions made by banks to close branches, even where it leaves some rural communities without convenient access to a local branch.

We note the cash access provisions within the Financial Services and Markets Bill progressing through the UK Parliament and the additional powers the Bill will grant to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to monitor access to cash across the UK. Scottish Government officials are in regular dialogue with the FCA to ensure Scotland’s unique interests are articulated and advanced, and the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy will meet with Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA, shortly where he will set out the need to ensure that the banking needs of rural areas are fully considered by the FCA’s new regulatory regime. The Scottish Government regularly engages with the banking sector in Scotland through bi-lateral meetings and the Financial Services Growth and Development Board. We will continue to urge all banks to address their customers banking needs and to support rural communities without branches with industry initiatives such as shared Bank Hubs, improved Post Office banking services and Community Bankers.

Recognising that many services, including banking, are becoming increasingly digitised, the Scottish Government is also providing significant investment in Scotland’s digital infrastructure. The £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) broadband programme and the £28.75 million in the Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) mobile programme will enable communities to better access online banking services. Around 70% of premises that will be connected through the £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) contracts are in rural areas and all of the 55 mast sites to be delivered through S4GI are located on islands or in rural Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19106 on 29 June 2023. 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 .

The Scottish Government continues to provide teaching bursaries of £20,000 to incentivise career changers into initial teacher education for the hardest to fill subjects which includes Technical Education.

Through the Teacher Induction Scheme probationary teachers can receive a Preference Waiver Payment of up to £8,000, if they are willing to complete their probation anywhere in Scotland, including the north east.

Local authorities are directly responsible for teacher recruitment, and they have autonomy to provide incentives – as some already do - to attract teachers to their area.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education sits with local authorities and schools.

While the Curriculum for Excellence provides the overarching framework and sets out the eight curriculum areas, it is a matter for individual schools and authorities to tailor their detailed curriculum offer.

This provides local authorities and schools with flexibility to tailor provision to best meet the needs of their pupils.

The Scottish Government is grateful to Professor Britton and her team for undertaking this review and we are pleased to receive her final report. It is important that we now take the time to consider Professor Britton's findings and the recommendations she has made. The recommendations will be discussed at the next meeting of Health Boards’ Transvaginal Mesh Accountable Officers, which is expected to take place in August. The accountable officers are a network of senior clinicians from Health Boards who have responsibility for mesh-related issues within their own Board and for ensuring that their colleagues are informed on matters accordingly.

Steps have already been that do address a number of the recommendations. These include making a mesh learning package available to GPs to offer them additional support to help them understand and address concerns women may raise with them following transvaginal mesh surgery. Steps are also being taken to enhance the information available to patients through the improvement of the Complex Mesh Surgical Service webpages and the development of a patient information leaflet.

The Government will continue to add to help for those whose lives have been impacted by mesh complications and to ensure they get the right treatment for them. We will continue to work closely with colleagues within the NHS to ensure that women can access the care that they need, are fully supported by their GP and other clinicians, and have the information they need to make informed decisions about their care.

Health Board colleagues will also continue to engage with women as they access the Glasgow specialist service and will use the feedback they receive to further develop and refine the care that is available. We want to ensure that satisfaction levels of women attending the NHS specialist service in Glasgow continue to grow and waiting times continue to fall.

The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with EU law where that is possible and will have a meaningful impact on the outcomes we share with the EU. This is delivered through routine monitoring by policy experts. Therefore the Scottish Government does not maintain an authoritative record of all EU directives, regulations and legislation which cover topics of devolved competence since 2021.

The Scottish Government’s policy statement on the approach to EU alignment, approved by parliament on 8 June 2022, sets out detail of this process, acknowledging that much of EU legislation is now not applicable in Scotland since the UK Government removed it from the EU.

Introduction of the new trains into passenger service is a matter for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) given SPT is responsible for both the Glasgow Subway modernisation programme and the operation of the Glasgow subway. Introductory dates for the new trains into passenger service have not been set by SPT nor has SPT previously set out proposed introductory dates in reporting. Testing of the new trains and development of the safety case is ongoing as part of the new rolling stock subway modernisation workstream towards new fleet introduction to passenger service in autumn 2023.

I refer the member to the answers to the following questions:

• S4W-05728 on 2 July 2012
• S4W-17608 on 3 October 2013
• S4W-25214 on 2 April 2015
• S4W-26746 on 17 July 2015
• S5W-00837 on 20 June 2016
• S5W-12960 on 24 November 2017
• S5W-17596 on 5 July 2018
• S5W-26805 on 19 December 2019
• S5W-36009 on 24 March 2021
• S6W-17817 on 5 May 2023
• S6W-16899 on 5 May 2023

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

Given that labelling, including barcodes, is a reserved issue and therefore requirements for barcodes and labels were not part of the regulations covering Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, we have not previously engaged with GS1 UK, who are a company dealing with barcodes.

However, I have asked officials to reach out to GS1 UK to offer to meet with them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19106 on 29 June 2023. 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 .