Chamber and committees

At the start of the pandemic Scottish Government set up opinion polling research to help understand knowledge, attitudes and claimed behaviour in relation to coronavirus, and motivations and barriers to adopting desired behaviours.

This ran weekly from end of March 2020 to June 2021 when it moved to fortnightly and then approximately monthly from April 2022. The public opinion research company YouGov carried out fieldwork on their online omnibus, with a sample each wave of c.1,000 adults 18+ representative of the online population of Scotland.

Questions were included at various times on the perceived importance of a number of protective behaviours (including face coverings) and how well people felt they were doing these to allow us to monitor these measures over time.

COVID-specific polling ended at the end of March 2023.

The budget figures provided in answer S6W-18435 did not include corporate running costs (CRCs). CRCs are a share of the costs, such as accommodation, IT, legal services, and HR, that cannot be readily attributed to individual portfolios. Annex G of the Scottish Government Budget 2019-20 provides a full explanation of CRCs as this was the first year they were introduced.

Scotland remains committed to ensuring the right homes are delivered in the right places and to working with local authorities in the planning and delivery of new homes. The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a New Homes Bonus Scheme.

Scotland has led the UK in the delivery of affordable housing having delivered more than 122,000 affordable homes since 2007, of which more than 86,000 are for social rent. The 10,458 affordable homes delivered to end March 2023 is the highest figure since the start of the statistical series in 2000.

Since 2007, Scotland has seen over 40% more affordable homes delivered per head of population than in England, and over 70% more than in Wales. We have also delivered over three times as many social rented homes per head of population than England over this period.

The number of all-sector new build homes completed in Scotland was up by 9% in the latest year to end March 2023, the highest annual figure to end March since 2008.

Marine Scotland does not record whether a report of illegal fishing is substantiated. Any reports are fully investigated and where there is sufficient evidence to pursue a prosecution the Enforcement team can issue a Fixed Penalty Notice up to £10k or make a report to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service. Around 2500 intelligence reports are received each year from a variety of sources. These are used in a risk-based system to influence tasking of Marine, Aerial and Coastal assets. Enforcement statistics are published on the Scottish Government website Marine and fisheries compliance: list of fixed penalty notices - 26 May 2020 to 30 June 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Territorial NHS Boards have facilities for patients in long term care and provide laundering for those patients where they do not have relatives who can carry it out for them. Patients in an acute care setting are generally advised that they cannot have personal items laundered, but there is some variation between Boards in this regard. Please refer to Health Boards for their individual policies.

When we process payments, some will have cross compliance applied to them. If the beneficiary does not comply with the requirements and standards, we deduct this during the payment calculation for EU funding, so in effect, return this to the Commission. For Scottish Government funding, this reduces the actual spend and so increases the Scottish Government budget remaining.

For penalties post payment, EU recovered penalties are returned to the Commission and the Scottish Government recovered penalties are returned to the scheme budget, increasing the budget remaining.

The Scottish MPA Monitoring Strategy sets out our approach to monitoring and ensures that the necessary evidence continues to be collected from the MPA network. A risk-based approach is used to provide a logical framework for planning and prioritising monitoring activities, as not all sites can be monitored every year.

Details of MPAs which have been surveyed and upcoming plans for monitoring can be found in the MPA Monitoring Strategy annexes available here: Scottish MPA Monitoring Strategy (webarchive.org.uk) .

Since the Scottish MPA Monitoring Strategy was published in 2017, The Scottish Government has been working with NatureScot and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) surveying sites from 2018 to present day. Details of most recent surveys can be found in the following table:

We recognise that performance in NHS Forth Valley is not satisfactory. We continue to offer tailored support to Boards, including NHS Forth Valley, in the form of advice from the Scottish Government CAMHS Professional Advisor, Quality Improvement Advisor, Data Analyst and policy support. A local improvement plan is in place with the current focus being on clearing longest waits first. We are monitoring progress on this closely.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19223 on 28 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

Offshore wind developers, oil and gas companies and relevant trade unions have already expressed their support for a solution which helps facilitate a fairer and more streamlined workforce transition across offshore sectors.

Through its Just Transition Fund, the Scottish Government continues to support a cross sectoral Energy Skills Passport solution, and we will work closely with all stakeholders to help promote its successful delivery.