Chamber and committees

Homes for Ukraine is the UK Government scheme and the Scottish Super Sponsor scheme works within it to offer an alternative route for displaced people from Ukraine to come to the UK.

The review convened a number of experts from across national and local government, academia and the third sector. It also took account of the perspectives and experiences of Ukrainians who participated in focus groups.

Findings from the review are being taking into consideration when developing the next steps to enhance our ability to provide appropriate and sustainable longer-term support to those who are here, as well as those who are still to travel. I will provide a statement to Parliament soon to update on the findings of the review.

25 October 2022

The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) was launched on 26 July 2021 and the 2021-22 budget was based on estimated maximum spend based on analysis of the number of families likely to claim support.

The 2022-23 budget has been based on prior year outturn, noting that this was the fund’s first year of operation. The fund is demand led and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring sufficient funding to Boards to support all valid YPFF claims.

The SLWG has yet to be established pending the review of all 2022-23 budget plans. Scottish Ministers remain committed to the policy intent, however as highlighted by the Deputy First Minister, the impact of the cost crisis and significant rises in inflation have placed unprecedented pressure on existing Health & Social Care budgets.

Resilience of the Energy Sector is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government works closely with power companies and recognises the many aspects of resilience of the energy networks in Scotland, including the management of felling trees.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans recently met with SSEN and visited one of their tree cutting sites in the North of Scotland. The issue of damage to power lines and the complexity of felling trees was discussed in depth, including:

Legislative limitations

Land owner complexities

Secondary impacts such as additional tree blow

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with power companies and UK Government on all aspects of resilience to the network in Scotland.

Resilience of the Energy Sector is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

Power Companies are required to meet statutory obligations under the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 with respect to minimum clearances from overhead lines, wires and cables including minimum ground clearance requirements.

Under the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, it is an offence to fell trees without first getting felling permission from Scottish Forestry. The clearance of windblown trees requires a Felling Permission (previously known as a Felling Licence), unless you qualify for an exemption:

• Trees pose an immediate danger to people, property, or infrastructure
• Windblown trees that are blocking roads

The Scottish Government contributed to the Storm Arwen Ofgem review ( Storm Arwen Report | Ofgem ) and support the recommendation that work is undertaken by the Energy Emergencies Executive Committee (E3C) to review current distribution and transmission network infrastructure standards and guidance, including those for vegetation management and overhead line designs, to identify economic and efficient improvements that could increase network resilience to severe weather events.

Scottish Government officials and COSLA are working together as a partnership to ensure all Ukrainian displaced people are supported during their time in Scotland. As they are a key stakeholder in this work, the Scottish Government has regular and ongoing engagement with COSLA at Ministerial and official level.

I met with the COSLA spokesperson for Community Wellbeing this week, and details of Ministerial engagements are regularly published on the Scottish Government’s website: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The SLWG has yet to be established as we are presently intending to recruit additional clinical advisory capacity and expect to progress once this resource is in place.

The Women’s Health Plan, 2021-2024, includes a long term action to establish a Women’s Health Research Fund with the aim of closing gaps in scientific and medical knowledge in women’s health for both sex specific and non sex-specific conditions.

The Chief Scientist Office provide funding for the NHS Research Scotland Cardiovascular Network. The role of the Network is to support the delivery of high quality cardiovascular disease clinical research for the benefit of patients in Scotland and is currently providing support for the following clinical study:

Tako Genetics Study - Is There a Genetic Predisposition for Acute Stress-Induced (Takotsubo) Cardiomyopathy?

The Chief Scientist Office directly funds research through its 2 expert committees.

Applications on Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, and other heart conditions, are welcomed and in common with all other applications would go through a process of independent expert review in order to enable funding decisions to be made.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11048 on
5 October 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