Chamber and committees

The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is due to be discussed at Cabinet shortly, after which we’ll be able to confirm a date for an imminent publication for consultation.

The suite of final reports presenting the recommendations of the Second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) will be published on the Transport Scotland website on Thursday 8 December 2022. This represents a key milestone for strategic transport planning in Scotland. Setting out a 20 year framework for capital investment to drive the change we need to achieve the Scottish Government’s strategic vision and move towards Net Zero – the majority of the 45 recommendations contribute directly towards achieving emissions reduction.

This marks the culmination of over three years’ intensive work.

The evidence gathering and robust objective-led appraisal work feeding in to this review has been informed by stakeholder engagement from the very outset. The public have been provided with several opportunities for involvement, not least the three month statutory consultation on draft versions of the reports during January to April 2022. All responses to this have been carefully considered and used to inform refinement of the final recommendations.

The intention was to publish a Delivery Plan for these recommendations, alongside the final report. However, due to the current huge lack of certainty around available capital budget and fiscal policy over recent months, this has not been possible as yet. As such the Delivery Plan will follow in 2023, which will include more detail on prioritisation and delivery timescales, however, I am pleased to note that work is already underway on 38 of the 45 recommendations.

A number of active groups have a role in enterprise issues that fall within of the responsibilities of the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise.

These include sectoral groups coordinating work to transform different segments of Scotland’s economy:

• Financial Services Growth and Development Board
• Industry Leadership Chairs Group
• Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group
• Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council
• Strategic Leadership Group for Advanced Manufacturing
• Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group
• Aerospace and Defence Industry Leadership Group
• Construction Leadership Forum

There are also groups which help support the delivery of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation:

• New Market Opportunities Partnership Delivery Group
• Productive Business and Regions Delivery Board
• Business Support Partnership

To support regional economic development, the following groups exist:

• Scottish City Region and Growth Deal Delivery Board
• Regional Economic Policy Advisory Group

There are additionally groups where the Scottish Government draws on external experience to inform policy decisions:

• Scottish Government and Business Organisations Meeting

• Ministerial Trade Board

• Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services

• Innovation Strategy Steering Group

Since short-term lets as a category have not previously been subject to regulation, there are no official statistics on the size of the sector. However, there are a variety of data sources which can provide indirect evidence of how the sector has evolved in recent years, particularly with the growing prevalence of on-line platforms. This is discussed in Section B of our Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment: Short-term lets: business and regulatory impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Our licensing scheme will provide data on the number, type and location of short-term lets in Scotland. Licensing authorities must maintain a public register of applications for short-term lets licences which they are required to share with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The Scottish Government will amalgamate licensing authority data to produce a national report. This national report on short-term let activity in Scotland will close a significant gap in knowledge that currently exists.

I refer the member to S6W-12515 on 8 December 2022 which outlines the national steps taken by the MSN to ensure there is sufficient psychological support for children and young people with cancer. 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 evaluation of the Scottish Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme for GPs or GP Speciality Training bursary (GPST bursary) was led by Scottish Government Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellows in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland (NES). The evaluation is expected to be completed by Spring 2023. The evaluation was instructed to inform policy consideration and was not conducted on the basis that it would in future become a publication. Nevertheless, once the evaluation is completed, consideration will be given to the publication of the final evaluation report.

Despite telecoms legislation being wholly reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government continues to prioritise significant funding for digital connectivity. We are investing over £600 million in the R100 contracts that are currently delivering gigabit capable broadband connections across rural Scotland at pace. Through the Scottish 4G Infill programme, we are investing £28.75m to deliver 4G infrastructure and mobile services in up to 55 notspots across Scotland with 30 masts currently live in rural and island areas.

Part (a) The Scottish Government does not hold data on missed GP appointments. Individual GP practices are responsible for their own appointment arrangements.

Part (b) Information on consultant led new outpatient appointments where the patient did not attend is published within Public Health Scotland’s annual acute hospital activity and NHS beds publication. Information can be found in ‘Table 1 – outpatient activity (consultant led).xlsx’ which presents data by NHS Board of Treatment for 2012/13 to 2021/22 (available under the ‘Data files’ heading on this Public Health Scotland web page: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/ ).

In addition, monthly trend information from May 2015 to September 2022 on the number of planned operations typically carried out within an inpatient or day case setting in NHS Scotland, that were cancelled the day before or the day of treatment by NHS Board of treatment (including cancellation reason, cancelled by patient). This information is published within Public Health Scotland’s monthly cancelled planned operations publication (available under the ‘Data files’ heading on this Public Health Scotland web page:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-30-september-2022/ ).

The next Public Health Scotland’s monthly cancelled planned operations publication covering October 2022 is due to be published on 6 December.

The Scottish Government’s priority is to ensure that displaced people from Ukraine are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and get the right support ahead of moving into safe, sustainable longer-term accommodation.

We do not want people to spend any more time than absolutely necessary in temporary welcome accommodation. That is why, we are taking action to match those on board the ships to longer-term accommodation and private host homes, with matching teams operating on board both ships. We are also supporting guests to secure longer-term accommodation through other means, such as private rental.

At present, the MS Victoria I is accommodating around 1,250 displaced people from Ukraine, including families and children. Further to this, the ship has accommodated many more people over the past four months who have now been matched to longer-term accommodation or supported to make alternative decisions about where they would like to live. More detailed data on the number of people who have moved on from the MS Victoria I will be provided as part of our Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics publication in due course.

Development, management and use of surveillance technology in Scotland is a matter for local partners, including Police Scotland, working in partnership to consider their local needs.