Chamber and committees

The information you have requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Decisions around school meal debt management, including all aspects of policy and practice, are at the discretion of each individual local authority. Local authorities' approaches to school meal debt management, including all aspects of policy and practice, should be compassionate, proportionate, and seek to minimise as far as possible the stigmatisation of children, young people, and their families.

The Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 allows for new methods of body disposal and we intend to regulate alkaline hydrolysis (also known as water cremation) for use in Scotland. However, all types of body disposal must be equally safe and dignified. We must move forward in a way that ensures the protection of the environment and the public, maintaining their confidence in the process.

It’s therefore important that regulation of water cremation is subject to a similar regulatory framework as other methods before being introduced. This must also interact with the requirements of environmental regulation and national and local planning policy.

We will soon be publishing a full public consultation as part of this process and we will also continue to work closely with the funeral sector to support its delivery of high-quality services to bereaved families.

The Incidents branch sits within the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit in Food Standards Scotland under the direction of the divisional head. The head of Incidents has a team of six incidents officers, each with varying levels of experience. There are no formal requirements for additional skills above those essential for SG employees and most of the training is provided once within the unit. All officers are trained in ‘decision making’ along with other role specific training.

These officers gather the information provided by experts within Food Standards Scotland with regards to scientific risk assessment and risk management options to advise, guide and assist the local authorities who are the competent authority on the ground.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14838 on 9 March 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 is aware of the severe pressures which rising energy and other inflation-related costs are putting on the sector. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has established a Ministerial Advisory Group to ensure we collaborate effectively to meet these challenges.

Many of the policy and economic levers that would help reduce the pressures on care homes are reserved to Westminster and the Scottish Government has written on a number of occasions to the UK Government to raise these matters.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with NHS Boards and providers of social care across the Highlands and Islands region to understand the challenges they are facing which include the rise in energy costs.

Improving access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis is one of the priorities set out in the Women’s Health Plan for 2021-24.  

To ensure that those with endometriosis are receiving consistent and appropriate care we will help to support implementation the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme’s (MPPP) new Integrated Endometriosis Referral Care Pathway for NHS Scotland, which is now approved and will be circulated to all NHS Scotland Health Boards this year.  

In August 2021, we published an NHS Recovery Plan which set out our plans and ambitions over a five year period and is backed by more than £1 billion of funding. The plan supports an increase in inpatient, day case, and outpatient activity to address the backlogs of care, which will be supported by the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.  

In recognition of the pressure faced by colposcopy services, last year we provided over £660,000 additional funding to NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Highland, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside to support capacity. The funding was used to enhance capacity through recruitment and additional clinics, including at weekends, to allow increased activity and reduce demand on consultant time.  

The funding allocated for the 85 per cent funding floor from the introduction in 2012-13 up to and including 2023-24 is set out in a document that has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib number 64023

The Local Government Finance settlement also includes a main funding floor however that is self-funding which means that the 85 per cent funding floor is the only funding floor mechanism where the Scottish Government provides additional funding. The purpose of the main funding floor is to provide a degree of stability for all local authorities where the alignment of funding with relative need results in a lower-than-average change in the year-to-year funding. The main funding floor forms part of the needs based distribution formula that is discussed and agreed with COSLA on behalf of all their members each year.

Crown Estate Scotland anticipate announcing the offer of Exclusivity Agreements to successful applicants for Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas decarbonisation (INTOG) offshore wind projects in Spring 2023.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) signals a turning point for planning, placing climate and nature at the centre of our planning system and making clear that significant weight is to be given to the global climate and nature crises when considering all development proposals. NPF4 policy 11 (energy) supports all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies, including repowering, expanding, and extending the life of existing wind farms. Where proposals meet relevant thresholds, they will also be considered ‘National Developments’ meaning the need is established in principle, and does not need to be assessed again at the consenting stage.

The Independent Living Fund was transferred to ILF Scotland on 1st July 2015, and at that time:

(a) 2,812 people resident in Scotland were in receipt of the Fund.

(b) The total budget to continue financial awards for people resident in Scotland for the remainder of the financial year 2015-16 was £36.34 million (equivalent to a full year cost of £48.45 million).