Chamber and committees

The delivery of Scotland Genomics strategy is being overseen by the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM). The Network is supported by a Scottish Government funded transformation team which is led by a Consultant Clinical Scientist and supported by Clinical Leads for rare disease and cancer.

The Network draws on a wide pool of stakeholders including clinicians and scientists. Many of which are supporting us directly to shape The Strategy through various working groups.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) classifies the overall condition of Scotland’s surface water environment (rivers, lochs, transitional waters, and coastal areas) at 64% in good or better condition. This is compared to England where its Environment Agency classifies only 16% of its surface water environment in good condition. For river and lochs, only, SEPA classifies that 84% are in good or better condition for water quality, 89% for flows and levels (hydrology), 89% for physical condition (morphology) and 88% for access for fish migration.

The co-chairs of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group wrote to the co-chairs of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG), the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and COSLA’s Community Wellbeing Spokesperson, on 15 September 2022 to share three initial recommendations. As members of the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group, a draft of this letter was shared with Scottish Government officials on 9 September.

The final recommendations will be published following a presentation by the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group co-chairs at the HPSG meeting scheduled for 30 March 2023.

The Scottish Government’s financial commitments to create green jobs include funding support provided through our Green Jobs Fund and the Just Transition Fund.

The Green Jobs Fund is a five-year, capital fund of up to £100m over 5 years which will support businesses and their supply chains to help them better transition to a low carbon economy and create new green jobs. In year one of the Green Jobs Fund, between the Enterprise Agencies and Scottish Ministers, 57 projects have been supported with grant funding of £16.8m. Figures provided by the recipients of these awards estimated this fund will support up to 3,886 jobs over the life of the individual projects. Figures for year 2 of the fund are not due to be published until Q2 2023 as contractual negotiations are continuing to be finalised.

The fund consists of £50 million provided by our Enterprise Agencies for businesses which provide sustainable or low carbon products and services to help them develop, grow and create jobs and up to a further £50 million to help ensure that businesses and supply chains across Scotland can capitalise on our investment in five priority sectors: energy transition; transport; manufacturing; construction; agriculture and land use. The Green Jobs Fund will make focused investments in, for example, machinery and equipment and research and development to ensure businesses are well placed to win public and private contracts.

Our Just Transition Fund is a ten year, £500m investment to support a fair transition to net zero and to diversify the regional economy, with the first £50m committed this year. Examples of the projects supported in the first year of the fund include a digital offshore energy skills passport which empowers offshore workers to utilise their existing certification; and an advanced manufacturing skills hub.

The Scottish Government also ring-fenced £1m of the Just Transition Fund this year for participatory budgeting, whereby local communities are able to influence and have a direct say on how money is spent in their local areas.

The Scottish Government is determined to maximise the economic opportunity for the Scottish supply chain from our offshore wind potential. That is why we asked Crown Estate Scotland to introduce the Supply Chain Development Statement as part of the ScotWind leasing round to demonstrate how serious the Scottish Government is about holding developers to account if they do not honour their supply chain commitments and create green jobs.

ScotWind developers have committed to invest an average of £1.4 billion per project, equating to more than £28 billion of potential investment in Scotland's supply chain. Government and its agencies continue to work closely with developers and those at the top of the supply chain to ensure that local suppliers in Scotland have a realistic opportunity to compete for key manufacturing contracts.

We are already seeing the employment benefits from the development of Scotland’s offshore wind sector. Scotland is the best performing UK region in the Green Jobs Barometer, a tool to track job creation, wider employment benefits, job loss, carbon intensity of employment, and worker perceptions with relevance to the green transition.

Scottish Government recognise that Scotland’s Caledonian Pinewoods are an irreplaceable and iconic habitat which is a treasured part of Scotland’s natural heritage. Scottish Forestry, NatureScot and Forestry and Land Scotland were partners in this project along with Woodland Trust Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates and the lead organisation Trees for Life. We are currently working through the findings of the recently published reports.

Scottish Government currently support landowners and managers to improve the condition and extent of Caledonian Pinewoods through the Forestry Grants Scheme. This funding supports regeneration and expansion of pinewoods through management of deer as well as ongoing maintenance and improvement work. Support is also provided to help with preparing long-term forest plans for these woodlands, which is often the first step towards recovery. Engagement with private land managers is ongoing in order to encourage them take up and make use of this available funding. Forestry and land Scotland who manage approximately 10% of Scotland’s Forests and Land, are actively engaged with pinewood restoration.

Scottish Forestry has committed over £14 million since 2015, to help secure the sustainable management of native woodlands and associated habitats, and much of this funding will directly benefit the Caledonian Pinewoods . In the same timeframe current figures show that an additional 20 million has been committed on creating nearly 5000 hectares of new pine woodland.

The Scottish Government does not provide specific funding to local authorities to support breakfast and after school clubs which are struggling financially. Local authorities have flexibility to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. In 2023-24 local authorities have autonomy to allocate over 93% - £12.5 billion – of the funding provided by the Scottish Government, plus all locally raised income.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14639 on 7 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

On 1 December 2022 the Public Health Minister announced the establishment of the HIV Transmission Elimination Implementation Group for Scotland. The groups primary focus will be on prioritising the recommendations within the HIV transmission elimination proposal, having particular regard to their impact, deliverability and resource implications. Of the twenty two recommendations outlined within the proposal, seven focus on testing. We will therefore await the outcome of the HIV Implementation Group’s deliberations on where efforts should be focused before making any new commitments.

However, while we await the outcomes of this work, we are providing funding for a national marketing campaign to tackle longstanding misconceptions around HIV. Our third sector partners, in collaboration with public health and academic experts, are currently developing plans for this campaign, but it is likely that increased awareness of testing will play a part.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as Skills Development Scotland undertake the administration of the STEM bursary scheme.

Numbers of bursaries available from each academic year since 2018-19: