Chamber and committees

As part of our commitment for decarbonisation the Scottish Government, and associated Agencies, is working towards our commitment to phase out the need for all petrol or diesel cars in the public sector fleet by 2025 and for all other new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.

Presently, Scottish Government’s overall fleet is comprised of 66% ultra-low emitting vehicles (ULEV), of which 27% of the fleet is fully electric.

The Scottish Government only hold central records for its own and Crown Office Procurator Fiscals Service fleets. The Crown Office Procurator Fiscals Service fleet do not currently operate any zero emission or ultra-low emitting vehicles.

No information is held for any of the other related Agencies.

The mental health and emotional wellbeing of all children in Scotland is a key priority for the Scottish Government. The 2017-2027 Mental Health Strategy committed to ensuring everyone across Scotland was able to access the right support in a way which best met their individual circumstances. This included support to children and young people as a whole as well as a specific focus on specific challenges. As part of this, the Strategy committed to supporting work aimed specifically at the mental health needs of veterans and their families. This is being taken forward through the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan.

Over the course of the pandemic, we put in place a variety of measures to support children and young people. These included supporting children struggling emotionally and providing advice and support to parents through Parent Club and the Solihull Online child development programmes. These resources provide families with easy ways to support their mental health and wellbeing through Covid restrictions and beyond.

We continue to invest in a range of measures to support children and young people in looking after their own mental health and wellbeing. This includes providing enhanced digital resources on mental health and wellbeing available via the ‘Aye Feel’ website and social marketing campaigns, managed by Young Scot. We are also committed to improving access to community mental health and wellbeing support. We have provided local authorities with an additional £15 million per annum to fund over 230 new and enhanced supports and services for children and young people across Scotland.

The regulation of offshore oil and gas activities is not a devolved matter and falls under the remit of the regulator, in this case, the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning Programme, referred to as OPRED, which sits within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The role of the regulator is to review, approve and monitor the implementation of decommissioning programmes. All actions in decommissioning, both onshore and offshore, which relate to waste have to follow a regulatory process, and undergo an environmental impact assessment. These programmes outline the schedule of all planned works and are subject to public consultation. Where there is no set schedule, the timeframe for recovery of any temporarily stored materials is stipulated in the environmental justification documents and it is the role of the regulator to monitor this.

OPRED are advised by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the Statutory Nature Conservation Body who provide information and advice on environmental impacts of offshore industries. Where it is shown there will be little to no impact on the protected features within a Marine Protected Area, these activities are able to be undertaken with appropriate mitigation measures in place. Furthermore, in accordance with OPRED guidelines, a localised ‘as-left’ survey is carried out on recovery.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09230 on 11 July 2022, the Scottish Government does not maintain a record of the number checks undertaken using the Guidance on due diligence: human rights. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09230 on 11 July 2022. The Scottish Government does not maintain a record of the number checks undertaken using the Guidance on due diligence: human rights. 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 concessionary travel vouchers continue to entitle the traveller to a free berth on overnight services. However, COVID-19 restrictions mean cabins may no longer be shared and so additional vouchers can be used offset the cost of cabins for sole use. The effects of shared cabins not being available has been recognised and will be considered as part of the Ferry Fares Policy review in the Islands Connectivity Plan.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09566 on 20 July 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 .

We publish a six-monthly update on the progress of infrastructure projects with a capital value of £5 million or more which are at the Outline Business Case (or equivalent) approved stage or beyond and the most recent update can be found via the following web link: IIP - Major Capital Projects Progress Update - March 2022 ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/infrastructure-investment-plan-2021-22-2025-26-major-capital-projects-progress-update-march-2022/documents/ )

The update mainly comprises those projects included within Annex D of our Infrastructure Investment Plan which was published in February 2021. The update provides details on the progress of projects as a whole and does not provide information on outturn against budgets or align directly to a single financial year.

Financial information on expenditure against budget by portfolio was provided to Parliament in the Provisional Outturn statement on 23 June 2022. A copy of this information has been replicated in the table below, while a more detailed breakdown providing further analysis is included in Annex A.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table indicates the number of incidents in each month where an individual was identified as being Unlawfully at Large in that month from January 2020 until July 2022:

The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 places a responsibility on any person who has control of any premises to ensure that those occupying the premises are safe from harm caused by fire. The legislation places a duty on those responsible for fire safety within relevant premises to carry out a fire risk assessment.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is the authority responsible for enforcing this legislation. The Service may visit certain premises to ascertain whether the fire precautions are being maintained to a satisfactory standard and that the requirements of the legislation are being met.

As for SEPA's role, it ensures waste management operators operate their sites in a manner that does not pollute the environment or harm human health. In the event of a serious fire, SEPA typically works with the SFRS, the local authority and the public health authorities.

SEPA will continue to work with the SFRS to address fire risk in the waste industry, taking account of any lessons from the recent fire at the Suez Recycling and Recovery plant, and in particular, will continue to support the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum which is a partnership between the HSE, the waste industry, the fire and rescue services and the UK environmental regulators. The WISH forum has produced guidance on fire prevention for the industry and this can be found at the following link: https://www.wishforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/WASTE-28.pdf .