Chamber and committees

Annual budgets continue to be set through the annual parliamentary budget Bill process and the annual budget will be based on the latest fiscal information to support our priorities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting islands investment and will continue to review this as part of that annual budget process.

As outlined in the response to question S6W-10712 , £300,000 had been allocated to the delivery of the Islands Bond in the 2022-23 Financial Year. This funding will support the delivery of projects that will, in turn, influence the development of our Addressing Depopulation Action Plan.

The Islands Bond was a capital funding commitment. In this context, it is important to highlight that our capital allocations have been significantly restrained as result of the UK Government’s own spending review. The impact of this is that the Scottish Government received £175 million less than we had expected. The capital allocations that Scottish Government are receiving are flat, and will fall over the course of the next few years. As such, we must prioritise as best we can within that context.

However, it is important to understand that the Islands Bond was not the sole intervention aimed at supporting our island communities. This financial year, the Scottish Government has announced a £4.45 million funding package to help improve infrastructure on Scotland’s islands.

This capital investment is supporting all six island local authorities to fund the improvement, creation or safeguarding of locally developed infrastructure projects that align with the Strategic Objectives of the National Islands Plan.

The largest single award for 2022-23 will support a major new nursery development on mainland Orkney, benefitting all of Orkney’s islands. This project is linked to population retention and growth, whilst also addressing child poverty and providing practical training opportunities for employment in an industry facing severe shortages locally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10773 on 
23 September 2022.

As committed to in our Programme for Government, the Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament in the 2022-23 parliamentary year.

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

Scottish Ministers are committed to developing a Scottish school milk scheme to replace current subsidy arrangements. We are working with stakeholders and local authority partners to develop a fully funded universal school milk scheme for primary and special schools, and a pilot in secondary schools within the current parliamentary term.

We welcome the findings of the report which adds to the picture of health across Scotland. Scottish Government is targeting the three biggest factors that impact preventable ill-health. These are tobacco use, diet and alcohol.

Our vision is to have a Tobacco-Free Scotland by lowering smoking rates across our communities to below 5% by 2034. In autumn 2023, we will publish a refreshed Tobacco Action Plan. As part of this we are considering a range of evidence-based interventions with an emphasis on reducing smoking and vaping.

Our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan sets out how we are taking wide-ranging action to support healthier choices. This includes a challenging aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet related health inequalities. Our Public Heath (Restriction of Promotions) Bill will restrict the promotion of unhealthier food and drink and will be introduced as part of the 2022-23 legislative session.

We are evaluating the impact of minimum unit pricing (MUP) at the current price of 50 pence per unit and will assess what level MUP should be set at going forward, if MUP is to continue.

We will soon consult on potential restrictions on alcohol advertising and promotion to protect children and young people, and those in recovery. Subject to the outcomes of this consultation, we will introduce legislation within the lifetime of this parliament.

Significant work has been done by COPFS, toxicologists and pathologists to address this issue. Since the beginning of 2021, there has been no backlog of toxicology reports. In some cases, the toxicology analysis requires to be supplemented by further scientific testing to assist the pathologist in establishing the cause of death. The dedicated team established by COPFS in November 2021 continues to manage the submission of the final post mortem reports which then require to be considered by Procurators Fiscal.

In this reporting year, over 90% of final post mortem reports have been received within 12 weeks of the date of post mortem and the number of reports still to be processed by COPFS has been substantially reduced from a peak figure of almost 2200 in December 2021 to 356 the week commencing 20 October 2022.

The Scottish Government are developing an expert group that will be reporting on smoking cessation services early next year. We are also committed to working with our NHS cessation coordinators and pharmacy colleagues across Scotland to refocus and remobilise these services to ensure we are reaching those in our communities who are in most need of support to quit.

In addition, next year we will publish a refreshed Tobacco Action Plan which will include a range of evidence-based interventions with an emphasis on reducing smoking and vaping among children and young people.

The A75 and A77 routes were considered as part of the UK Government’s Union Connectivity Review (UCR), with potential funding following on from the recommendations.

In March 2022, Transport Scotland (TS) officials had an initial discussions with their UK counterparts in from the Department for Transport (DfT). The subject of possible UCR related funding opportunities, which was first identified in March 2021, was raised by DfT officials and TS officials followed-up with a number of specific clarification questions. Answers to these were received in May, and a follow-on meeting occurred on 16 June.

A subsequent discussion is scheduled for 31 October which will cover UCR recommendations and associated proposed funding for the A75. Potential development work for the A77 was not identified for funding by the UCR process, so will not be on the agenda for discussion, as, along with all other transport recommendations identified by STPR2, it remains a devolved matter.

The £20 million referred to is a provisional estimate from the Resource Spending Review for the financial year 2023-24. The costs of the Supreme Court referral are being met from the 2022-23 Government Business and Constitutional Relations budget line.

Somerville: Scottish Ministers are committed to developing a Scottish school milk scheme to replace current subsidy arrangements. We are working with stakeholders and local authority partners to develop a fully funded universal school milk scheme for primary and special schools, and a pilot in secondary schools within the current parliamentary term and stakeholder engagement will form part of that work.

Provisions within Part 1 of the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022, introduce a temporary cap on in-tenancy rent increases, which is set at 0% until at least 31 March 2023.

The following tenancies are not covered by the rent cap:

• some assured tenancies where rent increases are controlled by the contract - if a tenant has an assured tenancy where the way their rent will increase is set out in their contract - and the emergency legislation is still legally in force - then rent will be able to increase in the way agreed in the contract;
• regulated tenancies under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 - these tenancies already have strong protections in place, and rents for these tenancies can only increase once every three years;
• common law tenancies - this includes arrangements like agricultural tenancies and lodger agreements (where a tenant lives with a landlord in their home), with the exception of student tenancy agreements; and new tenancies.