Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has spent £764,909,056 on Pupil Equity Funding since 2017-18 to 2022-23. This funding is allocated to all 32 local authorities, as well as Grant Maintained schools. The breakdown of funding by year is publicly available on the Scottish Government website - Pupil attainment: closing the gap - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Transport Scotland currently has a planned investment in routine maintenance of £7.2m for the A75 for 2022-23.

Gill netting is a legitimate form of fishing activity permitted within Scottish waters. As with all forms of sea fishing, gill net vessels must comply with all applicable rules, regulations, and technical standards, when carrying out their fishing operations. Furthermore, the retained EU regulation (EU) 2019/124(the Technical Conservation Regulation ) provides that vessels with an overall length of 12 metres or more, whilst using any bottom-set gill net in certain parts of Scottish waters must use an acoustic deterrent devices which should reduce cetacean bycatch.

We recognise that bycatch and entanglement in any type of fishing gear can pose a risk to our iconic marine life and we remain committed to tackling this issue in our waters. We support good practice by the fishing industry and are pleased to see the level of support from fishers to trial novel solutions to reduce marine animal entanglements. In some cases, additional measures may be required to reduce instances of entanglements and bycatch of other marine species including marine mammals and seabirds. We will consider this further as part of our development of the Future Catching Policy, using a co-management approach.

We take protection of the marine environment seriously and are clear that any form of dumping and other illegal activities are completely unacceptable. Legal obligations regarding the disposal of litter and fishing gear at sea are enforced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Marine Scotland Directorate officers can report illegal activity through an intelligence system to the MCA and vessels operating within Scottish waters are regularly reminded of their obligations under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Regulations. Vessels must also comply with Article 48 of the retained EU Regulation 1224/2009 (the Control Regulation ) which makes provision regarding the retrieval of lost gear.

The Scottish Government remain committed to meeting the standard that 90% of patients start treatment for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies within 18 weeks of referral by March 2023.

There have been obvious operational difficulties caused by Covid-19 and the restrictions necessarily put in place over the pandemic. However, latest statistics for both CAMHS and Psychological Therapies (PT) published on 7 June 2022, Publications - Public Health Scotland , for the latest quarter ending 31 March 2022 show that there has seen an all-time high number of children and young people beginning treatment for CAMHS. It is also the highest number of children beginning treatment within 18 weeks under this measure since quarter ending June 2016. It is also encouraging to see significant progress with Psychological Therapies waiting times with a significant decrease in long waits over one year and a decrease for those waiting over 18 weeks.

This reflects the effects of the Scottish Government’s improvement work with Health Boards and the additional investment – which is growing the workforce and reducing backlogs resulting in shorter waiting times and a better experience for individuals and families supported by our NHS.

We are working with Boards closely and will continue to monitor their performance against the waiting times standard.

The Scottish Government has set out our commitment to people with a learning disability and their families through the Keys to Life Learning Disability strategy and the Learning/Intellectual Disabilities and Autism: Towards Transformation Plan . Both strategies focus on outcomes intended to ensure people with a learning disability live healthier lives, enjoy choice and control over the services they use, and are supported to be independent and active citizens.

In healthcare settings, all incidents of restraint should be recorded and monitored at NHS Board level in line with their individual clinical governance procedures. The Mental Welfare Commission also have a role in publishing guidance in this area and in addressing individual cases following contact from patients, or as a result of their visits and themed reviews.

The Care Inspectorate gathers information on all incidents of restraint and reviews selected cases to ensure staff carrying out the restraint are fully trained and best practice is followed. They also inspect residential and secure care homes at least once each year, and restraint procedures are part of that inspection process.

In education settings, under existing 2017 guidance any use of physical intervention in schools, including restraint, must be recorded and monitored by local authorities. As part of their scrutiny and improvement roles in schools, Education Scotland inspectors consider the impact of practice in relation to the use of physical intervention, including restraint, for children and young people.

On 21 June, the Scottish Government launched a public consultation on new draft human rights-based guidance on the use of physical intervention in schools. The draft guidance makes clear the recording, reporting and monitoring expectations that apply to all schools. This includes recording of a child or young person’s additional support needs and any protected characteristics.

Furthermore, this year Restraint Reduction Scotland was launched. Restraint Reduction Scotland is led by a core group of stakeholders, including professionals and family carers, who have lived experience, expertise and a shared, cross-sector, commitment to working towards the reduction of restrictive practices.

The Transport Scotland, Scottish Transport Statistics 2020 reported 66 publicly available electric vehicle charge points in the Dumfries & Galloway Boundary Area. This figure has increased in 2021 to 80 publicly available charge points in the Dumfries & Galloway Boundary Area. The 2022 statistics will be released in January 2023.

We don’t routinely collect or analyse data on a constituency area basis, and there may be additional commercially financed and operated charge points that aren’t routinely captured in the Scottish Transport Statistics.

The Scottish Government is a member of the UK Government ME/CFS Delivery Plan Task and Finish Group, which is scheduled to convene in June and to meet monthly thereafter. Officials are maintaining close and regular contact with the UK Department of Health and Social Care regarding this work, with the UK Government planning to publish its draft Delivery Plan later this year.

The Scottish Government’s consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill, published on 30 May 2022, proposes that Scottish Ministers should have powers to require mandatory public reporting of unwanted surplus stock and waste of certain materials by Scottish businesses in order to improve data capture and public transparency and help businesses measure and take action on their waste and surplus. The consultation also set our intention that the initial priority for subsequent secondary legislation, with further consultation, would be to introduce mandatory public reporting of food waste and food surplus.

Subject to the outcome of our consultation, we will work with stakeholders to develop detailed assessments and proposals for further consultation, including on the type and size of business that should be subject to any reporting requirements.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many crimes were reported in connection with the use of e-scooters.

Police Scotland collect data on road traffic accidents that were a) reported to the police and b) involved someone being injured or killed. Figures for 2021 are provisional and final figures will be published in October 2022. Figures for 2022 are still being collected and verified and are therefore not currently available.

The following table shows the number and severity of casualties in 2021 who were injured in road accidents that involved an e-scooter and the location of the accident.

As I confirmed in the chamber last week, the second strategic transport projects review recommendations include continued investment in ferry replacements and port upgrades to improve their resilience and reliability.

This is backed by our commitment in the Infrastructure Investment Plan to invest £580m over 5 years, including in the two new vessels for Islay and in the MV Loch Frisa.