Chamber and committees

The last meeting between the Scottish Government and the UK Government Department for Transport to specifically discuss the Union Connectivity Review’s recommendation for investment in the A75 was on 16 June 2022.

The Union Connectivity Review made no recommendations on upgrading the A77. Discussions between Scottish and UK Government officials have therefore focused solely on the A75. In March 2022, Transport Scotland officials had an initial discussion with UK Government Department for Transport (DfT) counterparts, on the A75. Follow up was undertaken by DfT officials and TS officials on a number of specific clarification questions, with a further meeting held on 16 June.

A subsequent discussion is scheduled for 31 October which will cover UCR recommendations and associated proposed funding for the A75.

The Scottish Government is doing everything in our power to help those affected through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). A PACE Partner event took place on 29 th September 2022, which was attended by around 150 individuals, followed by a Jobs Fair on 10 th October which was attended by around 500 individuals. We are continuing to provide any further PACE support that may be required by the affected employees.

Scottish Enterprise has worked with Arjowiggins for many years, providing grant support as well as expert advice. In 2019, when Stoneywood Mill was a solvent part of the overall group that was in administration, a concerted effort by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise was made to secure the company’s future and protect the jobs of its employees. Since then Scottish Enterprise has provided advice, further loan funding and assistance in leveraging private sector investment. Arjowiggins has received Scottish Enterprise loans totalling £12m, equity investment of £100,000 and grant funding totalling £141,000. Most recently, Scottish Enterprise assisted with detailed options analysis and the pursuit of a buyer for the business. Scottish Enterprise continues to work with the joint administrators to explore all possible options.

Our independent Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) Panel, supported by the HEF Secretariat, have prepared an Annual Report on HEF spend across 2021-22. In the interests of transparency and accountability, the Scottish Government will make this available on our website in due course.

In the meantime, I am able to confirm the Scottish Government's £1 million Humanitarian Emergency Fund was activated four times in the 2021-22 financial year. Additional funding of £4.4 million was provided to respond to crises in Ukraine and Malawi. A breakdown of funding allocations in 2021-22 is available in the following table.

We will respond in due course as part of wider work to consider and take forward the wider recommendations related to Project Neptune.

The Scottish Government wants to ensure that women are having informed and empowered conversations with their GP in order to support the diagnosis process for endometriosis. We continue to explore new ways and approaches to support people to seek advice in a way that best meets their needs, whilst also ensuring access to face-to-face appointments where required.

We recognise the benefits that virtual treatment tools like Near Me could bring to many of those suffering with endometriosis and the potential impact they could have on diagnosis delays. Near Me is a confidential and secure service that allows people to attend a pre-arranged appointment using a video call, rather than attending in person. However, we are clear that where clinically necessary, face-to-face consultations will be available to those who need them.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the imposition of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) measures in order to contain its spread. These IPC measures, which have recently been deescalated, changed the way GPs see their patients. The Scottish Government wants to see greater availability of face-to-face appointments and is working with the British Medical Association (BMA) and Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to ensure this happens as quickly as possible.

We will continue to support the health and care system through what is anticipated to be an extremely challenging winter, including supporting GPs to offer an appropriate mix of pre-booked, same day, face to face and remote appointments. Additionally, the NHS Inform pages on endometriosis have recently been reviewed and updated, in collaboration with endometriosis specialists and those with lived experience, to ensure that people across Scotland are able to access accurate and up-to-date information on endometriosis in a range of languages and formats.

The Scottish Government deemed that the most sensitive way of investigating previous post-mortem practice in Scotland was the Independent Review Group on the Retention of Organs at Post Mortem Examination which was established in September 2000 by the then Scottish Executive. The final report was published in November 2001.

In addition, Audit Scotland was instructed by the then Auditor General for Scotland to undertake an exercise to validate the information provided to the Review Group by NHS trusts (now known as NHS boards). The Audit Scotland report summarises the findings from the validation exercise and the systems review undertaken during the period November 2001 to January 2002.

Scottish Enterprise has worked closely with Arjowiggins and its partners since the successful management buyout in 2019. Scottish Enterprise were aware of the challenging trading conditions faced by the company since 2020, which included the negative impact of the pandemic and more recently the significant increases in energy costs and the price of raw materials.

Most recently, Scottish Enterprise helped with detailed options analysis and the pursuit of a buyer for the business, and an initial non-binding offer was received for Arjowiggins in 2022. Scottish Enterprise were advised on 20 th September 2022 that the preferred bidder had decided not to proceed with the acquisition citing the risks associated with the current economic environment, which resulted in the company entering into administration on 22 nd September 2022.

Transport Scotland received 14 bids for the Bus Partnership Fund. As of the end of August 2022 the Scottish Government allocated £25,801,453 to Partnerships from the Bus Partnership Fund. Funding was issued to a lead Local Authority to manage on behalf of Partnerships which cover more than one Local Authority area, therefore it is not possible to break down the funding awarded by Local Authority. The following table shows the value of each bid.

Table 1: Bus Partnership Fund awards:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10290 on 24 October 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