Chamber and committees

Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) will continue to be delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the Scottish Government, which Parliament were informed of in February 2019. Consultation and survey responses indicated that replacing Severe Disablement Allowance, which has been closed to new applicants since 2001, would cause unnecessary disruption to the approximately 1300 clients in Scotland who continue to receive it.

There is currently a shortage of drivers for bus and lorries due to the COVID pandemic, creating a backlog in processing applications and testing which is being compounded by the consequences of BREXIT, as it prevents people from the EU coming here to work freely. We have repeatedly sought a formal role in determining what occupations are in shortage in the devolved nations, but the UK Government has denied this. As such, bus drivers are not included in the Shortage Occupations List (SOL). I understand that the UK Government will be reviewing this later this year and we have asked for full involvement in that process.

The problem is clearly causing issues for local and national bus services across Scotland. To address the workplace issues, my officials are working with bus operators and our partners across the public sector to promote the bus sector as a place to work while recognising that many of the levers are reserved to the UK Government. We have provided up to £210 million in funding to support bus services during the pandemic and an additional £40 million to support recovery this year. My predecessor also wrote to the UK Government about the consequences of the delays affecting the recruitment and training of potential drivers, which continues to be a concern for the bus industry.

I know that the majority of bus services in Scotland are operated on a commercial basis by private bus companies. But I would strongly encourage operators and local authorities to work together to ensure that connectivity is protected and maintained.

The Scottish Government will engage with all bidders for Green Freeport status, to examine relevant opportunities and build on the strategies they have set out.

As Co-Chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), I am leading on work to implement the five key recommendations in the Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) published in 2021, starting with the creation of a Scottish Offshore Wind Port Cluster.

On 11 May, we published the Offshore Wind Collaborative Framework Charter. 24 developers signed up to the Charter, which includes all active developers in Scotland and encompasses all 17 ScotWind projects.

The Charter builds on the 2021 SIA recommendations adopted by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), and is a clear way to support and enable developers’ collective supply chain commitments. The Charter will help forge effective partnerships to deliver on the potential that offshore wind presents in the coming years particularly those that present via our ports and harbours.

Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd consulted with Transport Scotland before authorising ScotRail Trains Ltd to implement the temporary timetable providing greater certainty to passengers and minimising unplanned cancellations.

The Scottish Government has no part to play in the recruitment of officers for British Transport Police.

Safety and security on our railways is reserved to UK Government and as such it would be inappropriate for me to comment on resourcing or operational plans for British Transport Police. However I have asked my officials to request BTP (D-Division Scotland) contact you directly to advise of its current and future plans to tackle anti-social behaviour on our rail network.

It is not possible to accurately estimate, from nationally held data, the current number of unpaid carers of people with dementia.

Data collected by Public Health Scotland (PHS) through their social care data collection provides some information on people receiving social care support who have dementia. However, while data on whether the person receives help from an unpaid carer is requested, this was recorded as ‘Unknown’ or was left blank for 48% of records in 2020-21. As such, it was not possible to accurately estimate the number of unpaid carers of people with dementia from this data.

Agricultural workers from Ukraine are critical in the production of soft fruit and vegetables in Scotland. The seasonal worker Labour Providers have a contractual and data sharing agreement with the Home Office. Numbers relating to Seasonal Workers are only shared by labour providers with the Home Office as part of this. Following engagement with officials in the Home Office and DEFRA our best assessment of the information available is that there are approximately 500 Ukrainian Nationals on seasonal work visas currently residing in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is working towards the development of a Scottish Education Exchange Programme fit for Scotland. We will provide more details in due course.

Agricultural workers from Ukraine are critical in the production of soft fruit and vegetables in Scotland. As a result of the conflict, there are significant concerns about the needs of these workers and JustRight Scotland's new Worker Support Centre, supported by £41,000 from the Scottish Government will provide independent outreach and legal support for seasonal workers in Scotland. The Centre follows models used around the world to offer temporary migrant workers advice and support in times of crisis. In addition, The Scottish Government also funds the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI) which has long-established connections to the wider agricultural community and related support services in Scotland.