Chamber and committees

NHS Dumfries and Galloway are undertaking work locally to consider and explore possible options for the service, in response to a request from the Integration Joint Board who have responsibility for planning and delivery of the majority of health care in the region.

I will meet with the Galloway Community Hospital Action Group again on the 31 October to discuss further.

Like all Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Scottish Canals has to comply with the requirements of the HM Treasury Consolidated Budgeting Guidance Framework which does not allow for underspends to be carried over financial years.

Scottish Canals is allocated a Grant in Aid budget for the year based on expenditure forecasted by the Organisation and balanced by the income it expects to generate. Any operating surplus that the Organisation generates should be used to reduce the Grant in Aid requirement.

Scottish Canals has benefitted from significant increases in Grant in Aid awards in recent years. Since 2019, the Organisation’s capital grant from the Scottish Government has increased by 87% and it has received an annual uplift in resource funding. In addition, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Scottish Canals benefitted from additional funding of £1.7m to meet a reduction in its revenues.

The National Mission Oversight Group is supported by many areas of expertise including; academics, lived and living experience representatives, international expertise, clinicians and third sector organisations

Three members of the group are specifically appointed as lived and living experience representatives, but we should not presume that other members of the Oversight Group do not have their own lived and living experience alongside their professional expertise and experience they are bringing to the group.

The Group will link in to lived and living experience networks such as the National Collaborative to ensure that the perspective and experiences of living and lived experience are embedded in the work of the Group.

In line with the principle of producer responsibility, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) is a private company, established by industry to lead on delivery of Scotland’s DRS as scheme administrator. As such, it is not for the Scottish Government to participate in the calculation or verification of the proposed retail handling fees.

The review of the Scottish Government patient travel guidance is a substantial exercise for the Scottish Government and NHS Boards and, regrettably, has been delayed due to prioritisation of our ongoing response to Covid and remobilisation of services. The review will take full account of the matters raised by Members, and will be taken forward as soon as possible.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10433 on 20 September 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.

The retail handling fee is intended to ensure that the obligation to operate a return point is cost neutral for retailers. It is for Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) to manage this in a way that meets the needs of obligated businesses across Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s funding agreement with CoSLA enables local authorities to pay sustainable rates to providers in the private, third and childminding sectors who meet the National Standard, and enter into a contract with a local authority to provide funded early learning and childcare (ELC).

Last year’s Financial Sustainability Health Check reported that payments for the delivery of funded ELC account for around 33% to 45% of income for private providers. Providers are responsible for setting fees that are not associated with the provision of funded ELC.

The Scottish Government and local government recognise the need to strengthen the process for setting sustainable rates, and are progressing the programme of actions from the Health Check .

This includes publishing jointly with COSLA, on 26 May 2022, updated guidance to support local authorities to set sustainable rates. The guidance emphasises the importance of ongoing consultation and dialogue between local authorities and their local ELC providers.

The Scottish Government is committed to collecting annual data on the sustainable rates set by local authorities, and will publish an update this autumn.

Under current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including the Afghan resettlement schemes, are reserved to the UK Government and handled by the Home Office.

The UK Government has published statistics on the number of people who have arrived in the UK under the Afghan resettlement schemes since 2021, and have committed to providing more detailed data in their quarterly immigration statistics. Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest published data (25 August) shows that across the UK 9,667 people are in temporary accommodation and 7,385 people are in settled accommodation. This does not include people who have made their own accommodation arrangements.

The membership of the panel is agreed between Scottish Government and COSLA and consists of a number of organisational representatives. A list of those organisations and current members is as follows.

Scottish Government   David Cowan (Co-Chair)

COSLA       Calum Lindsay (Co-Chair)

SURF Scotlands Regeneration Forum Laura Black

Scottish Futures Trust   Mhairi Donaghy

Highlands & Islands Enterprise Douglas Cowan

South of Scotland Enterprise Bryan McGrath

Scottish Enterprise     Gillian Adam

SOLACE – (Chief Executives) Russell McCutcheon

SLAED (Economic Development) John McCrone

HoP ( Planning)     Beverley Smith

Directors of Finance   vacant