Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has regular engagement with the Scottish Venison Association.

We have provided funding for a variety of projects to help with promotion of wild venison products. For example, Scottish Government funded a £60,000 online promotion campaign in 2021 as part of the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership Covid recovery programme. Further funding is being provided for ongoing market research through Scotland Food and Drink, the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Scotland and The Knowledge Bank to make available data on key venison markets and trends in London, South East England and Scotland.

The Scottish Government welcomes the results of this survey from Scotland’s two main autism charities. This Bill extends further than autism and includes people with a learning disability and potentially a wider range of neurodivergent conditions. However, from our scoping work with a range of stakeholders we understand that even within the autism community there are a range of views on how this might be taken forward and no wider consensus regarding the benefit of a Commissioner.

We have undertaken significant engagement to date, scoping the Bill with a range of stakeholders. The report analysing the findings of these engagement events will be published soon.

We are establishing a lived experience panel to work closely with us to co-design and deliver a consultation paper later this year, which will set out options for the Bill, including the potential role and duties of a Commissioner.

We know that currently not everyone has the same experiences or outcomes when they engage with mental health services and supports. We want to ensure that everyone’s needs are met, including those with learning disabilities and autism.

We are committed to publishing a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy in Spring 2023, building on the implementation of our Mental Health Covid Transition and Recovery Plan. The new strategy will allow us to look ahead to make sure we are doing the right things to meet changing mental health needs over the coming years; and will set out a clear vision for future population mental health, wellbeing and care; and our priorities to help us get there.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure that children and young people, who have neurodevelopmental profiles with support needs, receive the support that they require. To support implementation, we have provided funding to NHS Boards to build capacity to provide access to specialist neurodevelopmental professionals.

We are now developing quality standards to support general adult secondary mental health services. These aim to improve the quality and safety of mental health services, and will be part of a suite of standards and specifications for mental health services, building on the work of the CAMHS service and neurodevelopmental specifications.

The Scottish Government has worked with people with lived experience and stakeholders over the last 18 months on a new leadership and engagement framework to develop policy around mental health support for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

This new way of working puts people’s voices and experiences firmly at its heart and is about real sustainable change and has included literature reviews, workshops to collect views and experiences, reports and an evaluation of the process. Currently there are working groups to implement the actions following the workshops and reports.

The statistical release on Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme expressions of interest data reconciliation exercise was published by the Scottish Government on 17 February 2023: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-expressions-of-interest-data-reconciliation-exercise-february-2023/ . This is a one-time ad-hoc release of management information and does not constitute an Official Statistics or National Statistics release.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information.

Under the current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office.

If a displaced person from Ukraine has been issued a visa, they are free to travel anywhere within the UK or to leave and re-enter the UK when they wish, as long as they are meeting the conditions within their visa. The UK Governments Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities publish data on arrivals in the UK, with a Scottish Sponsor Visa: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-visa-data-by-country-upper-and-lower-tier-local-authority
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In addition, the Scottish Government publish the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. This data can be found on our website via:
‎ https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-january-2023/

The Scottish Government supports the intention behind this Bill, and the improvements in animal welfare it hopes to achieve. Scottish Ministers would have liked to have given their full support to these measures as part of the now fallen UK Animals Abroad Bill. Sadly this opportunity has now been lost and due to last minute handling by the UK Government, Scottish Ministers have not been given sufficient time to consider the provisions put forward in the Low Welfare Animal Activities Abroad Bill.

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review published its final report on 30 September 2022 and set out over 200 proposals for reform. The report recommendations are complex and wide-ranging, and cross-government work is underway to consider them and assess their implications.

We intend to set out our initial Scottish Government response to the Review report, including priority actions that will be taken forward, by summer 2023.

Under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is an enforcing authority for fire safety in hotels and other relevant premises across Scotland and already has the necessary powers available to them to enforce fire safety .

As an enforcing authority, SFRS work with duty holders in relevant premises to achieve compliance in fire safety through an auditing framework and providing advice and support. Where partnership working does not produce compliance, SFRS may decide to take enforcement or prohibition action where necessary.

The Scottish Government is currently working with partners to produce a Student Mental Health plan to be delivered in Spring 2023. The Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group, that I chair, is driving this work forward. Membership includes NUS Scotland, Think Positive, Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland. The Plan will provide a framework for mental health services in universities and colleges and will be linked to the wider Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

“Beyond the Glen” is an industry-led strategy and therefore responsibility for delivery does not lie with Scottish Government. We work to support the industry in development of the sector, including through delivery of the strategy, and we have provided additional funding where possible.

The Scottish Venison Association (SVA) is proposing that a review of the strategy should be undertaken in 2023. Part of this activity will include an internal review of the SVA.