Chamber and committees

Scotland has a target to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045. The fishing industry has an important part to play, alongside all sectors of our society, in reducing emissions and helping to create a low carbon economy with clean, green jobs – and of course it already provides a low-carbon source of food in many cases.

As part of Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030 (FFM Strategy) we have committed to developing a climate change action plan for sea fisheries in partnership with stakeholders. Our immediate focus has been on identifying and filling key evidence gaps. This has included a range of research projects, focused conversations with stakeholders and a wide-ranging survey to help us understand the industry’s attitudes and needs. We have also committed funding through Marine Fund Scotland to support innovation and development of fishing vessel adaptation solutions.

We have committed to establishing a Fisheries Climate Change Sub-group which will be part of our already established stakeholder forum – the Fisheries Management and Conservation Group (FMAC). Together with FMAC we will commence the development of a fisheries climate change mitigation project to focus activity and identify key actions for progression.

The transition to net zero will no doubt be challenging for the fishing sector, but also presents an opportunity to make a positive impact by adjusting practices and growing Scottish businesses and supply chains in a sustainable way. We are currently scoping our broader approach to Just Transition and this will be a key theme part of our climate change planning.

As noted in my statement on February 7, the Levelling Up Funds should be devolved to the Scottish Government to disburse in partnership with our regions, including Glasgow City Region. Scottish Ministers are calling for a meeting with UK Government Ministers to discuss the future of this fund, requesting that the remaining £90 million be devolved for Scottish Government, for us to work with regions like Glasgow to ensure investment is targeted towards priority projects in areas where it will provide the greatest impact.

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.

My officials in Scottish Enterprise remain in regular contact with the Joint Administrators and continue to work closely with them to help find a sustainable future for the Stoneywood site in Aberdeen.

The administration process continues to progress and prior to formal marketing of the site, the Administrator has re-engaged with potential interested parties. Any discussions between interested parties and the Administrator will likely take place in the coming weeks.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked Douglas Millican, Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

Scottish Water does not support or encourage the use of dowsing and provides its employees with equipment and training to ensure they use methods for finding underground assets and leaks which are scientifically tried and tested. These include ground microphones, correlators, and metal detectors and other devices to pinpoint the exact location of underground assets and leaks. Scottish Water does not budget or spend money on any form of divination or dowsing tools and training.

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/