Chamber and committees

In 2016 there were 39 air quality management areas designated in Scotland, since then five air quality management areas have been revoked due to improvements in air quality (1 in 2016, 1 in 2020, 2 in 2021 and 1 in 2022).

Revocation procedures for a further two air quality management areas have commenced, and a further 12 are eligible for revocation due to improvements in air quality.

The Scottish Government will provide the allocated £10 million budget across 2022-23 to continue the Fuel Insecurity Fund, which will be delivered through third sector partner organisations, specifically the Fuel Bank Foundation, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Advice Direct Scotland. This will support people struggling with their energy bills to the point that they are at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. It includes provision for households on any tariff type and using any type of fuel.

This builds upon the success of the funding first provided to help people struggling with their energy costs over winter 2020-21, in addition to the £10 million previously distributed to trusted partner organisations from the Fuel Insecurity Fund last year in 2021-22.

Transport Scotland only holds information on charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland network, however this information is not held by parliamentary constituency only by Local Authority boundary.

Across all the local authorities that this constituency covers there are 455 rapid chargers on CPS. The location of these chargers can be viewed on the CPS map. Information on rapid chargers operated by other networks is available on electric vehicle charging platform Zap Map.

Work is proceeding to hold a procurement competition for new battery and electric trains to operate decarbonised rail passenger services on the Fife Circle and Borders routes, which will allow replacement of 42 ScotRail Class 156 diesel trains. We will also use the opportunity to secure options for further electric trains in future.

Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland.

Under current arrangements, the Scottish Government sets the overall strategic framework for social work delivery. The majority of social workers are employed by local authorities and the deployment of social work services is decided locally.

Social work professionals need to have the time to build relationships and trust, undertake person-centred assessments, plan for the future and arrange or provide appropriate support. The Scottish Government has invested £25m, as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector. £22m of this funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure, as agreed by COSLA Leaders, and will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce. Over the last five years the Scottish Government has provided over £25m to support the training of social workers, including for post-graduate bursaries and support for practice-based learning to increase the number of entrants into the profession.

The recently introduced National Care Service (Scotland) Bill reflects the Scottish Government's ambition for a National Care Service that ensures people of all ages can access the support they need to live a full life by improving consistency and quality of provision. We will transform people's experience of social care support and related services, strengthen prevention and community-based support and reform access.

The Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency which will invest in the social work profession by providing national leadership, and overseeing and supporting social work in a range of areas, including workforce planning. These objectives will enable social workers to work more effectively with people to transform their lives and implement rights-based practice.

The Regulations underpinning Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) do not mandate specific labelling requirements, but rather give producers and the scheme administrator the flexibility to decide on their preferred approach. We decided to take this approach following consultation with businesses during the development of the Regulations. You can read a summary of the consultation responses in paragraphs 160 – 162 of the Final Business and Regulator Impact Assessment (BRIA), published on 22 December 2021.

As independent Scheme Administrator established by businesses, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) has developed its own labelling requirements for those businesses who wish to have CSL administer their obligations relating to DRS.

Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team requested advice from Marine Scotland Science ("MSS") and NatureScot on the reports provided by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited. MSS and NatureScot advised on the specifics of the noise monitoring carried out in respect of each clearance event with reference to National Physical Laboratory guidance; the mitigation implemented to reduce impacts to marine mammals and lessons learned that could be applied to future campaigns. Due to the small number of unexploded ordnance to be cleared, NatureScot advised that overall impacts from the clearance activity in terms of exposure to noise and behavioural disturbance were lower than predicted and well within the scope of the assessment submitted in support of the licence applications.

When determining applications for marine and European Protected Species licences in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance, Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team (“MS-LOT”) includes conditions on the licences to control the methods, as well as conditions which require the licensee to provide reports with specific detail on the methods used. When the reports are submitted, MS-LOT then reviews the reports against the conditions to understand whether the activity has been conducted in accordance with the licences.

The new powers under section 34 (provision of bus services by local authorities) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 do not affect the entitlement to free bus travel for people who currently receive it.

On 19 July 2022, Circularity Scotland Ltd announced that it has signed a contract with Biffa to become Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme’s logistics service provider.

The award of this contract is a key milestone in the roll out of the scheme and the agreement is expected to create around 500 jobs in Scotland. It comes after several months of close collaboration between Circularity Scotland and Biffa as they progress towards DRS going live in August next year.

Work is also underway to deliver the IT infrastructure for the scheme, and I expect the contract for IT services to be finalised very shortly.