Chamber and committees

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.

Regional partners have confirmed the initiation of the procurement process for planned work at Windmillcroft Quay, on the south bank of the Clyde at Tradeston. The £50 million allocated via the Glasgow City Region Deal will secure the integrity of the Clyde waterfront, consolidate the quay walls, and contribute to wider development of the river corridor that intends to create a high quality urban, public space that will attract investment and create inclusive economic growth and jobs. Regional partners lead on the procurement process and the detail of what this will include, and are aiming to award the contract by the end of 2023, with works beginning on site in 2024.

Scottish Government works to support the development of the game and more particularly the venison sector in Scotland as part of its wider ambition to grow the food and drink sector.

The strategy for the venison sector, ‘Beyond the Glen’, is industry-led and through this, the industry aims to raise their profile and promote sustainability and growth. We support the sector in delivery of the strategy through ongoing engagement to understand and respond to the challenges they face.

Scottish Government has provided support in delivery of the strategy, including though funding of £60,000 for an online promotion campaign in 2021 and £80,000 from the Covid Recovery Opportunities Fund for an ongoing pilot project for new local chill and processing facilities.

Scottish Government is also providing funding of £20,000 for an industry project which is currently underway to assess current capacity and infrastructure through Approved Game Handling Establishments, collection centres, chills and other smaller local processing enterprises. The project is looking ahead towards projected cull increases over the next 10 years so that all carcasses where possible can be accepted into - and processed - for the human food chain.

We will continue to explore ways that we can work with the industry to ensure its continued development.

Three pilot projects are being supported through this fund. These are located in North Argyll, Moray, and South West Scotland. All three have seen estimated costs increase significantly since the original funding offers were made and have had to adapt plans and budgets accordingly. Subject to planning consent in one instance, work is anticipated to commence within the next few weeks.

An announcement will be made as soon as all three projects get underway. A programme of open days and knowledge transfer is an important element of this project.

Responsibility for the management of local roads, including decision making on street layouts, remains with local authorities as set out in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.

The Scottish Government supports local authorities to deliver safe and accessible active travel infrastructure through the provision of the £35 million Cycling Walking Safer Routes grant which goes directly to local authorities on a pro rata basis.

Support is also provided to local authorities to deliver safe walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure that is accessible to all through the Scottish Government funded Places for Everyone programme (PfE). Through the PfE programme, support is available at the design stage, and with completion of Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA), to ensure access for all and equality of opportunity in public space.

The Scottish Government is funding Living Streets to research the user experience and consistency in design for walking and cycling infrastructure such as continuous footways and bus stop bypasses.

Where new infrastructure is found to cause accessibility issues for visually impaired people, we would encourage people to engage with their local council.

Scottish Government Human Resources does not hold a central record of the creation or approval of new posts, this process is handled by individual business areas under the direction and approval of a Director. There is no single Directorate responsible for all rural and island based staff.

To provide information that is equivalent to the creation of posts, we have:

• Identified SG offices in rural and island locations based on categorisation established by National Records of Scotland or by Local Authority.
• Provided the headcount of directly employed staff at those locations in each of the last 5 years, with the year-on-year change indicating instances when new posts may have been created.

Our most recently published data are at 30 September 2022. 30 September has been used as the reference date each year for comparison purposes. These data cover staff in Scottish Government Core Directorates only.

Table showing headcount variation year-on-year from 30 September 2018 to 30 September 2022