Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is investing significant levels of funding in frontline services to support survivors of domestic abuse. This includes funding of over £1 million (in 2019-22) to Scotland’s Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline, which provides support and signposting to other services and is open 24/7. The Delivering Equally Safe Fund for 2021-23 will provide £19 million per annum to organisations providing support services and working to prevent gender-based violence. This includes approximately £100,000 of funding for SACRO’s Fearfree project, which supports male and LGBTI survivors of domestic violence; as well as over £500,000 of funding to ASSIST, a specialist independent domestic advocacy service that aims to ensure survivors of domestic abuse are safe, informed and supported throughout the court process.

The government’s Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan includes specific action on the mental health impacts of domestic violence, abuse, and coercive control. We have also commissioned research from the Improvement Service to help us better understand and address the mental health and wellbeing needs of women and girls experiencing gender based violence and the report will be published this month. We will work with women and girls affected by all forms of gender based violence to determine next steps once we have considered the recommendations of the report.

The Scottish Government’s delivery plan to advance disability equality and rights, ‘ A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People’ , was published in December 2016 and covered the period 2016-2021.

We published a report on progress on 22 March 2021, which outlined that the delivery plan laid the groundwork for further progress towards equality. We reported that over the past 5 years, in many different areas, good work that promotes and progresses the rights of disabled people has been taken forward. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a disproportionate impact on disabled people and has halted some of the gains made towards equality. However, it has in some situations seen positive progress made at a rapid pace and has brought about a wider public awareness of inequality. To achieve equality will take more time, but the work undertaken is a good start.

The Programme for Government included a commitment that we will work in partnership with disabled people to draw up a new Disability Equality Plan, which we will publish in 2022.

The next phase of development in relation to this commitment is now underway. The new Disability Equality Plan will consider the Social Renewal Advisory Board recommendations; the Independent Review of Adult Social Care; the decision to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities into Scots Law to the extent possible within devolved competence; and the content of discussions with Disabled People’s Organisations, including those held at the Disability Summit in December 2020.

In developing the next phase of this work, we are clear that disabled people should have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives. We want to remove the barriers that stop people from enjoying equal access to full citizenship.

The Scottish Government is currently working with the UK Government and other governments of the UK to gather and review the lessons of COP26 and to discuss implications for the UK Presidency of COP. As part of its Presidency role, the UK Government will be working with the Government of Egypt who are responsible for hosting COP27 and with the UNFCCC.

No, the Scottish Government did not have any discussion with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in relation to increasing Scottish Government’s Climate Justice Fund.

To clarify the figures for Scottish Government's Climate Justice Fund, we announced a doubling of it in our Programme for Government; increasing from £12 million to £24 million over the course of this Parliament. During COP, we announced a further 50% rise – from £24 million to £36 million, over the course of the Parliament.

As part of demonstrating compliance with the EU Emissions Trading System relevant installations must submit verified emissions data. The information for CO2 Equivalent (e) emissions from Scottish Installations for the period 2008-2020 is published online. Peterhead is the only Scottish gas fired power station, however there are other facilities such as at Grangemouth that occasionally may provide electricity to the grid.

https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets/union-registry_en#ecl-inpage-1120

2021 data under the UK Emissions Trading System has not yet been submitted.

Scotland’s next census will be held on Sunday 20 March 2022. This will be the 22nd census to take place since the first in 1801, and the 17th to be managed independently here in Scotland.

Grants of legal assistance are recorded against a primary case category code and not by individual subject matters of a grant. SLAB have provided the information requested using category codes, which is the most accurate reflection of numbers of case types available.

Between January 2020 and November 2021, the number of entities submitting these types of intimation or application except where otherwise noted.

i) Claims against public authorities

{includes relevant cases of reparation, judicial review, interdict, breach of contract}

87 firms, 135 practitioners

2 CLAO offices, 1 CLAO practitioner

0 PDSO Offices

ii) Community Care

{includes cases at the Additional Support Needs Tribunal and assessment of need, eligibility / charging for services and direct payments}

13 firms, 23 practitioners

1 CLAO office, 1 CLAO practitioner

0 PDSO offices

iii) Discrimination,

24 firms, 37 practitioners.

0 CLAO offices

0 PDSO offices

iv) Education,

26 firms, 28 practitioners.

0 CLAO Offices

0 PDSO Offices

v) Housing and debt,

247 firms, 447 practitioners

3 CLAO offices, 15 CLAO practitioners

0 PDSO offices

vi) Immigration and asylum and

71 firms, 174 practitioners

1 CLAO office, 1 CLAO practitioner

0 PDSO offices

vii) Family

429 firms, 871 practitioners

3 CLAO offices, 10 CLAO practitioners

0 PDSO offices

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has provided data for the number of ‘active’ practitioners and firms. This includes criminal practitioners and firms in each year that submitted at least one application for criminal legal assistance (Advice and Assistance, Legal Aid or Advice by way of Representation (ABWOR)). SLAB has been able to provide relevant data from October 2014. Data older than this is destroyed as per its records disposal procedures which are in line with good records management.

Criminal Practitioners Practising

The carbon levy raised since 2018 is

2018-19 £33,837

2019-20 £40,534

2020 –21 £558

2021-22 Payment due by end March 2022.

The levy is collected by our travel provider and paid back annually. It is not broken down by Ministers and Officials.

The carbon emissions levy is applied to all journeys undertaken by air as follows:

? Domestic – £5 per journey

? European – £6 per journey

? International – £15 per journey

Ministerial travel details are routinely and proactively published here:-

Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, which Boards use to best meet the healthcare needs of their resident population. In addition, the Scottish Government has ensured that additional Covid related costs reported by Health Boards and Integration Authorities have been met in full, including £862 million allocated to date in 2021-22. Further allocations will be made over the course of the year to ensure that our health and care services continue to receive the support required to address pressures relating to the pandemic.

Detail on how this funding has been used to specifically support protecting people with pre-existing respiratory illnesses, such as COPD, would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government has provided the following funding to support Clean Air Day each year since it started in 2017. Clean Air Day is a UK wide annual clean air awareness campaign run by the environmental charity Global Action Plan. Since 2018 in Scotland, Clean Air Day is run jointly by Global Action Plan and Environmental Protection Scotland, also an environmental charity.