Chamber and committees

When considering a vessel, CMAL review a number of elements to assess suitability for Scottish ferry routes including vessel dimensions, speed and displacement, as well as the vehicle deck garage heights, loading system (ramps), shore side interfaces, compliance with the Maritime Coastguard Agency Regulations and the vessel’s suitability for Scottish waters.

CMAL do not disclose the names of either the vessels it assesses or their ownership. This is due to the possible impact upon the market value of the vessel should it become apparent that a government body is considering their purchase, which could result in the price going up and making it harder to achieve Value for Money for the Scottish tax payer.

We recognise that local carer support services have been under additional pressure during the pandemic.

Local authorities and integration authorities are responsible for carer support under the Carers Act and commission third sector organisations to provide much of that support on their behalf. The 2021-22 budget contains an additional £28.5 million in the local government settlement for Carers Act implementation. Added to similar (baselined) increases in previous years since the Act came into force in April 2018, this brings the total additional investment for 2021-22 to £68 million per year.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport wrote to local authorities in March 2021 to highlight the importance of using this additional funding to expand carer support: www.gov.scot/publications/carers-act-finance-2021-2022-letter .

The Scottish Government also funds the Time to Live scheme, administered by Shared Care Scotland, to enable local carer organisations to provide small grants for carers to spend on short breaks or something that gives them a break from caring. In response to the pandemic, we have put an additional £910,000 into the scheme in 2020-21 and a further £250,000 in 2021-22.

This Government's recent manifesto stated that this review will consider reform of corroboration, and the three verdict system, including - in recognition of the strong case that can be made for abolition - a consultation on the removal of the not-proven verdict.

The Scottish Government has committed to engaging further with justice partners and opposition parties on corroboration to develop a shared understanding of the evolving legal position and the implications and potential unintended consequences of reform, while continuing discussions with those with direct experience of the system. These discussions will be arranged after parliament returns from recess.

The consultation on not proven will be taken forward early in the upcoming parliamentary term.

The Scottish Government has committed to a review of the Victim Notification Scheme and work in relation to this is being taken forward.

The minutes from the meeting of the Victims Taskforce on 10 March 2021 where this matter was discussed can be accessed here: Victims Taskforce papers: March 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The issue of body-worn cameras is a policy and operational decision for Police Scotland, acting under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority. However, as part of our budget allocation for policing this year, we have provided one-off funding of £500,000 to support their use by armed officers.

Police Scotland are currently running a public consultation on a wider roll-out body-worn video across the service which will assist them in protecting the public, their officers and staff and provide best evidence at court.

This consultation launched on the 1 June and is due to close on 31 August 2021. The results will help inform protocols, a code of practice and training to ensure that cameras are used in appropriate and proportionate way .

Since 2011 the Scottish Government and COSLA have been jointly responsible for the national Scottish Strategy for Autism to ensure people live healthier lives, enjoy choice and control over the services they use, and are supported to be independent and active citizens.

In March 2021, Scottish Government and COSLA jointly published the “Towards Transformation” plan which reiterates our commitment to collaborate with delivery partners (including local authorities, the third sector and autistic led organisations) to reduce the inequalities experienced by autistic people.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are working with stakeholders, including HSCPs, Local Authorities, and people with lived experience on a new leadership structure to tackle the issues that people with learning disabilities and autistic people face. This new structure has lived experience at its heart.

Officials also regularly attend the Social Work Scotland Learning Disability and Autism sub group to engage with local learning disability and autism leads to share learning related to the Learning Disability and Autism strategies and to hear about local work.

As set out in the response to PQ S6W-01778 on 5 August 2021, the consultation on not proven will be taken forward early in the upcoming parliamentary term.

At the jury research engagement events held mainly last year, with a substantial number of legal professionals as well as survivors and victims, concerns were raised about the not proven verdict, such as lack of understanding, juror confusion and perceived stigma.

However, these are complex issues and many participants felt that the third verdict should be retained, or highlighted the interconnectedness of the system, so it is right that we consider these issues carefully.

Once these views have been gathered and analysed, the Government will set out the next steps and timescales.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Evaluation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism has been completed. The report is being finalised and is expected to be published soon.

Our current Higher Education (HE) student support package provides a maximum income of £7,750, through a combination of bursaries and loans, for both young (those under 25 before the start of the academic year) and independent students (those over 25 at the start of the academic year) in the lowest income group, who are not care-experienced.

The Scottish Government has committed to a range of student support improvements including to expand the maximum total support package available to students over the next three years to reach the equivalent of the living wage. As part of that, consideration will be given to the financial support made available to both young and independent students.

Information on (a) the current national waiting times statistics for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies (PT) do not provide information on diagnosis. Therefore we are unable to report on the average wait for mental health diagnosis.

A patient level data set (CAMHS and PT National Dataset) is currently under development by Public Health Scotland which will provide more detail on the diagnosis and treatments received by individuals, and associated waiting times.

Information on (b) the average waiting time for mental health treatment for Child Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Psychological Therapies (PT) is shown in the table below. The median is calculated by taking the middle data point when sorting the number of weeks taken to first treatment. Please note that this includes all patients accessing CAMHS and PT services and excludes other mental health treatment such as inpatients reported elsewhere.