Chamber and committees

ScotRail advise that between 6 January 2019 [the start of 2018-19: reporting period 11] and 24 July [the end of 2021-22: reporting period 4], there were 216 full cancellations and 74 part-cancellations on the North Berwick line as a result of infrastructure issues.

While full- or part-cancellations as a result of track congestion are not reported separately, ScotRail also advise that there were a further 34 full cancellations and 29 part-cancellations to ScotRail services as a result of the actions of other train operating companies.

Scottish Government have worked with the industry for more than 10 years during the development of the ScotEID system, as a multi-species database for recording births, deaths and movements of livestock. The purpose of the system is to support disease prevention, control and eradication and the protection of public health, whilst maintaining national and international trade. The development of ScotMoves+ is the final element of additional functionality for the recording of cattle information onto ScotEID.

The following groups have been involved in an industry-SG working group during this work: National Farmers Union Scotland, Scottish Beef Association, Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland, Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers, Scottish Crofters Federation, Scottish Dairy Cattle Association and Quality Meat Scotland.

The Cattle Tracing System (CTS) which currently records all GB cattle births, deaths and movements is being replaced. CTS was introduced in 1998 and has served the industry exceptionally well, however due to its age it is now a legacy IT system.

The ScotEID system, originally developed to implement sheep Electronic Identification (EID), is modern, flexible and able to support the introduction of bovine EID and electronic data transfer (EDT).

ScotMoves+ is an extension of ScotMoves, which was introduced in 2017 and is already used by around 50% of Scottish keepers to record within-business cattle movements (previously CTS linked holdings). ScotEID has been used since 2013 to implement Scotland’s Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) eradication programme, it has also been used to implement the Beef Efficiency Scheme and the Scotch Beef Potential Eligibility Checker (SPECC) and is therefore familiar to a high proportion of Scottish cattle keepers.

There is no additional cost for farmers when they transfer from CTS to the new ScotMoves+ system.

Cattle keepers who use farm management software to assist with their farm record-keeping and other operational decisions incur an annual support cost of around
‎ £200 per year. Some cattle keepers who are using out-of-date farm management software or not paying annual support fees will typically pay a £100 set-up fee, plus an annual support fee of £200 per year to re-join a farm management system.

The Scottish Government recognises the heavy impact of the pandemic on city centres.

We have supported many city centre businesses through our investment of more than £3.7bn in business support across Scotland.

The City Centre Recovery Task Force started its work in March this year, as a partnership between the Scottish Government and our seven cities. We kick-started that work with investment of a £2m City Centre Recovery Fund, which has already supported a range of projects including virtual cultural events, marketing campaigns and support for businesses to make more use of outdoor areas. That is in addition to our £2m Regional Recovery Fund, which cities also benefitted from.

The Task Force will allow our cities to put forward proposals that meet their own individual needs, and it present its recommendations for action this autumn. In the meantime, we continue to work with the cities individually as well as collectively. I will attend a meeting of Glasgow’s own City Centre Task Force on 27 October, following engagement by the Deputy First Minister who has attended previously.

The Scottish Government supports Scottish Canals to conserve Scotland’s canals as part of our heritage, and transform them to play a vital role in local communities and as an asset for all of Scotland.

Scottish Canals is engaged in regeneration projects across the canal network as part of how it delivers wider public value and is a key partner working with local authorities, local communities and funders to deliver projects that will bring about a wide range of benefits for many communities which sit along the canal network. Recent projects include The Claypits, Bowling Harbour and the Ardrishaig Egg Shed.

Heating engineers are vital to the success of our Heat in Building Strategy which sets out how we will achieve our Net Zero Emissions in Scottish buildings by 2045. Ensuring heating engineers are sufficiently trained in the repair and installation of zero emissions heating are a key part of this. Our support for this includes:

• A doubling of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund to £20m - enabling employers to access up to £15,000 each to address skills gaps in their workforce. This fund is available to all Scottish employers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

• Providing funding to support apprentices with zero emissions heat skills with 95 apprentices applying for funding across five Scottish colleges.
‎• Funding zero emissions training equipment (e.g. heat pumps) for colleges in the north of Scotland to ensure pan-Scotland training provision (colleges in the south of Scotland have benefited from Scottish Power’s Green Economy Fund). By the end of this financial year there will be 13 training centres - including the North East Scotland College (currently installing their equipment) - across Scotland covering repair and maintenance of heat pumps.

In addition, we have also been working with industry, the sector skills bodies and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to develop skill requirements for zero emission technologies that will help professionalise the sector and provide career pathways for young people. We have also set up an independent group to provide recommendations to Scottish Ministers on the potential scope and content of a heat pump sector deal with an interim report published in June and we will respond to final version once published.

Finally, we are working hard to unlock workforce investment by driving up the demand for products and services in the zero emissions heat and energy efficiency sector. This includes investing almost £1.8bn to build upon, expand and improve our heat and energy efficiency funding programmes over the next five years, and a proposed framework of regulations to require action from building owners.

Local authorities and integration authorities have legal duties to provide carer support under the Carers Act. In practice they commission third sector organisations, including carers centres, 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 investment in the Carers Act for 2021-22 to £68 million per year. It is for local authorities and integration authorities to decide how to use the funding to meet their duties under the Carers Act, but it is expected that this will include providing additional funding to carers centres and other organisations commissioned to expand carer support.

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

Alongside funding for the Carers Act, 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 put an additional £910,000 into the scheme in 2020-21 and have committed a further £400,000 in 2021-22.

In 2019 the Scottish Government launched the Young Carers Package with Young Scot. The idea behind this was to help support young carers with their well-being, education and life goals as well as taking some sort of a break. So the package offers exclusive discounts, vouchers, opportunities and prizes to win all geared towards this goal.

In recognition of the pressures on young carers during the pandemic, an additional £300,000 has been provided to Young Scot to add new e-vouchers and opportunities suitable for home use and physical distancing to their young carer package for 11-18 year olds. New opportunities include subscriptions to mindfulness relaxation apps, mobile data top ups, sanitary product vouchers, entertainment subscriptions and e-vouchers to some of the most popular stores and wellbeing boxes filled with things to help young carers take care of their mental wellbeing.

I asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority to reply.

Initial modelling indicates that 53% of SQA’s running costs (permanent SQA staff, overheads and other indirect costs) were attributable to the implementation of the Alternative Certification Model (ACM) in 2020 and 56% are attributable to the implementation of the ACM in 2021. Including direct delivery costs, the cost of the ACM was therefore:

(a) 2020: £33.4m

(b) 2021: £41.7m (forecast)

The SQA levy to local authorities and entry fees charged to independent schools and colleges for National Qualifications have remained unchanged since 2012-13 despite changes in costs. In addition, 2020 and 2021 late entry fees have been waived and there have been no charges for appeals.

Savings generated by the delivery of the ACM in place of an ordinary exam diet reduced SQA’s grant-in-aid requirement from Scottish Government, and enabled support for other critical pressures, supporting people and communities during the pandemic.

Guidance on replanting on deep peat following clearfell is contained within the Scottish Government’s Practice Guide, Deciding Future Management Options for Afforested Deep Peatland (2015). It sets out the circumstances where a presumption to restore the peatland habitat applies and the assessment method that should be used to decide future options where a presumption to restore does not apply.

In 2018, the Scottish Government (via ClimateXChange – Scotland’s Centre of Expertise on Climate Change), commissioned the following report: Afforestation and restocking on peaty soils – new evidence assessment. The study broadly confirmed the findings of previous research on which the Practice Guide is based.

At this point in time there are no plans to review existing guidance however, we will continue to invest in research in this area, and will take account of new evidence, as it emerges, to help inform the future development and implementation of forestry policies and regulations.