Chamber and committees

A University of Glasgow study on lifelong health outcomes in former professional footballers, especially in relation to dementia, was published in 2019 containing evidence of possible increased risk of dementia for this group. Further work is underway to establish why footballers may be at greater risk and we will give full consideration to the report published into this subject in August 2021 led by Dr Willie Stewart.

We remain in close contact on these issues with experts at the sportscotland Institute of Sport and the Chief Medical Officer at the Scottish FA and will work with partners, including PFA Scotland, to carefully consider emerging evidence on former footballers developing dementia.

We are funding a new body, Brain Health Scotland, for five years , to embed brain health within clinical services and across public health. As part of this, we are exploring links between pilot brain health clinics from next year and the feasibility of additional national work focussing specifically on brain injury.

Last year we added an additional £1.1 million to the annual £3 million voluntary sector Short Breaks Fund and have committed a further £570,000 this year, enabling more families/carers and young carers to take a break from caring, including families of loved ones with dementia.

Recently we launched a £1.4 million holiday voucher scheme for tourism businesses to sign up to help low income families, unpaid carers and disadvantaged young people enjoy a break. The scheme will open for applications from these groups in October 2021.

Our National Infrastructure Mission plans for over £33 billion of Scottish Government investment over the course of the current Parliamentary term. This means that annual investment in our hospitals, schools, houses, transport, low carbon technology and digital connections, will be around £1.56 billion higher by 2025-26 than in 2019-20.

All international studies show that boosting infrastructure investment is expected to have a positive impact on Scotland’s long-term economic growth. Scottish Government analysis published in 2018 available at www.gov.scot/Infrastructure investment: evidence summary showed the annual UK government investment was around 2.6% of UK GDP, one percentage point below the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average.

The National Infrastructure Mission represents an increase in annual investment by 1% of 2017 Scottish GDP by the end of this Parliament, raising the level of public investment in infrastructure in Scotland to internationally competitive levels and providing economic stimulus.

Bus services played an essential role in keeping Scotland moving safely during the coronavirus pandemic – and have an equally important part to play as we gradually start to return to some sense of normality.

Today I am announcing that up to £42 million in funding will be made available between 4 October 2021 and 31 March 2022 to support bus operators to maintain services.

With the easing of restrictions, more people are now using local bus services and I continue to encourage people to do so safely and in particular, to continue adhering to rules on the wearing of face coverings unless exempt.

In total, we had made up to £96.8 million available in 2021-22. Because passenger numbers have risen, I am pleased to report that the required funding for this financial year is now forecast at £88.2 million. We will continue to monitor that closely to ensure that bus operators have the funding they need to continue to maintain services, but also to ensure that we are not over or under paying them.

Statistics detailing a range of information on the Scottish Welfare Fund including application numbers and awards are published on the Scottish Government website monthly, quarterly and annually. The annual update for 2020-21 lists application numbers and awards by local authority area for each year since the Fund began in 2013. These statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/collections/sg-social-security-scotland-stats-publications/

We are not aware of a specific recommendation for the preferred full design for a HazDoc system submitted to Scottish Government.

The development of an electronic system for hazardous waste is being taken forward as part of our work to implement an electronic waste tracking system, as set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan. The design of this system so far has involved input from a range of stakeholders and will be informed through a consultation planned in Autumn.

Over and above the local government finance settlement, between 2015 – 2019 the Scottish Government provided around £8 million through Zero Waste Scotland to support local authorities in aligning their services with the Household Recycling Charter Code of Practice.

In March, we launched a £70 million recycling improvement fund to support improvements in local authority recycling infrastructure. One of the objectives of the fund is to Support Local Authorities with aligning their services to the Code of Practice which accompanies the Household Recycling Charter.

Scottish Ministers advised the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee throughout the course of their inquiry leading to publication in Dec 2020 of its report “The Procurement and Construction of Ferry Vessels in Scotland” that, as part of a drive for continuous improvement, a review would be undertaken of the current legal constraints and governance arrangements for the existing tripartite of CMAL, Transport Scotland and David MacBrayne Limited including its subsidiaries. We have already advised this review is underway and provided further details to the committee on 11 March 2021 and the answers to S6W-01516 and S6W-01517 on 6 August 2021

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

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The SPS is currently undertaking a policy review of its ‘ Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy for those in our Custody’. The review is comprised of two main stages.

The first stage is underway and consists of an in-depth analysis of evidence that has emerged since the SPS’ current policy was introduced in 2014.

The second stage will consist of a series of discussions with key stakeholders. The SPS will also publish the current policy and underpinning legal framework on its website, inviting comment and feedback.

It is anticipated that the review will conclude in spring 2022 and a refreshed, evidence based policy position will be published by the SPS.

The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system has been operational since January 2014 and was the result of a 4 year, multi-agency project. These project costs are not held centrally. The project was funded through the EU’s LIFE+ environment programme and led by the Environment Agency.

We are taking forward the commitment to move towards the use of a mandatory system for waste monitoring as part of our work to implement an electronic waste tracking system, set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan.

A joint consultation on the implementation of a mandatory electronic waste tracking system is planned for autumn on behalf of all four nations of the UK. This consultation will seek views on how and when mandatory electronic waste tracking should be implemented, including the types of waste that should be included. Accurate costs and staffing hours for this multi-agency project are not held centrally.