Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to improving Mental Health services and the Programme for Government commits to ensuring that in future, at least 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health, with 1% going towards child and adolescent mental health services.

NHS Boards draw funding for mental health services from the overall funds allocated to them by the Scottish Government in the Scottish budget. Local budget decisions should reflect the national mental health priority and NHS Boards are expected to work with Integration Authorities and other partners to plan and deliver person centred, safe and effective mental health services which meet the needs of their populations.

NHS Scotland expenditure on mental health, including children and adolescents, is reported in the Scottish Health Service Costs , published annually by ISD Scotland.

Expenditure in each year since 2016 to 2020, the latest available, in NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Greater Glasgow identified as relating to mental health services delivered in hospitals or in the community aimed specifically at children and adolescents is shown in the table below. Funding towards reducing waiting times is not separately identified.

I will be continuing to engage with people who have direct experience of this practice.

Listening to the voices of those affected will help us to understand and inform what support and action is needed.

The Scottish Government publishes as part of annual housing statistics publications information on the number of local authority housing tenancy changes made each year due to succession. The available Scotland level published information on this, covering the period 2001-02 to 2018-19 is available at Housing statistics: Management of local authority housing - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , with a local authority level table available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62926).

Scottish Government takes the preservation (protection) and restoration of native and ancient woodlands seriously. Protection for all woodland is in place via felling regulations under the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, and is also controlled by the Control of Woodland Removal Policy and The Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

Priority for restoration is given to those woodlands that are designated sites in unfavourable condition, and to sites identified by the Native Woodland Survey of Scotland to be in unsatisfactory condition.

Under the Programme for Government we have committed to establishing a National Register of Ancient Woodlands, and will then work with owners and agencies to maintain and protect them.

As I have previously said, this issue deserves to be looked at properly. That is why I am very keen to hear from those with lived experience. I have already held several meetings with some of those affected and I hope to learn more through further engagement opportunities with people who are able to share their experiences.

The Scottish Government has a number of ways to engage with UK Government on trade matters and has championed the interests of Scottish seafood exporters throughout the EU exit and trade negotiations process. That work continues through the Scottish Seafood Industry Action Group.

The issue of delayed or rejected smoked salmon consignments has not been raised with the Scottish Government directly. I wrote to the member on 2 December 2021 to seek further information and to put the affected business(es) in touch with my officials directly.

Information is available on the number of offences recorded by Police Scotland under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land.

A table showing the information requested has been prepared and a copy of this table titled 'Table 1: Offences of Protection of Livestock from Dogs, North Ayrshire, 2007-08 to 2020-21' is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 62925).

Over the past decade the Scottish Government has invested over £50 million in ChargePlace Scotland, investing ahead of need to create a publicly available network of EV charging infrastructure, which now consists of over 2000 charge points across Scotland.

It is for Local Authorities to determine local priorities and demand for charging infrastructure. Encompassing decisions such as required locations of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and the most appropriate charger type, when requesting funding support.

Through Transport Scotland funding initiatives, we have supported the following list of EV chargers for Falkirk Council.

• Bo’ness Academy     (x1, commissioned)
• Denny High School     (x1, commissioned)
• Falkirk High School     (x1, commissioned)
• Grangemouth High School   (x1, commissioned)
• Braes High School     (x1, commissioned)
• Carron Grange High School   (x2, commissioned)
• St Mungo’s High School   (x1, commissioned)

Whilst Local Authorities have access to request funding from the Scottish Government to support the development of charging infrastructure; this is not a sole source of charge point provision, therefore other charge point installations could exist, which would be outside of our records.

To date North and South Lanarkshire have not requested funding from Transport Scotland for charging infrastructure to be installed at schools in their respective areas’.

The list of premises that are eligible for financial support through the Business Ventilation Fund has now been published on the Scottish Government website. I can confirm that community halls are included in the list of eligible businesses.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Business Ventilation Fund - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We have started the transfer of approximately 52,000 DLA Child awards from DWP to Social Security Scotland. We will begin the transfer of approximately 300,000 awards of Personal Independence Payment in summer 2022.

Our aim is to safely and securely complete case transfer for all people in Scotland in receipt of disability and carer benefits by the end of 2025. We will do so sooner if possible, as long as we do not risk the process being anything other than safe and secure for this significantly large number of people, and will do so jointly with the UK Government as case transfer is a joint programme of work.