Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has provided a significant increase in funding on Control Period 6 for Network Rail to deliver weather resilience improvements, including drainage. Network Rail is responsible for the delivery of these works, as overseen by the Office of Rail & Road (ORR). Enquiries should be addressed to these organisations.

Railway safety is a matter reserved to the UK Government and is overseen by the Office of Rail & Road (ORR), to whom enquiries should be addressed.

Our Freephone COVID-19 Status Helpline on 0808 196 8565 can provide a free and secure paper copy of the vaccination status record for patients who do not have access to online services or a smartphone. There is no need for patients to approach their GP practices.

The publication of Cycling by Design was announced to the media and publicised on social media along with targeted distribution of the document via Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) and Transport Scotland networks. In addition, the Steering Group, comprising SCOTS, Sustrans and Transport Scotland, who have overseen delivery of the document are currently progressing plans for awareness raising sessions for industry, including training sessions and presentations through professional institutions.

The Scottish Government have been working with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the Border Force to ensure to ensure that our QR codes are accepted and compatible at international borders where required. Currently only a small number of countries require a QR code to be displayed.

In 2020-21, the Scottish Government delegated £140 million of the Health and Social Care Portfolio’s capital budget to be used by Health Boards on priorities such as maintenance. Over the course of the next five years, the Scottish Government intends to double the annual amount spent on maintenance, investing a total of £1 billion over those five years in enhancing or refurbishing existing facilities . The condition of NHS properties are regularly assessed with the results added to the national Estates and Asset Management System. The Scottish Government does not audit the staffing levels of NHS estates and facilities department. The scale and nature of each Health Board’s estate varies significantly and therefore the number of staff and type of skills required for estates and facilities departments also vary. It is the responsibility of each Health Board to ensure that those departments are sufficiently resourced.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04157 on 15 November 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
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I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04157 on 15 November 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
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The Scottish Government are aware of a technical issue which affect EE 4G mobile telecoms access in Uig, Lewis. Scottish Government officials have been in regular contact with EE for the duration of the issue.

We understand this issue has taken longer to resolve than originally anticipated due to the availability of replacement parts, caused by global supply chain issues.

EE sought to provide interim solutions until the service could be fully restored which included reinstating SMS and voice services, with some limited data access.

EE have now resolved the issue by upgrading the entire module which also gives the mast site increased resilience.

The Scottish Government have, and continue to, provide support to former Rolls-Royce employees through our PACE initiative for responding to redundancy situations. This provides affected individuals with the necessary skills and employability support to get back into work as quickly as possible. This includes utilising the National Training Transition Fund to help people take advantage of jobs available in growth areas of the economy, such as digital and green technologies.

In addition, Skills Development Scotland undertook the “Aerospace Workforce Survey” using both online and telephone questionnaires in May and June of this year with a response rate of 65% (195 responses from 298 contacts). More than half of those surveyed had found work in another sector in Scotland, and one in eight had found alternative work in the Scottish Aerospace sector. Those with higher level qualifications were most likely to have found another aerospace job.

A further 14% had found aerospace related work in England. Those who had left the aerospace sector were most likely to have gone into the Medical or Defence sectors, with others going into Manufacturing, Marine Engineering, Renewables and Scientific Instruments.

Just under one in ten of those responding were currently unemployed and looking for work and a further 3% were retraining. Those with lower level qualifications were much more likely to be unemployed, or retraining to improve their employment prospects. Those who were able to find another aerospace job were more likely to be working at a similar or higher level to their previous position. Those who had changed sector were much more likely to be working at a lower level; with lower earnings or less responsibility.

At the time of leaving employment all employees were invited to participate in PACE Redundancy support seminars and ,as a follow up to the survey, individuals received follow up contact from SDS Careers Advisors and opportunities continue to be promoted to those consenting to further contact.