Chamber and committees

There are currently no plans to introduce a “Climate Change Business Bill” within the current parliamentary session.

Doorstep cold calling can create anxiety for householders, especially vulnerable householders. It is important that advice is available for those who may be concerned about doorstep cold calling.

The regulation of doorstep cold calling falls within general consumer protection policy with specific policy responsibility being part of the operation of trading standards which rests with the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), the national organisation for trading standards in Scotland, is funded by BEIS and managed by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. The TSS website provides a range of helpful guidance on how best householders can address concerns about doorstep cold calling. http://www.tsscot.co.uk/priority-areas/doorstep-scammers/

Within this context, decisions about further regulation of doorstep cold calling would fall to the UK Government to consider.

Catering and events businesses that do not operate within a fixed single venue will be supported through two routes depending on their particular business model.

• The £3 million Scottish Wedding Industry Fund, announced on 17 December 2021, will provide top-up payments to eligible businesses who have previously been supported through this funding route.

A further £19.8 million of funding to support event businesses (including supply chain operators such as catering and events businesses that do not operate within a fixed single venue) which was announced on 3 January 2022.

Scottish Wedding Industry Fund businesses will be contacted directly from week commencing 17 January 2022.

Event funding businesses will be contacted by EventScotland from week commencing 24 January 2022. For the first round of funding, top-up payments will be provided to businesses which were previously supported by EventScotland and VisitScotland under the previous Events Industry Support Fund, Events Industry Support Fund 2 or Pivotal Event Business Fund and have been adversely financially affected by the cancellation or restriction of events between the period from 8 December 2021 to 31 January 2022.

Businesses eligible for support will receive a top-up payment based on pre-COVID annual turnover within the following bands:

£10,000 - £24,999 = £2,000;

£25,000 - £49,999 = £3,500;

£50,000 - £99,999 = £5,000;

£100,000 - £499,999 = £10,000;

£500,000 - £999,999 = £25,000; and

£1,000,000 + = £50,000.

The Scottish Government is currently working with EventScotland and the Event Industry Advisory Group to determine the best way of distributing the remaining funding to support to those event businesses continuing to experience cancellation or postponements in February and March, or who may have previously not had access to COVID-19 event funding support. This will include ensuring that businesses who can demonstrate eligibility for both the Scottish Wedding Industry Fund and the events funding are appropriately funded.

COSLA recommended to Scottish Ministers that the flood protection schemes eligible for funding in the Flood Risk Management Strategies published in December 2015 which are not yet “legally committed” are to be paused and reviewed. Ministers accepted this recommendation and a review of these projects is being undertaken to assess their status and viability. COSLA will present the review findings to Ministers in due course. This pause and review of schemes is one element of the work being taken forward to review the current funding and distribution arrangements for flood risk management. The Scottish Government has not currently suspended any expenditure on the flooding programme.

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise funding for flood risk management. The flooding budget is increasing by 70% from £210 million to £360 million over the next 5 years. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning and delivering flood protection schemes. In recognition of the importance of reducing flood risk the Scottish Government has provided, since 2007, a total of £42 million a year through the general capital grant to local authorities to allow them to invest in flood protection schemes.

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

There were a total of 53 deaths in SPS custody during 2021.

The SPS publishes information regarding all deaths in our custody in calendar years on the SPS website. This information is updated on a quarterly basis and can be accessed using the following link: Prisoner Deaths (sps.gov.uk) . The next quarterly update will be published on the SPS website in January 2022 which will provide information on deaths in custody that occurred between October-December 2021.

This information is not currently available. Our Charity partners were given a deadline of 17 January to return their reports on ScotSpirit Activity processed up until the end of the year (2021). We are still waiting for a few partners to return their data and this is being actively followed up.

I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib 63108)

Zero Waste Scotland is a company limited by guarantee that is independent from the Scottish Government.

Zero Waste Scotland advises us that the report is the first part of a project to analyse the steel market in Scotland and the opportunities to manage scrap steel and is based on modelling and not stakeholder engagement.

The recommendation that fertility treatment for unvaccinated patients be deferred at the current time was made on the grounds of safety. There is robust published evidence of increased risks of morbidity, risk of severe illness and poorer outcomes from COVID-19 for unvaccinated pregnant women and their babies (including preterm birth and stillbirth), increasing virus incidence and uncertainties about the Omicron variant on pregnant women. The lead Clinicians in the NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland had also raised their concerns.

All patients currently having treatment temporarily deferred will have the deferral time added back on to their treatment journey to ensure that no patient loses out on treatment. We recognise this is particularly important for women who are approaching the upper end of the age limit for IVF treatment.

With the exception of a short period of time at the beginning of the pandemic when, on the instruction of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA - the UK fertility regulator), fertility treatment was ‘paused’ in all NHS and private facilities across the UK as a precautionary measure, all four NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland have remained open throughout the pandemic. All patients on the waiting list while treatment was paused had an additional 6 months added to their treatment journey. This ensured that women close to the upper age limit for NHS IVF treatment were not disadvantaged.

The report Towards a Scotland that cares , which proposes the new National Outcome on Care for the National Performance Framework, will be fully considered as part of the Review of the National Performance Framework that will commence this year. As the National Outcomes are cross-cutting, this will ensure that the report’s findings can be considered holistically across the full range of outcomes that impact on care. This addresses the report’s recommendation that the Scottish Government further consults on the proposals, as blueprints, outlined in the report during the upcoming public engagement on the NPF.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6F-00531 on 2 December 2021 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/ormain.aspx .

The proposal for a Carers Outcome will be fully considered as part of the upcoming Review of the National Outcomes. Scottish Ministers are required under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act (2015) to review the National Outcomes within five years of their previous publication. On 21 September 2021, I confirmed to the Finance and Public Administration Committee that external engagement for the next Review will commence in 2022, with the aim of laying the statutory report in Parliament during the third Parliamentary term in 2023.