Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is currently working with the UK Government and other governments of the UK to gather and review the lessons of COP26 and to discuss implications for the UK Presidency of COP. As part of its Presidency role, the UK Government will be working with the Government of Egypt who are responsible for hosting COP27 and with the UNFCCC.

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, which Boards use to best meet the healthcare needs of their resident population. In addition, the Scottish Government has ensured that additional Covid related costs reported by Health Boards and Integration Authorities have been met in full, including £862 million allocated to date in 2021-22. Further allocations will be made over the course of the year to ensure that our health and care services continue to receive the support required to address pressures relating to the pandemic.

Detail on how this funding has been used to specifically support protecting people with pre-existing respiratory illnesses, such as COPD, would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government has provided the following funding to support Clean Air Day each year since it started in 2017. Clean Air Day is a UK wide annual clean air awareness campaign run by the environmental charity Global Action Plan. Since 2018 in Scotland, Clean Air Day is run jointly by Global Action Plan and Environmental Protection Scotland, also an environmental charity.

The Scottish Government’s delivery plan to advance disability equality and rights, ‘ A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People’ , was published in December 2016 and covered the period 2016-2021.

We published a report on progress on 22 March 2021, which outlined that the delivery plan laid the groundwork for further progress towards equality. We reported that over the past 5 years, in many different areas, good work that promotes and progresses the rights of disabled people has been taken forward. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a disproportionate impact on disabled people and has halted some of the gains made towards equality. However, it has in some situations seen positive progress made at a rapid pace and has brought about a wider public awareness of inequality. To achieve equality will take more time, but the work undertaken is a good start.

The Programme for Government included a commitment that we will work in partnership with disabled people to draw up a new Disability Equality Plan, which we will publish in 2022.

The next phase of development in relation to this commitment is now underway. The new Disability Equality Plan will consider the Social Renewal Advisory Board recommendations; the Independent Review of Adult Social Care; the decision to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities into Scots Law to the extent possible within devolved competence; and the content of discussions with Disabled People’s Organisations, including those held at the Disability Summit in December 2020.

In developing the next phase of this work, we are clear that disabled people should have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives. We want to remove the barriers that stop people from enjoying equal access to full citizenship.

The Scottish Government is investing significant levels of funding in frontline services to support survivors of domestic abuse. This includes funding of over £1 million (in 2019-22) to Scotland’s Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline, which provides support and signposting to other services and is open 24/7. The Delivering Equally Safe Fund for 2021-23 will provide £19 million per annum to organisations providing support services and working to prevent gender-based violence. This includes approximately £100,000 of funding for SACRO’s Fearfree project, which supports male and LGBTI survivors of domestic violence; as well as over £500,000 of funding to ASSIST, a specialist independent domestic advocacy service that aims to ensure survivors of domestic abuse are safe, informed and supported throughout the court process.

The government’s Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan includes specific action on the mental health impacts of domestic violence, abuse, and coercive control. We have also commissioned research from the Improvement Service to help us better understand and address the mental health and wellbeing needs of women and girls experiencing gender based violence and the report will be published this month. We will work with women and girls affected by all forms of gender based violence to determine next steps once we have considered the recommendations of the report.

The Scottish Government recognises the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on women looking to flee violence at home. That is why over the past 2 years we have invested an additional £10 million to allow rapid re-design of services and address backlogs, supporting organisations such as Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland. We have created a new Delivering Equally Safe Fund (£19 million per annum in 2021-23) and recently confirmed allocations to 121 projects from 112 organisations working to provide services and prevent gender-based violence. This includes support for women as well as services targeting male survivors such as the Respect Men’s Advice Line and SACRO’s FearFree project.

The Scottish Government and COSLA, in partnership with Public Health Scotland and the Improvement Service, developed supplementary guidance last year for local authorities and other key community planning partners. It ensures that a sustainable, joined-up approach to safeguarding the needs of women, children and young people experiencing domestic violence during the pandemic is embedded at a local strategic level. This is underpinned by our Equally Safe strategy.

My officials are working closely with the homeowners of the 25 buildings within the pilot phase of the Single Building Assessment. Our approach is to understand the fire safety of those buildings and particularly the external cladding. The programme will be concluded once buildings with unsafe cladding are remediated. We have committed to spending £97.1 million on cladding assessment and remediation and I have recently written to the UK Government to seek clarification on further funding for this work.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that legal assistance continues to be available to all those facing issues such as housing concerns. In our Programme for Government we committed to engage with the legal professionals and other stakeholders to review the Legal Aid system, and to introduce a Legal Aid Reform Bill in this Parliament, ensuring that the system is flexible, easy to access and meets the needs of those who use it.

The Scottish Government has reiterated its commitment to retaining a demand led Fund to support a wide scope of actions. Particular consideration will be given, during the development of the Bill, to how more targeted and planned interventions can support user need.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04578 on 10 December 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.

As part of demonstrating compliance with the EU Emissions Trading System relevant installations must submit verified emissions data. The information for CO2 Equivalent (e) emissions from Scottish Installations for the period 2008-2020 is published online. Peterhead is the only Scottish gas fired power station, however there are other facilities such as at Grangemouth that occasionally may provide electricity to the grid.

https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets/union-registry_en#ecl-inpage-1120

2021 data under the UK Emissions Trading System has not yet been submitted.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has provided data for the number of ‘active’ practitioners and firms. This includes criminal practitioners and firms in each year that submitted at least one application for criminal legal assistance (Advice and Assistance, Legal Aid or Advice by way of Representation (ABWOR)). SLAB has been able to provide relevant data from October 2014. Data older than this is destroyed as per its records disposal procedures which are in line with good records management.

Criminal Practitioners Practising