Chamber and committees

The Biodiversity Strategy Delivery Plan 2024-2030 includes specific action to implement Scotland’s Strategic Approach for Scotland’s Rainforest which aims to improve its condition and health so that it can regenerate and expand whilst providing benefits to communities. There are a number of actions that protect our wider native woodlands including a commitment to landscape restoration areas with a significant woodland element, a register of ancient woodland, ensuring mechanisms are in place for restoration of ancient woodlands, establishing a programme to bring protected woodlands into favourable condition, best practice guidance for upland restoration, and actions on deer and grazing management.

The Delivery Plan also contains the key action to develop an invasive non-native species (INNS) Action Plan to support the protection and restoration of native habitats. The Plan will include actions to be taken to ensure new potential INNS are detected early to prevent establishment and spread. The Action Plan will also seek to better focus resources and effort to control or eradicate established INNS, where possible working at a landscape scale. Scottish Government are currently working with our stakeholders to develop the Action Plan, with a view to publication in summer 2025.

Scottish Forestry continues to target support for Rhododendron control through the forestry grant scheme at the priority areas in our Strategic Approach to Scotland’s Rainforest.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31894 on 11 December 2024. 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

The Scottish Government agreed with the recommendations of the Drug Deaths Taskforce in that more choice should be available on the types of Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) offered to individuals where appropriate.

For the years 2021 to 2023, the average monthly sales income has been calculated for fishers employed on Scottish Vessels. This is given in the following table:

Monthly average sales income for fishers on Scottish registered vessels, 2021 - 2023

Pilots of a non-statutory support scheme began in spring 2023, with funding provided for distribution by local services to remove the barrier of transport costs for people with substance dependency, when accessing treatment. These Pathfinders, also covering people with multiple and complex needs, are taking place in 11 locations, with full implementation to support a national practice model expected to be complete in Summer 2025.

As part of their work to support implementation of the MAT standards, the 2023 National Benchmarking Report published by Public Health Scotland (PHS), detailed assessments of how areas are trying to overcome the challenges of rurality. Approaches include: high use of self-referral and telephone, ‘tele-health’ technology such as NEAR ME; wide use of bus passes, taxis, and third sector to take people to appointments. Also offering a choice of venues to be seen at, such as a GP practice, home and community hubs, as well as settings to deliver care when weather disrupts usual access.

A strength in many areas is the utilisation of informal local networks and relationships to respond to urgent presentations, even when no formal arrangements are in place. Many areas now also have formal arrangements with other Health Boards to utilise and share expertise.

The Drug Deaths Taskforce was set up in 2019 to provide evidence-based expert advice on tackling the misuse of drugs. Toxicology results tell us that opiates/opioids were, and still are the main substances implicated in drug deaths in Scotland, with polydrug use being a significant factor.

After January 2021 when the National Mission was launched, the Scottish Government published the MAT standards, and through their continuing implementation, transformational change has taken place in drug treatment services throughout Scotland.

Methadone remains the primary form of medication assisted treatment, as an internationally accepted and evidence-based form of opioid antagonist. In the 12-month period ending 31 March 2024, Opioid Substitution Therapy was prescribed to a minimum of 29,817 people for the treatment of opioid dependence.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to re-evaluate the amount that an applicant can claim under the Young Patients Family Fund.

The National Maternity Safety Ambition in England was launched in 2015. Delivery of healthcare and the NHS is devolved and the Sottish Government is committed to continuous improvement in maternity safety across Scotland, working in partnership with NHS Boards and clinicians and service users, to deliver the best and safest care for mothers and babies. The Scottish Government’s Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) Perinatal strand (formerly MCQIC), part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), was established in 2009 to improve outcomes and reduce variation in maternity services by providing safe, high-quality care for all. The aims of the programme are to reduce stillbirths; understand variation in caesarean birth rates; improve the recognition, response and review of the deteriorating woman, and to reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned HIS to develop standards for maternity services, to support consistency of service design and delivery across Scotland. We continue to work with NHS Boards, clinical leaders, the third sector and national partners to develop our approach in the Scottish context.

The position of the Scottish Government has not changed – the current favoured position is to fully dual the A96, and we are already taking forward the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including Nairn Bypass.

The outcomes from the A96 Corridor Review, which was undertaken as a result of the Bute House Agreement, have been published in draft for public consultation and no final decision has been made.

Feedback from members of the public and key stakeholders will be key in helping inform the Scottish Government’s final decision on how best to take forward improvements to the A96 whilst also balancing the demands of the challenging economic climate and the climate emergency, and to inform our timescales going forward.

The Scottish Government is wholly aware of the challenges and reality of living with a trunk road, such as the A96 cutting through the heart of towns such as Nairn, Elgin and Keith. I attended the Build the Nairn Bypass event hosted by the Inverness Courier in Nairn on 31 May 2024 to hear first-hand the impacts it has on the safety and well-being of those that live, travel, work and attend education establishments along it.

Delivery of healthcare and the NHS is devolved and therefore work on the safety of and continuous improvement in maternity services in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government. The National Maternity Safety Ambition was launched in 2015 by the Department of Health and Social Care and applies to maternity services in England only. Officials and professional advisors meet regularly with colleagues across the UK, including from the Department of Health and Social Care in England, to discuss priorities across the UK, such as the Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) and to better understand work underway across each of the four nations.