Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will interact with the UK Government and Ministry of Defence to support the opportunity for any significant contracts with the potential to provide ongoing employment opportunities for shipyards and fabrication businesses in Scotland.

There are several Scottish yards that possess the capabilities and specialist workforce skills needed to deliver this kind of infrastructure project, and we would encourage the MOD to utilise those resources. It is of course a commercial matter for each business to bid for work, however we would support any bid that ensured the work is delivered in Scotland.

As we head towards the peak winter period we can expect to see performance fluctuate as pressures start to increase. We know that too many people are still waiting too long – and we are determined to drive improvements across our NHS.

As part of the NHS Scotland Winter Plan, we are supporting Health Boards to move people through the hospital as quickly as possible so that A&E waits can be kept to an absolute minimum. This includes an increased focus on effective discharge planning, which not only helps to free up beds, but is also in the best interest of patients who are ready to leave hospital.

Additionally, a record number of NHS 24 call handlers will be available this winter to direct people to the most appropriate care, helping reduce unnecessary A&E attendances.

The Scottish Government continues to adopt a comprehensive approach to address public health issues focusing on early prevention, reducing inequalities and creating the conditions to support people to lead healthier lifestyles.

This includes addressing the underlying drivers of heath inequalities by continuing to allocate around £3 billion a year in 2024-25 to a range of actions to tackle poverty and mitigate the impacts of the ongoing cost-of-living-crisis. This includes funding for free bus travel, the provision of early learning and childcare, as well as providing direct financial support through the likes of the Scottish Child Payment.

The Scottish Government has taken clear action to improve population health including continuing and increasing Minimum Unit Pricing of alcohol – estimated to have saved hundreds of lives - and delivery under our Tobacco and Vaping Framework including ongoing work on the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill to create a smokefree generation.

We are taking action to improve diet and increase physical activity. This includes ongoing work to consider restrictions on promotions of high fat, salt and sugar foods under our Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, and promoting active lifestyles through our Physical Activity for Health Framework.

Furthermore, to address long term population health challenges work is ongoing to produce a Population Health Framework in partnership with COSLA and in collaboration with our wider partners. This will set out a whole system approach on population health seeking and key actions that seek to improve population health.

I refer the member to the Committee debate of 12 December 2024 where I set out that to help employers address all potential barriers to recruitment in rural and island areas, a whole system approach was required.

Telehealth as a term can represent a range of digital and remote access to services across healthcare. As such, there are multiple telehealth services on offer at a national and local level across Scotland and therefore it is not possible to provide a complete number undertaken across all services provided.

Digital inclusion, of which literacy is one component, is being prioritised as part of the national Digital Health and Care Strategy and associated delivery plan. In March 2023, the Scottish Government launched the £2m Digital Inclusion Programme. Delivered through SCVO, it has developed a framework to support digital inclusion to enable people to access digital services across health and social care. The programme has funded projects in remote and rural areas (see map), supported provision of devices and developed Digital Champions Training to support local literacy advice and support.

The Scottish Government has taken the decision to realign funding for scams prevention and awareness, with the requisite funding reallocated from its consumer policy and advice budget to Consumer Scotland’s budget. Consumer Scotland also now receives and manages grant funding for Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) for its advocacy and education programme which was previously allocated from the consumer policy and advice budget.

Realigning these funding streams has had the effect of reducing the consumer policy and advice budget, while the Consumer Scotland budget has correspondingly increased.

Ice accretion is a world-wide problem affecting cable-stayed bridges in colder climates, and there is currently no effective solution for preventing it completely. While closures of the Queensferry Crossing due to ice accretion cannot be prevented entirely, we have taken forward research, which led to enhanced management procedures being developed. Now, when there is a risk of falling ice, a 6-point plan is implemented by our Operating Company BEAR Scotland. The plan includes enhanced patrols; heightened focus on prevailing weather conditions; increased data & intelligence gathering; pre-laying of traffic management and enhanced stakeholder communications.

Investment has been made to improve our capability to predict ice accretion. For example, new ice and climate sensors were installed on the bridge in August 2020. These, together with improved bespoke weather forecasts, have helped deliver early warning of conditions conducive to ice accretion. In addition, infrastructure improvements have recently been completed, which will allow traffic to be diverted onto the Forth Road Bridge more quickly.

The Scottish Government welcomes the significant investment being made in the redevelopment of Hunterston marine yard to create a renewables hub, which it is anticipated could support thousands of jobs for the local community.

Peel Ports suggest that the site will be capable of hosting critical infrastructure, manufacturing, and fabrication facilities for the deployment of offshore wind. These will have the potential to boost local, regional, and national economies, creating employment opportunities in the local area and supporting local businesses.

The Scottish Government’s investment of up to £500m over five years to anchor our offshore wind supply chain in Scotland, is expected to leverage additional private investment of £1.5 billion in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to growing the sector.

Officials will continue to work closely with Peel Ports on the company’s plans for investment to maximise the benefits for the local region.

Transport Scotland has worked in partnership with its Operating Company BEAR Scotland and industry experts to test potential solutions and mitigation measures for ice accretion on the Queensferry Crossing, including cable cleaning.

This work, supported by laboratory testing, showed that cleaning of the cables stays helps to reduce ice accretion. Whilst a clean cable may reduce ice accretion, this measure cannot prevent it entirely. This was confirmed by detailed inspection during the November 2024 ice accretion event, which found that ice had accreted to stays which had no visual detritus. Notwithstanding this, we believe that cleaning the cables is a worthwhile mitigation measure that should be completed periodically.