Chamber and committees

As of 13 May 2021, 36,064 devices and 32,332 data packages have been provided. All Connecting Scotland customers have access to training and support. Interim results from our follow-up survey indicate that around half of Connecting Scotland customers found this support helpful in improving their digital skills.

A total of £48 million has been committed to reach the target of 60,000 households. The proportion allocated to each is:

(a) devices – 36%

(b) data – 54%

(c) training and support – 6%

In the next phase, Connecting Scotland will provide any or all of device, internet connection and package of support to those who are:

• digitally excluded – do not have an appropriate device and/or are not connected to the internet at home; and
• on low incomes so cannot afford to buy a device or pay for internet access (e.g. claiming or eligible for Universal Credit ); and
• are seeking support for employability (Priority will be given to organisations working with people who are likely to have been affected most by the changes to the labour market over the past year, either due to existing inequalities or redundancy. This includes: Single Parents, Women, Young people, Disabled people, Minority ethnic people, people experiencing other forms of socio-economic disadvantage)

Connecting Scotland will also provide any or all of device, internet connection and package of support to those who are:

• digitally excluded – do not have an appropriate device and/or are not connected to the internet at home; and
• on low incomes so cannot afford to buy a device or pay for internet access; and
• are isolated as a result of the pandemic, particularly single parents, older or disabled people

Connecting Scotland is delivered in partnership with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). SCVO set up and manage the application, assessment, contracting and distribution of devices. Local authorities assess applications from public and third sector services and organisations, who identify eligible customers and provide frontline Digital Champion support to end users.

A total of £26.6 million has been allocated to Phase 3, with the potential to provide 23,000 devices and data packages. Every Connecting Scotland customer is allocated a Digital Champion and has access to one on one training and support if they want it. So far a total of 2,700 Digital Champions have been trained through the programme. Interim results from our follow-up survey indicate that around half of Connecting Scotland customers found this support helpful in improving their digital skills.

Within the Highlands and Islands area there are currently 129 electric vehicle charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) network, which has been developed by Scottish Government, the majority of these are publicly available. However, it is worth noting that other charge point operators have networks in Scotland, and so the actual number of charge points will be higher.

Scottish Ministers have provided over £45m of funding to all of Scotland’s local authorities to help grow the CPS network. Our analysis indicates that, by late 2020 around 40% of chargers on the network were outside urban areas. Due to the wide range of factors that will influence and ultimately determine the number of chargers required across Scotland, it is not possible to define the number of chargers needed in the Highlands & Islands to deliver against emissions targets. Our focus will continue to be on working with the public and private sector to ensure that as coverage grows, all parts of Scotland continue to benefit from one of Europe’s most extensive charging networks.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to meeting the world-leading emissions reduction targets set in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019. Our update to the 2018 Climate Change Plan, published in December 2020, articulates our pathway to meeting these targets over the period to 2032.

The update to the 2018 Plan includes over 100 new policies and scales up the ambition of more than forty policies and proposals across all sectors. In line with the requirements of section 36 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, the policy package is also designed to make up for the excess emissions that arose from the previously missed 2017 and 2018 annual targets.

The updated Plan acknowledges that meeting all annual targets out to 2032 as part of a just transition to net-zero by 2045 will be not always be easy and is not for the Scottish Government to deliver alone, but will need to be a national endeavour across all sections of society and business. Furthermore, as the CCC have highlighted, UK Government action in areas that remain reserved will be crucial in ensuring we meet our targets. While we are also contending with significant uncertainties including those relating to exiting the European Union, the rate of technological advances and ongoing scientific revisions to the ways in which emissions are measured, we are absolutely committed to meeting our targets.

The Plan update includes a refreshed monitoring framework to support the learning by doing approach recommended by our stakeholders. Annual reporting to Parliament on progress, on a sector by sector basis, will begin this May.

The Scottish Government’s Community Land Team has provided detailed advice and guidance to the East Lochaber and Laggan Community Trust (ELLCT) regarding a possible community right to buy application over the land asset owned by the GFG Alliance. However the possible acquisition of private land by another party remains a matter of business between those two parties.

The Final Determination of charges for 2021-22 to 2026-27 by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland set out that over that period it would enable Scottish Water to invest £4.5bn (in 2017-18 prices). As referred to in the answer to S5W-36064 on 18 March 2021, Scottish Water’s Delivery Plan will include its forecast range of investment.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Scottish Water sets out its plans for investment each year in its Delivery Plan. Its Delivery Plan for 2021-22 and 2022-23 is currently being prepared and will be published when it is finalised in April 2021.

The Scottish Government is aware of some early work by the University of Dundee and Ninewells Hospital to treat a very small number of essential tremor patients through the use of a Transcranial Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound scanner (MRgFUS) on a trial basis.

The Dundee team have had frequent contact with The National Tremor Foundation (Scotland) and also carried out talks with local patient groups regarding the treatment.

It is imperative that before any new procedure is adopted into the NHS, it is first subject to rigorous clinical assessment to establish patient safety and efficacy. A robust evidence base will be key to any future application for national service designation through NHS National Services Scotland’s NSSC (National Specialist Services Committee) and NPPPRG (National Professional Patient and Public Reference Group) committees. These groups advise the Scottish Government on the establishment of national and specialist services.

In the meantime, NHS National Services Division are engaging with both the clinicians in Dundee and with commissioning colleagues in NHS England on how the treatment might be made available to eligible Scottish patients through a cross border referral process from April when it becomes available in England.