Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government delivers a broad range of programmes to provide advice and support for property owners related to energy efficiency and clean heating, including the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme.

There is no such role as field agent within this programme, however there are a range of advisor roles entailed in delivering the grant funded Home Energy Scotland advice service, as well as service delivery staff employed in delivery of the contracted loans and grant administration service. Across these, resource levels are aligned to demand for our services.

Our Heat in Buildings Public Engagement Strategy published in December 2023 outlines our approach to increase awareness and understanding of heat decarbonisation and the support available to help make the transition.

Over 6,000 heat pumps were installed in Scotland last year, with 2,500 of those installs receiving support through HES Grant and Loan Scheme funding.

Further to my answer on 31 January which laid out in detail the First Minister’s plans for NHS Scotland renewal, I can confirm this will be further expanded with the publication of our operational improvement plan in March.

This plan will build on the work that has been conducted with Health Boards over the past year to improve hospital flow and reduce delays. It will set out whole system improvement action to ensure people receive the right care in the place, recognising that acute hospitals are not always the best place for patients or their families.

As part of this plan Hospital at Home will be expanded to at least 2,000 beds, by December or sooner, and will expand and coverage of treatment people can expect to receive at home and will reduce the number of people needing to be admitted to hospital.

By summer 2025 there will be direct access to a front door frailty service in every hospital with a core emergency department, to ensure people living with frailty get access to the right, specialist care for their healthcare need which will reduce the chance of a prolonged hospital stay and lower the chances of a care home admission.

A vast amount of work has already been undertaken in 2024 to date through the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group, including work with Health and Social Care Partnerships with high levels of delay to understand the challenges they are facing and support them to deliver the changes, a national media campaign highlighting the positives of Home First, and promotion and maximising of good practice such as the Discharge without Delay programme.

I am confident that with all the new measures we have laid out we will continue to see an improving picture on the level of delays across the country and that people will have access to high quality care, in the setting that is right for them.

If they feel able to do so, young people and their families should raise concerns with staff or via the advocacy services available in the inpatient units, so that any issues can be resolved as quickly as possible.

Young people and their families can also contact the Mental Welfare Commission Advice Line for advice on rights and good practice to do with mental health and incapacity law, and care and treatment, or to raise a specific concern.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

However, I have contacted the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland who maintains the property registers in Scotland. They have searched the registers and identified 783 titles that narrate a rural housing burden.

A more detailed breakdown of these figures can be requested directly via Registers of Scotland.

If concerns are raised with Ministers regarding a medical setting, such as Skye House, the Scottish Government would direct correspondents to their NHS Health Board complaints process, as patient care and service delivery are the statutory responsibility of local healthcare providers.

The Scottish Government continues to support the development of our ports, and the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe.

I have personally engaged with parties interested in introducing new ferry services, and Transport Scotland officials communicate regularly with potential operators and Scotland’s main ports.

The Scottish Government and its agencies have supported a number of maritime initiatives across Scotland, including establishing a Green Freeport at Forth Ports, which includes Rosyth. This involves both seed capital funding, along with businesses locating within the ports being able to access a package of devolved and reserved tax incentives.

We will continue to engage with port operators and others to explore opportunities for new commercial ferry services, so that Scottish exporters and passengers have more direct routes to and from Europe. However, the Scottish Government cannot subsidise routes in ways which would be anti-competitive beyond considering the availability of limited start-up grant funding opportunities for freight initiatives.

I have raised concerns with the UK Treasury about the impact on public services if this reserved tax increase is not fully funded. The Scottish Government has published updated estimates of the impact of the increase in employer national insurance contributions on the public sector in Scotland. These estimates indicate the combined impact on the public sector and commissioned services is over £700 million. If the UK Government’s reported allocation is all that is provided, the Chancellor will be short-changing services the public depend on by over £400 million. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations estimates that the third sector in Scotland will face additional costs of £75 million per year, plus wider inflation.

The Scottish Government is investing £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to free, high-quality outdoor play in their own communities. We have already committed £35 million since May 2021. The funding is distributed to local authority partners to manage play park renewals based on local needs and priorities.

The allocation per year for South Lanarkshire is:

Figures are not kept in the form requested as FSS officials will work on a range of policy areas according to priorities and workloads. Four policy officials have the necessary expertise to deal with food labelling and allergen issues

Food Standards Scotland has a Food and Health Research Programme, which has a limited budget for procuring research across our entire food safety and dietary health remit; therefore our ability to fully explore the potential of AI in the delivery of our work has been restricted as a result of other priorities and lack of funding. However, through our Strategy and Corporate Plan we have committed to the delivery of a dedicated digital and data strategy, and plans for transforming food law delivery through our Scottish Authorities Food Enforcement Re-build (SAFER) programme, which intends to leverage data and intelligence to provide a greater focus on the enforcement of higher risk establishments. As part of the SAFER programme, we are currently in the process of building digital platforms that will strengthen the robustness of food law inspection data that we collect from the 32 Local Authorities in Scotland, with the aim of using this to develop AI tools that help us to design inspection regimes that are targeted to risk and optimise resources.

Alongside this work, our scientists engage with UK Research and Innovation, across Scottish and UK Governments, with international food regulators and the scientific community to keep abreast of developments in AI, and its potential applications in food law enforcement. We also collaborate with our counterparts in the Food Standards Agency (FSA) on the development of surveillance systems which help us to identify and prioritise risks at UK level (see: Horizon Scanning | Food Standards Scotland and Strategic surveillance and data | Food Standards Agency) and digital tools which support the detection and investigation of outbreaks of foodborne illness (Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and Environment (PATH-SAFE) Programme | Food Standards Agency). To support our own work through SAFER, we are also keeping a watching brief on proof of concept work that FSA has been taking forward to explore the use of AI in the inspection of food businesses (FSA: Developing an AI-based Proof of Concept that prioritises businesses for food hygiene inspections while ensuring the ethical and responsible use of AI - GOV.UK), although these applications are still at the development stage.