Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the impacts of climate change on coastal communities and the need to consider coastal defences.

Our Dynamic Coast 2 project, published in 2021, helps local authorities and other stakeholders identify where the greatest risks are from coastal erosion this decade and into the future. The 2020 Programme for Government committed £12 million to local authorities, over four years, for coastal change adaptation to allow them to plan for, and protect communities from, the impacts of coastal erosion and sea level rise. We published Guidance in 2023, to support local authorities in the preparation of Coastal Change Adaptation Plans,which includes using nature based solutions as part of coastal protection.

Improving resilience to flooding is a priority for the Scottish Government and we continue to work with, and support, local authorities to fulfil their obligations to reduce the impact of flooding from all sources including coastal. To support flood protection measures, the Scottish Government provides £42 million each year to local authorities. In August 2020, the Programme for Government also committed an additional £150 million over 5 years to support flood risk management actions.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on a Flood Resilience Strategy for Scotland which will lay out what we need to do in the long term to make our places more flood resilient, including at our coasts.

All new parents are entitled to infant feeding support regardless of how they feed their babies. Appropriate assessments will be carried out by qualified staff where there are feeding issues that could impact growth and development.

Information on feeding issues including tongue tie, and where to seek help, is available on national on-line platforms such as Parent Club Tongue-tie | Parent Club and through local resources.

Scottish Government International Climate Change Officials are attending the 60th Sessions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Scottish Ministers are not in attendance.

Although Scotland is not a UN member state, the Scottish Government is resolute in our commitment to utilise our convening and influencing powers wherever possible in order to drive forward climate action internationally.

Working across Government and together with our partners, we continue to take action to address labour and skills shortages, including better aligning the education and skills system with the needs of employers and the economy.

We remain committed to supporting a high-quality post-school education, research and skills system with over £2.4 billion investment, including more than £133 million of this investment focused on Modern Apprenticeships. There is also significant progress being made to reform and improve key areas of the post-school learning system covered by James Withers’ review Fit for the Future, including on apprenticeships, skills planning and simplification of the funding body landscape.

I provided the latest update on progress in a letter to the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 27 March 2024, available at Update to Committee - Post school reform | Scottish Parliament Website . Other action includes Scotland’s Migration Service which was launched in March 2024. The new service provides information and offer individual appointments to help people with moving and settling into life in Scotland. It also supports businesses to navigate the immigration system, including advice from qualified advisors.

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government’s shared approach to delivering an all-age, place-based, person-centred model of employability support in Scotland. It sees Scottish and Local Government working together, with partners from the third, private and wider public sectors to support both individuals and employers with their labour market needs.

In setting out the four key priorities for the Scottish Government, the First Minister has been clear in emphasising the need to focus on action and delivery rather than additional strategies.

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation was published in 2022 and is a 10-year strategy. The strategy set out our long-term vision to build a fairer, wealthier and greener economy based on the principles of prosperity, equality, sustainability and resilience.

The strategy’s Fairer and More Equal Society programme aims to reorient our economy towards wellbeing and fair work, to deliver higher rates of employment and wage growth. The Skilled Workforce programme seeks to ensure that people have the skills they need at every stage of life to have rewarding careers and meet the demands of an ever-changing economy and society, and that employers invest in the skilled employees they need to grow their businesses.

Engagement with business, enterprise and industry stakeholders was a critical part of developing the strategy. We continue to work with partners to deliver the labour market interventions that will have the greatest impact on achieving our ambition of growing an economy that is fair and green and we will be setting out the next phase of our approach in the forthcoming Programme for Government.

Yes – this funding is specifically for the provision of diabetes technologies and will be managed by a central team. A small part of this investment will cover costs of infrastructure to enable delivery at scale.

In 2023 Scottish Government committed to carrying out a scoping exercise across Health Boards to consider the FLS audit through Scottish National Audit Programme (SNAP) with Public Health Scotland (PHS).

Scottish Government committed to funding up to £150,000 for this scoping exercise and a potential audit in year 1. This has now been completed and PHS have put forwards a Business Case to Scottish Government which is currently being considered.

The Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy confirmed to the Scottish Parliament on 18 April 2024 that we will deliver the commitment made to publish by autumn the route map for reduction in car use by 20% produced in partnership with CoSLA. It will include a timeline for implementing demand management and within the context of our commitment to a just transition.

As outlined in the draft route map, published in January 2022, the Scottish Government recognises that powers for local authorities to introduce potential road charging schemes were established in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 and that Local Authorities are best placed to determine whether a local road user charging scheme supports the objectives set out in their local transport strategy.

The finalised route map will also ask the UK Government to reform motoring taxes, given that they are the most direct levers on the cost of buying or running a petrol or diesel car. Fuel duty and vehicle excise duty are reserved matters. We have made a number of attempts at both ministerial and official level to engage the UK Government on these issues, without any meaningful response. The Scottish Government has not had discussions with the Office of the Leader of the Opposition on this matter.

I refer the member to answer to question: S6W-27895 on 28 May 2024. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access the care that they need to live their lives well. This includes increasing access to diabetes technologies.

Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million of additional funding to support the increased provision of diabetes technologies.

I am delighted to confirm that this financial year, up to £8.8 million of funding will be made available to expand access to diabetes technologies in Scotland. The focus will primarily be on providing access to all children that want Closed Loop Systems, but will also allow us to continue increasing access to adults.

This investment will allow us to continue developing innovative care models for diabetes in Scotland that have a focus on digital pathways and peer support.

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 .

Following the recent MHRA review into topical steroid withdrawal, regulatory action means topical steroids will soon be labelled with their potencies. This will aid correct selection and simplify the advice for patients. The Scottish Government will cascade the MHRA updated safety alert, new labelling and revised patient safety leaflet to prescribers through clinical networks.

The Scottish Government encourages individuals to review their treatment plans with their healthcare professionals at least annually, and we are working with Health Improvement Scotland to develop searches for clinicians to identify patients using steroids.

We are already working on a four nations approach with MHRA as a hub.