Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government intends to publish a consultation on proposals to introduce a carbon land tax in summer 2024, as set out in the statement made by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy on 18 April 2024.

The information requested on what data we hold on any current physiotherapist vacancies across all NHS boards can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/all-official-statistics-publications/05-march-2024-workforce/dashboards/nhs-scotland-workforce/?pageid=11224

Throughout the public consultation and in reaching the decision to close fishing for sandeel in all Scottish waters, the Scottish Government recognised the importance of potential wider environmental and ecosystem benefits, which included potential benefits to sandeel, seabirds, marine mammals, and other fish species.

There are currently no plans to conduct an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of fishing for sandeel in Scottish waters on seabird populations, including Atlantic puffin, as these measures only came into force on 26 March 2024. However, there are several monitoring and research programmes in place that can add to the evidence base in relation to potential impacts of closing fishing for sandeel in Scottish waters, and which can be drawn on should such an assessment be undertaken in the future.

We recognise the importance of good quality care for children and young people living with ME/CFS.

In October 2022, the Career Review Programme Board published ' Delivering Careers By Design', including 10 recommendations co-created working with stakeholders and young people.

Since then, 'Career Review Final Report' published in March 2023 set out in further detail how the recommendations will be implemented.

Two of the ten recommendations have already been delivered. Recommendation 1; establishment of a new career development model and Recommendation 10; creation of a career services coalition – the Careers Services Collaborative.

The Collaborative continues to meet, chaired by Grahame Smith, to oversee further implementation of improvements to the careers offer, with a focus on the remaining recommendations. Further information on progress will be published via www.careerreview.scot over the course of the year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26656 on 1 May 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 .

Since August 2021, we have implemented the funded early learning and childcare (ELC) offer which provides up to 1140 hours per year (equivalent to 30 hours/week term time or approx. 22 hours/week year-round) for all three- and four-year-olds and eligible 2-year-olds. This is fully funded by the Scottish Government and delivered through local councils. More information on eligibility can be found online: Funded early learning and childcare - mygov.scot .

A two year old as part of a multiple birth is not automatically eligible for access to funded ELC due to being a multiple, although local councils have a discretionary power to provide access to funded ELC to any child residing in their area, as they see fit. We are aware that some councils use this discretion to offer places to a wider range of children, either: according to local priorities, or; according to the needs of the individual child. We provide statutory guidance to local authorities on their duties and powers in relation to funded ELC here: Introduction - Early learning and childcare: statutory guidance - July 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Public Health Scotland (PHS) published a baseline report as part of their interim Evaluation of the Scottish Government Residential Rehabilitation programme in February, where the best available evidence suggested that referrals into residential rehabilitation have been increasing not only in East and South Ayrshire, but across the country since the beginning of the Scottish Government’s National Mission to improve and save lives impacted by substance use.

According to another recent PHS report, the upward trend in placements suggests that the Scottish Government is on track to hit its target of 1,000 people publicly funded to go to rehab by 2026.

The Scottish Government is finalising plans to provide more funding to facilitate this increase in areas where it is most needed. Further details on this will be made available in due course.

To date, four affordable homes were approved in Orkney under the demand-led Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund with no spend drawn down to date. We are currently working with local authorities to progress a number of proposals to support the delivery of more affordable homes for key workers through the fund. We are engaging closely with local authorities and others to promote the use of the fund and to bring forward proposals where there is an identified requirement.

The Scottish Government has made a significant investment in residential rehabilitation services and associated aftercare as part of the £250 million investment into our National Mission to improve and save lives impacted by substance use. As part of this investment, we allocated a £5 million uplift in funding to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) across Scotland, to be spent on residential rehabilitation until the end of this parliament.

The Scottish Government has been clear that this funding must be distributed fairly, taking account of the many factors that influence the needs of particular areas and the costs of supplying local services. The ADP uplift, therefore, was and continues to be administered using the National Resource Allocation Formula, which is responsibility of the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC).

The NRAC formula remains the fairest method of distributing funding allocations across the country, and this was applied to the allocation for both East and South Ayrshire, taking into consideration the local requirements as appropriate.

Public Health Scotland published their interim Evaluation of the Scottish Government Residential Rehabilitation programme in February, where the best available evidence put the average cost estimate of a publicly funded residential rehabilitation placement in Scotland at £11,000 per person (in the first six months of financial year 2023-2024).