Chamber and committees

Under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the Scottish Government is responsible for developing Strategic Police Priorities (SPPs), which it does in consultation with partners. Revised priorities are due to be published by the end of 2025.

Prevention and investigation of crime already feature prominently in the existing SPPs, and Police Scotland and its officers and staff remain focused on these aims.

The changing nature of policing and criminal activity will always be considered in any future changes to the SPPs.

It is for Police Scotland, which is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority, to determine the operational delivery of policing in Scotland. When setting priorities for the upcoming year, Police Scotland considers many factors, including demand analysis, emerging threat harm and risk, and futures and horizon scanning. Furthermore, many of the Local Police Plans , refreshed for 2023-26, include specific activities focusing upon acquisitive crime and engagement with partners and stakeholders, ensuring that focus upon the concerns of retailers is addressed at a local level.

The Scottish Government recognises the significant disruption and harm to both businesses and individuals from retail crime and continues to support the innovative Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE) strategy. The partnership is led by Police Scotland working with retailers and other organisations including Retailers Against Crime and Neighbourhood Watch Scotland, with a focus on the prevention, deterrence and where appropriate enforcement. The Strategy seeks to minimise opportunities for this type of crime, protect individuals and businesses, and deliver clear advice and guidance for prevention.

We will invest £1.55 billion in policing in 2024-25. Specific decisions on deployment of resources are a matter for the Chief Constable and the Scottish Police Authority.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway have had no Scottish Dental Access Initiative funding awarded in the last two years.

Since May 2023 discussion and work has been ongoing with regards to refining the workplan for and membership of the Gender Equality Taskforce to ensure that it is able to enact the long term systemic change that is needed. The next meeting of the Gender Equality Taskforce is scheduled for 18 April 2024. Contributory work on preventing and responding to gender-base violence in schools has been taken forward by the short-life Gender-Based Violence in Schools Working Group, with a framework for schools to be published in the coming weeks.

STPR2 is a long term framework for transport infrastructure, to drive the capital investment decisions for our strategic transport system. It presents the Strategic Business Case for its recommendations, which each in turn will require their own development for delivery. The focus of Recommendation 40 is on improving the safety, resilience and reliability on the A75 and the A77, with Cuckoo Bridge noted as an example location for this.

Transport Scotland is currently developing proposals for safety improvements at the Cuckoo Bridge Roundabout, this includes partial signalisation and active travel improvements. The delivery of these will be subject to available funding being in place.

Data is not held centrally specifically on intentional paracetamol overdose . However, the following table shows the most recent data on inpatient and day-case admissions to hospital as a result of intentional paracetamol poisoning, which includes overdose cases.

STPR2 is a long term framework for transport infrastructure, to drive the capital investment decisions for our strategic transport system. It presents the Strategic Business Case for its recommendations, which each in turn will require their own development for delivery. As STPR2 recommends, the focus of Recommendation 40 is on improving the safety, resilience and reliability on the A77, in turn supporting placemaking opportunities, providing more resilient connections to the ports at Cairnryan.

This would include, but is not limited to, improving junctions, enhancing overtaking opportunities with wide single carriageway, two plus one road layout schemes or climbing lanes at appropriate locations where slow moving traffic leads to risky overtaking manoeuvres, and widening or realigning carriageways to alleviate ‘pinch points’ such as narrow structures or at stretches of older standard single carriageway.

Given that this is a long term investment programme, some elements will not commence immediately and are subject to suitable resources and funding being in place.

Our ongoing commitment to the A77 is demonstrated through our continued investment in the operation and maintenance of the trunk road network. An example of which is our ongoing work with communities in Ballantrae and Kirkoswald on the A77 to address concerns with speeding traffic, noise and lack of pedestrian crossing facilities.

More widely, major resurfacing schemes have recently completed on the A77 at Glen App and around Turnberry and there are plans for further work between Dutch House and Symington; South of Ballantrae and at Stinchar Bridge which will include replacement of the bridge parapets. This is line with the STPR2 Recommendation 32 which stresses the importance of renewing existing infrastructure in order to keep the network reliable and resilient for all road users.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education has developed a workplan which contains a suite of interdependent workstreams, including workforce planning.

These workstreams contain a range of proposed actions which are in the process of being further developed and which will have individual timescales for reporting to the Board.

The Board last met on 1 February 2024 to discuss the workplan. Papers from this meeting and future meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course.

The next meeting of the Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning is scheduled for the 18 April 2024.

Historic Environment Scotland continues to champion traditional skills and is working with stakeholders across the country to address traditional skills gaps to help ensure Scotland’s historic buildings can thrive as part of the country’s sustainable future.

Skills Development Scotland delivers careers information, advice and guidance in all state secondary schools, dedicated centres and community locations nationwide. Its all-age service empowers people from all communities to make their own learning and career decisions, based on the best available career intelligence.

Regarding the cessation of stonemasonry apprenticeship training at Edinburgh College, the then Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development and I met Historic Environment Scotland in recent months to discuss stonemasonry and we await their proposals to address the skills issues in the sector.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Committee’s thorough and wide-ranging report and we are committed to working with local government to deliver our shared climate change goals.

Following the Committee’s Inquiry, COSLA and the Scottish Government is working collaboratively to develop a Climate Delivery Framework to agree shared approaches to delivering action on climate change. As recommended by the Committee, we have also established a Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS) jointly funded with local government, which will help build the capacity of local authorities to reduce area wide emissions. A single data platform, currently being procured, will enable consistency of approach and adoption of best practice methodologies across local authorities and their delivery partners. This will provide all 32 local authorities with data-informed evidence, insights and intelligence they need for continuous improvement of their climate action plans.