Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25557 on 25 March 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

Contract terms & conditions are focused on the delivery of the contract, and are proportionate and relevant to the contract subject matter. Procurement rules require equal treatment, transparency, and proportionality in public procurement processes, precluding the exclusion of companies who conduct their business lawfully.

Grants entered into by Scottish Ministers and any public body subject to the Scottish Public Finance Manual are subject to the principles set out in the manual and have appropriate terms and conditions applied to protect public resources.

Scottish Government officials engaged with the Competition and Markets Authority as part of its initial review. Once more details are known regarding the Authority’s formal investigation we will consider what level of engagement will be appropriate.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) naloxone programme was launched in February 2022, backed with investment of £89,000 from Scottish Government. The programme aims to establish a network of fire officers who will carry naloxone and be trained to administer it in the event of an emergency.

Since then, all SFRS staff have been invited to complete online training to learn more about drug deaths in Scotland and how naloxone can help someone in the event of an opioid overdose. To date, 3,379 out of all 7,619 staff have voluntarily completed the training.

There is additional training for Flexi Duty Officers (FDOs) who have volunteered to carry naloxone and there are now 31 trained FDO volunteers within SFRS who are able to do this. It is expected that over the next 6 weeks a further 130 FDO volunteers will be trained and equipped to carry and administer naloxone.

The carrying and administering Naloxone is considered by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to be a form of emergency medical response which currently sits out-with the role map of firefighters. SFRS has a desire to broaden the role of firefighters which would incorporate emergency medical response but this is dependent on reaching agreement with the FBU.

SFRS and Scottish Government are determined to fully implement this programme and will continue to work closely with all parties, including representative bodies, to overcome any barriers to its full implementation.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report by the Environmental Standards Scotland published in February 2024. As outlined in their report, the previous 2018 Climate Change Plan received recommendations from committees of the Scottish Parliament and the Climate Change Committee. The Scottish Government responded to these recommendations in March 2021, accepting 66 of the Climate Change Committee’s recommendations, with a commitment to delivering many of these through the practical implementation of the Climate Change Plan update, with the next Climate Change Plan also identified as the mechanism to address any other recommendations.

This remains the mechanism and, as such, Scotland’s next Climate Change Plan will set out our approach to delivering on Scotland’s net zero ambitions up to 2040 and provide information on the costs and benefits of all policies contained within the Plan. Work is ongoing to ensure the next Climate Change Plan provides a credible and robust pathway to deliver Scotland’s ambitions and the recommendations outlined by ESS in their report are being considered as part of that process. We will, of course, consult widely on the new Plan, including with ESS.

As set out in answer S6F-02918, I emphasise again that all long waits are unacceptable. We continue to work hard with health boards to reduce delays for patients.

A and E performance is impacted by pressures from right across the wider health and social care system, which is why our unscheduled care collaborative programme is taking a whole systems approach as we work with health boards in delivering sustained improvement. Through the programme, a range of actions is being taken to improve patient flows in order to reduce A and E delays. Those include actions to strengthen arrangements to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions, such as same-day emergency care services; expanding our hospital-at-home services; and optimising flow navigation centres. Those actions support patients, to ensure that they receive the right care in the right place while also reducing pressure on our very busy acute sites.

There have been no consequentials forthcoming to the Scottish Government as a result of the UK Government decision to allocate funding for RAAC mitigation works. If rectification is required on RAAC within the NHSScotland Estate that will have to be managed from existing budgets.

Where RAAC has been found there has been no immediate disruption or concern although some rectification works will be required in addition to monitoring and management in all cases. NHS Boards will continue to consider their buildings with RAAC on an ongoing risk based approach to the management of those assets.

The Scottish Government has been progressing delivery of the 10 year Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint through integration with existing policies. This includes brokering new partnerships between Techscaler and key universities, aligning with the National Innovation Strategy, 13 funded projects via the Ecosystem Fund as well as a £5.5m uplift to the University Innovation Fund. These activities will be monitored and reported on through existing mechanisms as well as case studies to demonstrate the use of the uplift.

Scottish Ministers have deemed planning permission to be granted to 4.931 GW of Battery Energy Storage System developments made under section 36 of Electricity Act 1989, across 17 applications.

Scottish Ministers cannot report on planning permission awarded to Battery Energy Storage System developments with a capacity of 50MW or under, as these are determined by individual local planning authorities.

Officials are working with stakeholders on the design and implementation of the Community Bus Fund for financial year 2024 - 2025. Arrangements for accessing capital funding will be published on the Transport Scotland website once the work has been completed.