- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to tackle the so-called evidence gap in assessing rural poverty and deprivation, as described in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation’s
Rural deprivation: Evidence summary, which was published in November 2016.
Answer
The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation rural deprivation evidence summary included sections describing the main issues associated with using SIMD in rural areas, as well as ways of overcoming these through using the wide range of available data sources alongside SIMD for exploring particular topics or communities of interest. The evidence summary was published alongside two case studies Fuel poverty in Dumfries and Galloway and Child poverty in the Orkney Islands which illustrated how this could be done. The SIMD 2020 introductory booklet included a case study on using SIMD in a rural area.
Scottish Government has also published (or funded) a number of reports and resources on poverty and deprivation in rural areas, including Poverty in rural Scotland: evidence review, The cost of remoteness - reflecting higher living costs in remote rural Scotland when measuring fuel poverty: research report, National Islands Plan Survey: final report, Improving our understanding of child poverty in rural and island Scotland, A design based approach to understanding and tackling rural child poverty,Scottish Islands Survey 2023: main findings,Rural Scotland data dashboard: overview and Review of evidence on rural community interventions.
The Scottish Government Office of the Chief Social Policy Adviser has recently funded a UKRI/ESRC Policy Fellow to carry out research on trends in rural and island poverty.
National Records of Scotland are in the process of developing the 2022 Census-based household level deprivation indicator which will allow analysis of key household variables by deprivation for very small geographies.
There are numerous other reports and resources produced by a range of external stakeholder organisations.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any assessment of the domestic shipbuilding sector’s ability to meet future demand for (a) new ferries and (b) ferry-related infrastructure in (i) Argyll and Bute and (ii) the Western Isles.
Answer
This analysis has not been carried out by the Scottish Government or by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) on our behalf, although CMAL are aware of the shipyard capabilities in the UK. There is a UK Department for Transport body called the National Shipbuilding Office which has carried out this assessment for both military and commercial shipbuilding capabilities - CMAL are well connected with them and share information and best practices for the benefit of exploring future opportunities.
New vessel and infrastructure tenders are usually let by CMAL to enhance and improve the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services fleet and associated infrastructure and these are procured on the open market. These tenders are international and cannot be focussed on a subset of UK only contractors or yards. So, when CMAL tender, they invite UK as well as Global yards to submit interest.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the financial situation regarding support services for victims of historic forced adoption practices.
Answer
The Scottish Government, along with public sector bodies across the UK, face a very challenging environment as we manage our finances through the current financial year and set our budget for 2025-26. We are continuing to fund the charity, Health in Mind, in 2024-25, to deliver a specialist peer service to those affected by historic forced adoption. We also fund the charity Birthlink to manage the Adoption Contact Register for Scotland which helps facilitate connections between individuals and families affected by adoption. Decisions on funding other related historical forced adoption activities have not yet been made.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is able to directly attribute any decline in rates of teenage (a) smoking, (b) drinking and (c) drug-taking to either (i) the Planet Youth pilot scheme or (ii) pre-existing anti-substance abuse health campaigns.
Answer
No. We are investing in Planet Youth over 2 years, from 2023-2025. Planet Youth, sometimes referred to as the Icelandic Model, is an approach to prevention which empowers communities to support their young people to reduce the risk of substance use and harms. In Iceland, this approach instigated a decline in teenage substance use. Whilst Planet Youth in Scotland is in its early stages, Winning Scotland who lead on this initiative, are currently developing evaluation tools to measure outcomes.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what it anticipates the impact will be on employment in the event that the Forties Pipeline System closes in 2030.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30259 on 8 October 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.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to Winning Scotland to fund its Planet Youth in Scotland programme in each year since the programme was established.
Answer
The Scottish Government are funding a total of £1.5 million to Winning Scotland for Planet Youth. This is £750,000 per year in financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported increase in alcohol-related deaths in Scotland, what plans it has to review the effectiveness of minimum unit pricing.
Answer
Every life lost to alcohol is a tragedy and the recent alcohol specific deaths statistics, published by the National Records of Scotland, is a stark reminder of the challenge we face in tackling alcohol harm across Scotland.
The Scottish Government commissioned Public Health Scotland (PHS) to deliver independent evaluation of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP). That evaluation estimated that MUP had reduced alcohol specific deaths by 13.4%, compared to what would have been the case if MUP wasn’t in place. A letter published in the Lancet authored by a number of internationally renowned public health experts stated that, “policy makers can be confident that there are several hundred people with low income in Scotland who would have died as a result of alcohol, who are alive today as a result of minimum unit pricing.”
The Scottish Government is continuing to develop work on the range of options to consider the uprating of minimum unit pricing in future. As part of that activity the Scottish Government will consider the appropriate way to continue to review the effects and impacts of MUP. Appropriate stakeholder engagement will be undertaken with industry, business and public health stakeholders in advance of any decisions on uprating being taken.
- Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what barriers to progress of the work of the national thrombectomy programme have been identified, and what action is being taken to overcome these.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to expanding the thrombectomy service, and to ensuring that access to this treatment is as equitable as possible. We recognise, however that achieving an equitable service access across diverse geographical areas is challenging. That is why the Scottish Government has asked the National Thrombectomy Planning Board (NTPB) to plan a phased approach to service expansion, to ensure that all plans and decisions consider the access requirements of patients, and reflect the appropriate workforce, infrastructure and resourcing required across Scotland.
- Asked by: Tim Eagle, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions the number of road workers onsite at the (a) A83 Rest and Be Thankful and (b) Old Military Road, when operating under convoy control, has fallen below the minimum required level, resulting in the convoy being unable to operate, in each year since 2016.
Answer
There have been no occasions where there have been insufficient staff to operate the convoy.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 September 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul McLennan on 8 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with investors to pilot affordable, mid-range, purpose-built student accommodation housing developments to address the current student housing need.
Answer
The Scottish Government Review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation recommended convening a national roundtable discussion which included representation from all those involved with the provision of purpose-built student accommodation, including developers and the investment community. The first roundtable discussion, chaired by myself, took place on 23 August. A further meeting will be convened later this year.
