Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has no plans to undertake a review of The Adoption Support Services and Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2009, however we continue to keep adoption policy and practice under review. This is in close collaboration with stakeholders, as we work collectively to Keep the Promise by 2030. As part of this we will publish an adoption vision statement which sets out the place of adoption in Scotland today and our strategic priorities moving forward. This includes a focus on understanding the needs and priorities in relation to improving the consistency of post-adoption support across Scotland.

Officials are in regular contact with both the UK Government and Falkirk Council regarding the signing of the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth Deal. Discussion continues at pace to align Ministers and Falkirk Council to secure a date for the signing to bring the Deal into delivery. Signing was previously scheduled before the General Election but had to be postponed during that process. Project development is led by Falkirk Council and other local partners and this has continued ahead of the formal signing, ensuring this delay does not adversely impact Deal progress.

Project development and delivery are led by Falkirk Council and other local partners. Officials are in regular communication with both the UK Government and Falkirk Council regarding the signing of the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth Deal. Partners are currently preparing business cases for all projects and officials are working to support this process to enable project delivery to commence. This crucial project development work has been ongoing ahead of the formal signing. Partners have identified the Deal projects which are sufficiently developed to commence and have prioritised those accordingly within the 10 year delivery programme of the Growth Deal.

We are committed to gathering evidence on maternity care experiences across Scotland and are currently developing the next iteration of the Maternity Care Survey, which was previously run in 2013, 2015 and 2018. Our intention is for the next survey to take place in 2025. The survey will ask about experiences of antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal maternity care, including questions about person-centred care, trust in healthcare providers, and the provision of advice and support. However this survey is not the right vehicle to ask about pregnancy related trauma, which requires sensitive and responsive inquiry.

In line with NICE guidelines, we would expect Health Professionals to offer advice and support to women who have had a traumatic birth and wish to understand and talk about their experience. We are working with NHS Boards to develop specialist Community Perinatal Mental Health services to provide assessment and care for women with moderate to severe mental illness, including psychological impact following the birth of a baby.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30024 on 1 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.

Through the provisions of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, the scientific justification for a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) can be challenged by owners or managers of a site:

• At notification of the site
• Once every 10 years following notification

The number of challenges since 2019-20 and the outcome is summarised in the following table:

The Scottish Government is keen to support independent hospice organisations where possible. I recently met with the chair of the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group, and Hospice UK to discuss this matter. I have agreed that officials will work with the sector to understand estimated costs on increased funding associated with staff wage increases in line with Agenda for Change (AfC) uplifts.

However, it is for Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to govern, plan and resource adult palliative care in their areas, including independent hospice care, using the delegated budgets under their control. We would encourage hospice colleagues to continue to engage with IJBs to help ensure that the needs of the local population are met.

To date 17 homes have been approved through the demand-led Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund. This includes 7 homes in Highland, 7 homes in Orkney, 2 homes in Moray and 1 home in North Ayrshire. More Homes Division officials are in discussion with local authority partners on a number of other potential projects.

We are continuing to engage with all local authorities through Scotland Housing Network’s Local Housing Strategy Forum to encourage proposals to be forward where there are identified local requirements.

While the Scottish Government Review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) related solely to this specific type of student housing, we know that student accommodation in Scotland is a complex and interdependent system interacting with local housing systems and local communities, and that many students prefer to live in private tenancies. We will be inviting a representative from the Scottish Association of Landlords to a roundtable discussion on student accommodation which will be scheduled for the end of this year.

The cycle time is around 20 minutes although this can vary depending on how busy it is or if there are breakdowns or the like.