Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working with all public sector partners to understand the extent of, and risks associated with, RAAC across all public bodies. In respect of issues concerning RAAC outside of schools and housing, Scottish Government officials are working closely with the Scottish Heads of Property Services (SHOPS) which is co-ordinating an information gathering exercise on our behalf in respect of the prevalence of RAAC in the non school/non housing estate. Information is also sought on planned actions and mitigations. Scottish Government officials will continue to attend SHOPS meetings to support information sharing, help facilitate wider engagement with other sectors and ensure awareness of best industry practice in mitigating RAAC impacts.

Infrastructure on the UK rail network, including level crossings on the West Coast Mainline, is a matter for Network Rail, therefore Network Rail would be best placed to provide this information.

Network Rail advises that all level crossings fully meet the operational and safety requirements and regularly undergo the required risk assessment programme.

A robust regulatory process governs UK pesticide authorisation and use. Authorisation is granted only where data demonstrates that the proposed use of the product will not have unacceptable effects on human health or the environment. This regulatory approach is designed to be appropriately protective and precautionary to avoid detrimental impacts, which may be difficult to measure, arising from pesticide use.

This year the UK regulator, the Health and Safety Executive, considered that the use of Asulox did not meet the legislative requirements for authorisation as, based on the current data and in contrast to previous years, the risks of the proposed use were considered to outweigh the benefits. Scottish Ministers supported this position.

The Scottish Government is committed to science-led decision making, and we follow a well-established and evidence-based process for the authorisation of chemicals to ensure high standards for public health and our environment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19840 on 18 July 2023. 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

In addition, I can confirm that the Scottish Government has recently commissioned research into reusable nappies. This will involve a review of the latest evidence and collect data from focus groups with parents of young children to understand the barriers and opportunities around reusable nappies. A report will be available in the first half of 2024.

The Scottish Government does not currently provide formal guidance to local authorities to support climate change risk assessments and adaptation plans for local roads.

The Adaptation Scotland programme is funded by the Scottish Government to support capacity building and action on adaptation by the public sector, businesses and communities in Scotland, including local authorities. This includes developing Scotland's pioneering place-based approach to climate change adaptation.

This approach has seen the emergence of place-based adaptation partnerships including Climate Ready Clyde, Edinburgh Adapts, Aberdeen Adapts and Highland Adapts. Further, in March 2023 Adaptation Scotland launched the Community Climate Adaptation Routemap, a practical guide for communities to adapt to climate change.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23236 on 7 December 2023. 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

The First Minister and I met Senior Management at the Petroineos refinery on 23 November 2023, during which we both expressed the criticality of continuing refining for as long as possible as a means to safeguarding both energy resilience and employment at the site. In return the business agreed on the importance of working collaboratively with the Scottish Government and trade unions throughout the transition period. I also wrote to both of Petroineos’ Joint Venture partners on 23 November 2023 to seek assurances that the business will continue to sustain the site’s role as a source of domestic road and air fuels. I will meet Petroineos again in the coming days to seek further assurances around these points.

In addition to engaging with senior management at the site, I met with representatives from STUC and Unite the Union on 23 November 2023 to receive an update on the reaction of the workforce to the announcement. The Scottish Government is committed to continued dialogue with both the trade unions and the workforce at the refinery throughout this period of transition to ensure that highly-skilled jobs are retained for the duration of the asset’s lifecycle.

Scottish Government officials raised this question with INEOS on 29 November 2023 and have since received confirmation that the refinery does not currently process significant volumes of FPS derived crude, with the majority of the asset’s feedstock being imported. The business noted that, given the historical throughput of the FPS, there is sufficient capacity to process any additional volumes in the future.

The accreditation scheme is managed by Living Wage Scotland, where individual employers go through an application process to obtain accredited status. A directory for all currently accredited employers is available to view on the Living Wage Scotland website at the below page, and can be filtered by Local Authority:

https://scottishlivingwage.org/employer-directory/

The number of Expansion Posts created in 2023 was not impacted by the reprofiling of the Health Workforce Expansion Posts budget line, as set out in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to the Finance and Public Administration Committee of 21 November 2023. The number of postgraduate specialty training expansion posts to be added in 2023 was set by Scottish Ministers in late 2022, on the basis of recommendations from the Scottish Shape of Training Transitions Group.

The Expansion Posts budget line was reprofiled in 2023, following the budget setting process for the 2023-24 financial year. The number of specialty training expansion posts being recruited to was not amended as a result of the reprofiling of this budget line. The budget was reprofiled in accordance with the application of directorate savings targets in the 2023-24 financial year; £3 million was the savings target for Health Workforce, with the saving being applied to the Expansion Posts line for budgeting and accounting purposes. The savings target was applied to this line as historically the forecast budget for Expansion Posts has exceeded actual costs incurred in year.