Chamber and committees

The Stroke Improvement Plan includes a commitment to assess the current ability of NHS Boards to implement the National Model of Psychological Care in Stroke (Scotland).

This is currently being assessed via NHS Board reviews which now include a requirement to demonstrate adequate provision of psychological support.

Assessment of ongoing implementation of the National Model of Psychological Care in Stroke (Scotland) will be reported on in the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme National Report.

Data on employer type was not collected during the first year of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) which was academic year 2017-2018. Information on Levy Paying employer spend on the first four years of the Fund is available in the FWDF evaluation report which was published in January 2023: https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-flexible-workforce-development-fund-fwdf/ .

Based on the information provided by our delivery partners, the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, the level of FWDF accessed by private sector organisations in the academic years 2018-2023 was:

• 2018-2019 - £7 million.
• 2019-2020 - £6.7 million.
• 2020-2021 - £8.3 million.
• 2021-2022 - £9.1 million.
• 2022-2023 - part year as delivery continues to end of December 2023 - £7.1 million.

The Scottish Government does not engage directly with local authorities regarding the Celtic Connections Festival. The Scottish Government provides Celtic Connections financial support through EXPO funds, administered through Creative Scotland, to help Celtic Connections meet key strategic objectives linked to the fund.

In 2023/24 Celtic Connections received £101,000 to help them raise their international profile and promote Scottish artists by enabling Celtic Connections to enhance their programmes through exciting and innovative co-productions and collaborations. The EXPO application process and allocation of EXPO funding is managed through Creative Scotland.

The Women’s Health Plan recognises that many women face multiple and often overlapping disadvantages and barriers to health and healthcare. That is why we aim to take an intersectional approach across all the actions in the Women’s Health Plan, so that all women enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives.

This includes the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform which has comprehensive information on menopause translated into five languages, easy read and BSL.

We are working closely with The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) who continue to support the work of the Plan through their dedicated lived experience programme. This included a series of webinars on menopause, with live British Sign Language interpretation as well as visual resources. The resources are available online, or via hard copy.

The ALLIANCE have also produced a toolkit for delivering Conversation Cafes to facilitate informed and open conversations among women about women’s health – including menopause - with an accompanying resource hub . This model also supports the sharing of information with women who cannot or prefer not to access information online.

A public health campaign to help remove stigma and raise awareness of the symptoms of menopause is in development and is planned at present to be delivered within the current financial year.

Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) shines a light on the continuing presence of Islamophobia in our society, and the impact that anti-Muslim hatred can have.

The Scottish Government is taking action to implement our new Hate Crime Strategy for tackling all forms of hate crime, including Islamophobic hate crime. The strategy was developed in partnership with a range of organisations who have expertise in tackling hatred and prejudice, including Police Scotland who are members of our Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group.

Our Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan, published 20 November, outlines our priorities for tackling hate crime until 2026. The delivery plan sets out our action in relation to the strategy’s commitments, including support for victims and reporting, improving data and evidence on hate crime and developing effective approaches to prevention. It will also support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

Whilst regulation of internet services is reserved to the UK Government, we will consider the impacts of online hate crime, recognising the need to continuously improve and adapt to align with changes online. We want to ensure people – including children and young people – know how to keep safe online, including on social media.

We will continue to engage with the UK Government as they implement the Online Safety Act.

All Personal Independence Payment awards received from the Department for Work and Pensions are tracked throughout the case transfer process, to ensure a safe and secure transition into Adult Disability Payment. We monitor the progress of transferring clients’ awards on a daily basis and have a joint Scottish Government and Department for Work and Pensions forum to discuss progress and to raise and address any issues that may arise. Approximately 90% of all cases transferred from Personal Independence Payment progress through the process automatically and do not require any additional checks by client advisers.

Social Security Scotland ask clients about their experiences of case transfer as part of their regular client survey. The latest published survey covers January to March 2023 and can be found on the Social Security Scotland website. The Scottish Government are also currently undertaking an evaluation of case transfers to Child and Adult Disability Payment as part of the wider programme of evaluation of disability benefits.

In academic year 2021/22, £15.5 million was spent on the delivery of workforce training opportunities through the Flexible Workforce Delivery Fund.

The area of High Conservation Value Woodland (HCVW) on Scotland’s national forests and land has not decreased in real terms. The method used to calculate HCVW area has been refined to more accurately reflect where native trees would naturally occur.

Plans are in place for Forestry and Land Scotland to increase the amount of HCVW they manage through (a) greater rates of restoration of Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites from funding awarded by SG totalling £2.8M between FY 2022-23 & FY 2023-24. This will be used to commence a programme of rainforest restoration works, as part of the Programme for Government commitment to support the restoration and expansion of Scotland’s rainforests, and establish a National Register of Ancient Woodlands. This funding has enabled FLS to underpin the restoration of 658 hectares of priority rainforest area in Cowal, Argyll (Kintyre & West Loch Awe), Loch Lomond Basin, Wester Ross and the Isle of Arran (North Sannox). Activity includes INNS control, clearing non-native tree regeneration and deer management.

And (b) improvements to the condition of ancient semi-natural woodlands. This will be achieved on 4,663 ha of Ancient Semi-natural woodland areas on Scotland's national forests and land within the Rainforest Zone. Work is underway to remove non-native tree regeneration and invasive non-native species from prioritised areas.

Deer management will continue to increase, with positive benefits for PAWS restoration and ASNW condition already being observed. It is anticipated natural tree regeneration will occur within PAWS under restoration and colonisation more generally throughout rainforest habitat following a reduction in deer densities, buffering zones for natural colonisation are being planned within Land Management Plans .

Additionally improvements to the condition of ancient semi-natural woodlands areas in upper Spey-side are being achieved through participation with the Cairngorms connect project.

Out with the Rainforest Zone, alternative funding streams are being explored to support the continued restoration of iconic landscapes such as Glen Affric and the Black Wood of Rannoch.

All £15.5 million plus an additional £4.5 million was spent by Forest Enterprise Scotland (the predecessor to Forestry and Land Scotland) on rhododendron control between 2010 and 2020.

The area treated was in the region of 16,000 hectares. Complete eradication of this highly invasive plant is not realistic due in part to the continued reinvasion of seedlings from adjacent uncontrolled sites. FLS considers successfully controlled sites as those in the ‘maintenance phase’ where rhododendron no longer threatens the conservation interest on a site and recolonisation will be slow.

FLS continue to control rhododendron in priority sites on Scotland’s national forests and land, and where possible in collaboration with other land managers at the landscape scale.