Chamber and committees

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Three recent Acts of the Scottish Parliament - the Management of Offenders (Scotland Act 2019, the Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019 and the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 - have changed the disclosure process in relation to the wellbeing and future life chances of children who have been involved in the children’s hearings system or criminal justice system.

Per Scottish Government policy, Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments have informed policy development and involved children and young people in evidence-gathering and decision-making.

Children and young people were spoken to directly though engagement with them at the Young Offender Institution (YOI) Polmont, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Children's Parliament, Who Cares? Scotland, Youth Advantage Outreach, Up-2-Us, Sacro, Youth Just Us, Life Changes Trust and Kibble, Good Shepherd, St Mary’s Kenmure and Rossie Young People’s Trust secure accommodation. The methods used to engage and record views ranged from scenario storytelling to quizzes, timelines, discussion groups, voting cards, games and artwork. Their views were recorded and applied to impact assessment of the policies.

New processes for review applications under the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 are due to be implemented in April 2025. Disclosure Scotland is engaging with Who Cares? Scotland, Children and Young People's Centre for Justice and Clan Childlaw about the effect on people who had justice-experience in childhood. Following engagement with children who had been brought into the PVG Scheme, the Disclosure Act raises the minimum age for accessing most disclosure types to 16 years old.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Disclosure Scotland regularly exceeds the Service Level Agreement to complete 90% of applications within 14 days. During 2022-2023 we completed 98% of applications within target and in 2023-2024 have so far delivered 95% within target. Disclosure Scotland monitors service delivery performance daily, while also utilising application volume forecasts and resource planning, to ensure that our Service Level Agreement is maintained.

As an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government, Disclosure Scotland presents its Annual Report and Accounts to Parliament each year. This includes information on performance.

The Scottish Government remain fully committed to the Verity House Agreement. Since the signing of the Verity House Agreement in June last year good progress has been made, and there are a number of positive examples of collaborative working between central and local government.

The Scottish Government is committed to an open and regular dialogue with Local government and are willing to meet at any time when any matters of concern arise. The level of engagement between our two spheres of government has never been so high.

The Scottish Government and COSLA meet regularly through a number of different forums under the Verity House Agreement to discuss progress towards our three shared priorities.

Crown Estate Scotland received £756 million in option fees from the initial ScotWind auctions in 2022-23. As set out in the 2022 Resource spending review, and subsequent budget publications, these funds were initially profiled to be drawn down by the Scottish Government over a three year period as follows:

2022-23 - £96 million

2023-24 - £310 million

2024-25 - £350 million

The final drawdown for 2022-23 was £96 million as planned. Drawdowns for 2023-24 and subsequent years are only finalised at the very end of March when the Scottish Government has more certainty over its financial position.

At the time of the 2024-25 Scottish Budget the planned drawdown for 2024-25 was decreased to £200 million reflecting the need to ensure sufficient funds were available to balance the 2023-24 financial position. Given the recent improvement to the 2023-24 position it is now likely that this will not be required in 2023-24 and therefore may be used to support future financial years.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. While not all of the aesthetics sector is currently regulated, HIS do regulate independent clinics, which would include aesthetics services, provided by a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife or dental care professional. You may wish to contact HIS directly for information on registered independent clinics.

SEPA have been regularly monitoring the Fruin Water since 3 January 2024, following reports of a small quantity of light crude oil surfacing from an underground pipeline. They will continue to do so until the clean-up is concluded.

The exact scale of the leak, the extent of contamination and the duration of the remediation work, will not be known until the results of the ground investigation have been presented to SEPA alongside the remediation options appraisal. This is expected by May.

The Glen Fruin road (C70) was closed by Police Scotland as a precaution following the discovery of an oil leak on 2nd January 2024. However, access through Glen Fruin will remain unaffected during the remediation phase.

Minor localised environmental impacts have been recorded and a range of precautionary measures have been installed at SEPA’s request. No significant impact has been detected with respect to water quality, migratory salmonids (salmon/trout) or to other wildlife within the Fruin Water or Loch Lomond.

Options are currently being explored for spending models on nature restoration that can encourage greater responsible private investment while maximising the value of public spending. This includes consideration of ‘blended finance’ mechanisms where public funding is used in a more targeted way to support increased nature restoration activity by attracting responsible private investment.

The Scottish Government has not assessed potential public expenditure or contingent liability implications for its budget to de-risk or otherwise sufficiently underwrite private investment in nature. Budget implications would be published in line with usual processes.

The Scottish Government held a meeting with children and young people’s organisations on 19 February to discuss safe and meaningful ways to gather the views of children and young people on relationships and behaviour in schools. Plans are currently being developed for how to take appropriate work forward.

This information is not held centrally. You may wish to contact Trading Standards Scotland directly for this information.

The National Complex Mesh Surgical Service assesses patient needs and, where appropriate and subject to shared decision making and informed consent, performs mesh removal surgery. To date, 135 mesh removal procedures have been undertaken by the Service. Many women make the choice following assessment and discussion with the specialist team to follow a conservative pathway of care and do not undergo surgery.

The needs of patients and their goals may differ and therefore their definition of success will vary too. The removal of mesh is often only part of the treatment journey, with further reconstructive surgery depending on clinical need taking place at a later date. Patients may also have other needs which require to be addressed by other members of the clinical team.

The service is required to comply with normal clinical governance mechanisms in place within NHSGGC to provide an assurance that the service being delivered is safe and of an appropriate quality.