Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers have been clear that it is for the Scottish Government, accountable to the Scottish Parliament, and not the UK Government to decide how policies in devolved areas are developed and delivered in Scotland, including allocation of funding, in line with the devolved settlement. Scottish Government and UK Government Ministers and officials have had extensive engagement on the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill and further detailed engagement around the Bill is ongoing.

As previously announced, we intend to open a Scottish Government Office in Warsaw within the lifetime of this Parliament. The office will contribute to a fairer, greener Scotland by promoting Scottish culture and expertise, attracting inward investment and fostering people-to people contacts between Scotland and Poland.

Transport Scotland and their operating company, BEAR Scotland, have taken a number of actions following the recent A86 landslide at Roybridge and further measures are in hand.

A series of landslips emanating from private land adjacent to the A86 trunk road occurred on Tuesday 13 June 2023. Six separate locations along the A86 were affected with an estimate 900 tonnes of material reaching the A86. An unoccupied private dwelling was also affected with material depositing close by. The property was secured and no further action was required. Records indicate that 100mm of rain fell in a localised area within a 3 hour-period. This led to the mobilisation of material from the land, leading to closures of both the trunk road and the parallel rail line

Geotechnical and operational response teams attended, leading to the road reopening under traffic lights by Wednesday 14 June 2023 and fully reopening on Monday 19 June 2023. The railway opened on the same day.

Additional heavy rainfall on 11 July led to an overnight closure with the A86 reopening at lunchtime 12 July under traffic lights, which were removed on 13 July.

As noted above, the immediate response by the geotechnical and operational teams enabled access to be returned as soon as it was safe to do so. This helped to reconnect communities and business access in the area. This work was undertaken in conjunction with both Network Rail and the private landowners from whose land the mobilised material emanated. These locations along the A86 continue to be monitored by BEAR Scotland.

For the medium to longer term, measures are currently being discussed with the adjacent landowners to help them develop remediation works, including inspections for any blocked culverts in their land, to prevent further incidents affecting the A86.

The UK Government’s 11th hour decision to undermine DRS in Scotland will have affected businesses across Scotland that were preparing for the launch of the Scottish scheme. We wrote to the UK Government on 16 May, 19 May and 23 May 2023 to inform them of the potential impact a delayed decision on the IMA exclusion, or not providing an exclusion, would have on businesses. In our letter dated 2 June 2023, we specifically highlighted our concerns about the impact this would have on Circularity Scotland Limited (CSL).

Administrators (Interpath) were appointed on 21 June 2023, and are currently working through the details of the administration process for CSL. The administration process will assess if any businesses has been directly financially affected by CSL going into administration.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the delivery of a successful DRS in October 2025 and are pushing the UK Government to set out how this can be delivered across the UK. The onus is now on DEFRA to work with the devolved nations, industry and wider stakeholder to ensure this scheme is launched successfully and on time.

As noted in S6W-19781, we committed to publish the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan Update by the end of the year alongside the Climate Change Plan.

All newly qualified teachers in Scotland must complete a period of probationary service to show that they meet the Standard for Full Registration.

In the September 2022 Teacher census there were 2,889 full-time equivalent probationary teachers employed in publicly funded schools on the Teacher Induction Scheme(TIS) or other single year induction schemes. A small number of teachers may also enter into teaching via a flexible or alternative route.

The Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) sets out a framework for green skills planning and a clear direction for the changes needed in the skills system, signalling the role that industry, communities and individuals across Scotland will play in achieving this.

The Plan commits to maximising the uptake of all skills pathways relevant to supporting the transition to net zero across training, education and work-based learning through a range of short, medium, and long-term actions and can be found here: climate-emergency-skills-action-plan-2020-2025.pdf (skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk) .

The Scottish Government has not carried out work to assess the impacts of buddleia on Scotland’s forests, natural habitats and riparian areas. Due to the preference of the species for disturbed open ground, its impact on these areas appears to be low. It is not considered to be forest-invasive at this time, and as such, currently poses limited concerns for woodland management or creation. We will continue to record and monitor its presence in the habitat restoration plans we will produce as part of our work to restore Scotland’s Atlantic rainforest.

We understand that buddleia is only likely to establish in buildings where there is a lack of building maintenance. Investing in overall repair and maintenance, therefore, will reduce problems caused by buddleia. Historic Environment Scotland has produced guidance, on both building maintenance and on the effect of biological growth on masonry, which is freely available on its website.

The Crofting Commission publishes its application processing times in its Annual Report & Accounts. The median turnaround times for applications completed during Q1 of 2023-24 is as follows:

Croft House decrofting: 11 weeks

Apportionment: 117 weeks

The croft registration process belongs to Registers of Scotland, therefore these figures are not readily available.

Whilst the Commission’s capacity for processing casework declined in 2021-22, an increase to its budget in the last two years has enabled it to expand its staff resource and improvements are being made. The apportionment cases now being cleared include some of those affected by delays in 2021-22, or earlier.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish forecasts of the number of people receiving payments and spending for Carer’s Allowance Supplement. Those figures are on a national level and not at a constituency geography. The latest published forecasts estimated spending forecast for Carer’s Allowance Supplement for 2023-24 is £49 million with an estimated 91,000 people receiving payments.

The Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts at May 2023 can be found at: Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – May 2023 – Scottish Fiscal Commission .

To note, payments are made twice a year and while most people will receive two payments there may be some people only eligible at one of the payment windows.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics for total number of carers eligible for Carer’s Allowance Supplement, in each financial year by local authority area, as well as the value of payments at each eligibility date by local authority area.

The official statistics for Carer’s Allowance Supplement can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Summary statistics for Carer's Allowance Supplement to April eligibility date 2023

The latest published number of carers paid and value of payments for the Local Authority area of South Lanarkshire, which includes East Kilbride, are as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Number and value of Carer’s Allowance Supplement payments in South Lanarkshire for each financial year.