The UK Autumn Statement was a worst-case scenario for Scotland and confirmed that the Scottish Government Capital Block Grant is forecast to contract by almost 10% in real terms over 5 years (2023-24 to 2027-28). Capital spending pressures across the Scottish Government far exceed available funding This means that it will take longer to deliver all our capital commitments, and difficult decisions were required in order to achieve a fiscally sustainable capital budget. As such, we targeted the limited capital funding available towards supporting employment and the economy, achieving our net zero ambitions and maintaining high-quality public services across Scotland.

A significant proportion of the expenditure in the portfolio is legally and contractually committed, and the budget ensures that those commitments are met in full in this budget as well as allocating funding to support critical maintenance and renewal expenditure to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to a safe and reliable transport system.

The budget process also considered equalities and fairer Scotland duties and progress towards our statutory targets for climate change and child poverty in prioritising the budget available to me. I refer to the Equalities and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement and Carbon Assessment published alongside this budget.

Officials continue to engage with SPT on the implications of the budget decision along with the impact on future spending plans, and SPT are invited to advise Transport Scotland on any impacts of budget decisions on risk to service provision.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The health and wellbeing of those who live and work in our prisons is a key priority for the Scottish Prison Service.

Investment in technologies such as Rapiscan machines, now available in every prison, and the recent purchase of 9 new Body Scanners, further enhance a comprehensive range of security measures already deployed by the SPS to detect illegal substances. We are also piloting Drone Detection technology to help detect and prevent the introduction of illicit articles and substances through this channel.

By working closely with partners such as Police Scotland, SPS must and does remain vigilant to the continuously evolving nature of drug use to ensure use of technology and tactical measures remain current, adaptable, and capable of detecting and preventing drugs from entering our prisons.

SPS will continue to work with partners to prevent the introduction of contraband and seek convictions where appropriate.

SPS also continue to advise staff on safety and risk assessment processes in conducting their duties, to minimise the impact and risk of exposure to any unknown hazardous substance.

The Scottish Government has listened to young people and their families about the application process and works closely with delivery partners and local councils to make improvements.

In light of feedback received, the Improvement Service, which manages the online portal getyournec.scot , delivered a number of updates to the website in June 2022 to improve the application process whilst maintaining the integrity of the child safety and identity requirements. These improvements included broadening the range of accepted proof documents, providing additional guidance, and enhancing the functionality of the website by adding a save and return feature so that applications can be made in multiple sittings.

The Year 1 evaluation - Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme | Transport Scotland found that a majority (64%) of survey respondents that had signed up for the scheme indicated that the application process had been either very or fairly easy, and those who had signed up after improvements were made were more likely to find the process easy.

Furthermore, local councils provide a variety of options for applications to be made offline or via parentsportal.scot . Many also have dedicated staff on hand to help those who may need additional support through the application process.

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication of the Sands Listening Project: Learning from the experiences of Black and Asian bereaved parents report as an important addition to the landscape of confidential enquiries, audits and other reports that inform the work already underway to address racialised inequalities in maternity. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24319 on 29 January 2024 which outlines this programme of work. 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 .

We have committed to a £1.8 billion investment over the course of this parliamentary term to make our homes warmer, greener and more efficient. This includes an allocation of £350m to heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures in 2023-24, including £119m targeted at fuel poor households. This is delivered through two long-standing energy efficiency programmes – the Area Based Schemes and Warmer Homes Scotland - that have already supported over 150,000 households in or at risk of fuel poverty.

In addition, since the winter of 2020 the Scottish Government has allocated funding for the Fuel Insecurity Fund which has been providing support to households who were at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing their energy use. Further funding has been allocated for wider fuel poverty action. Among other things, this budget line has supported the costs of the previous non-statutory Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel and our current statutory, Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel.

The following table sets out the allocations towards tackling fuel poverty across the consecutive years from 2020-21 to the draft Budget for 2024-25:

NHS Scotland currently offers a whole gene screening panel for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer to test for faults in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 and a range of other target genes. At present, this testing is available to people from specific population groups (including those of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage) if they meet clinical criteria that indicate a higher genetic risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

The Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM) was established in 2022 to develop a fully considered and sustainable genomic medicine service for Scotland. The SSNGM contains specialist Scottish Genomics Test Advisory Groups (SG-TAG) for both cancer and rare and inherited conditions, whose role is to review and assess the clinical validity and utility of new tests, and changes to the referral criteria for existing tests.

The SSNGM plan to initiate a review of the existing hereditary cancer testing pathways in 2024. This review will include both the referral criteria for our existing genomic test offering and alternative testing methods and will make recommendations via the SG-TAG process.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of all people in Scotland’s prisons is at the heart of SPS’ newly published Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody (2023).

The SPS engaged with approximately 400 people during the review of the SPS Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy (2014), and the SPS has no record of any communication from Professor Jo Phoenix during this period.

As set out in the Scottish Governments Draft budget published on 19 December 2023, the capital funding position is extremely challenging due to the UK Government’s decision to cut our capital budget by nearly 10%, a cumulative capital cut of £1.6bn. That has inevitably led to some difficult decisions on what capital projects will be progressed. In common with all health capital investment projects in development, the National Treatment Centres have been paused until the necessary capital funding to complete the project becomes available.

As set out in the Scottish Government's Draft budget published on 19 December 2023, the capital funding position is extremely challenging due to the UK Government’s decision to cut our capital budget by nearly 10% a cumulative capital cut of £1.6bn. That has inevitably led to some difficult decisions on what capital projects will be progressed. In common with all health capital investment projects in development, the National Treatment Centres have been paused until the necessary capital funding to complete the project becomes available.

The Ukraine Longer-Term Resettlement Fund (ULTRF) has so far brought 1238 homes back into use spanning 19 projects with a total investment of over £25 million. Fife Council have not applied to the Fund and therefore no funding has been made available to them through this route.