Chamber and committees

In June 2022, Scottish Ministers received an application from Naturalis Energy under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 for the proposed Knockkippen Wind Farm, to be located within East Ayrshire. Currently, discussions are ongoing between the Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit, the developer and several consultees in relation to addressing outstanding issues. Until these matters are resolved, Scottish Ministers are not yet in a position to determine the application.

The Scottish Government has always recognised the importance of our international links and we want to develop Scotland’s direct connectivity to China to help build strong links for business and exports, as well as make it easier for visitors and students to come and experience Scotland.

Transport Scotland’s Aviation Team, along with VisitScotland and Scottish Development International, met a number of airlines from China at the World Route Development Forum in October 2023, to discuss future opportunities. These discussions are, however, commercially sensitive and I cannot share specific details.

To help secure new connectivity between Scotland and China, the Scottish Government will continue to work with Scotland’s airports to consider what support and information we can provide to help build the case for future routes.

The level of funding set out in the Scottish Budget reflects that the delivery of Glen Sannox (801) is now at an advanced stage. The costs and delivery schedules of both 801 and 802 continue to be scrutinised closely, with updates provided regularly to the Scottish Parliament.

The business case and cost review exercise for Ardrossan is expected to report outcomes in February which will then inform discussion between the funding partners on next steps.

The paper referred to in the question, published in 2018, lists a number of externalised costs including climate change, air quality, congestion, social exclusion and inequity. In the National Transport Strategy, published in 2020, Transport Scotland recognised these as priority areas, and the annual National Transport Strategy Delivery plans set out the interventions Scottish Government is taking to deliver the NTS Strategy. A significant legislative programme for transport was developed through the Transport Scotland Act (2019), covering a range of transport areas including smart ticketing, bus services, pavement parking, workplace parking licensing, road works, duties on health boards in regard to transport and low emissions zones. These have been either fully implemented or continue to be taken forward. The Scottish Government are not actively considering new legislation relating to transport at this time.

Overall more trainee doctor posts have filled in 2023 than any other year on record, (data correct as at 25 July 2023). Within that overall context there will always be a number of posts which do not fill. Diagnostic Neuropathology ST3 is a small specialty with only 1 post advertised in 2023, therefore, as this post has not filled, the fill rate appears as 0%. We continue to work closely with our partners in NHS Education for Scotland and Health Boards, to consider ways of improving fill rates across all specialities.

The publication of performance and carrying statistics is a matter for CalMac Ferries Ltd as the operator of the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services contract.

As the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) was delivered by Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of the Scottish Government, we do not hold the grant offer letter that details the specific outputs and outcomes for the Al-Mahdi Foundation’s 2018-2020 project.

However to be eligible all projects had to meet all four of the CCF’s key criteria; specific outputs and outcomes were designed around these:

• Community- Your community must be at the heart of the decision-making process of the project. Community demand for the project must be clearly demonstrated and projects must be designed and delivered by communities. Applicants should show how they will work in partnership with other local organisations that are engaged in similar or related work.
• Improved Climate Literacy - The project must deliver increased awareness and understanding of climate change and enable the community to make informed choices to reduce its impact on climate change.
• Carbon (CO2e) Reduction - The project must lead to a measurable reduction in local carbon emissions through the activities it delivers.
• Sustainable Legacy - The project must deliver a low carbon legacy, with outcomes and/or behaviours that continue after the project is completed.

The Scottish Government has no plans to create specific funding schemes for Brain Tumour research.

Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

The CSO's Translational Clinical Studies (TCS) Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research (HIPS) Committee each meet twice per year to consider funding applications. Details of the application process are published on the CSO website.

https://www.cso.sc ot.nhs.uk/grant-funding/response-mode-funding-schemes/. Applications on Brain Tumour research are welcomed.

CSO provides funding support through NHS Research Scotland (NRS) for infrastructure to support the running of clinical trials in the NHS here. this includes the NRS Cancer Research Network whose role is to increase, support and sustain clinical trial activity in cancer care in Scotland https://www.nhsresearchscotland.org.uk/research-areas/cancer

The NRS Cancer Research Network is currently supporting 13 Brain Tumour Clinical studies with over 190 patients recruited.

Through UK-wide funding agreements, researchers based in Scotland are able to access research funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR). Within their individual remits, these programmes can consider applications for research in Brain Tumours. CSO is working with the health research community in Scotland to ensure awareness of these opportunities and to maximise the number of high quality applications from Scotland to the NIHR research funding programmes going forward.

In our cancer strategy published in June last year, the Scottish Government committed to focus on cancer types that are the largest burden and have worse outcomes. These include brain and the other cancers categorised as less-survivable such as oesophagus, pancreas, and stomach.

We are continuing to invest in 12 pilot single point of contact (SPOC) sites and will evaluate the impact of the programme and expand its reach. We are also rolling out our final Improving the Cancer Journey (ICJ) service, in partnership with Macmillan, giving everyone diagnosed with cancer in Scotland access to a key support worker.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24110 on 18 January 2024. 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 .