Chamber and committees

The report will set out various facts in relation to quota allocated to incentivise selective fishing gear and low impact techniques such as: the number of vessels involved; tonnages of various species caught; area of landing and proportion for each quota stock in relation to the entire allocation for said stock.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-22257 on 3 November 2023.

The National Innovation Strategy addresses the challenges and actions we need to take to ensure we deliver across the entire range of innovation activity in Scotland, and how we can best utilise innovation as a driver to grow our economy, create jobs and deliver priority outcomes for all of Scotland's citizens. The Strategy sets out ambitious and transformational programmes on cluster building, investment, productivity, and commercialisation.

The National Innovation Strategy will take a cluster approach to our innovation priorities, and this approach will be a national, regional and local approach. We will work with industry, academia and the public sector to evaluate individual needs to address barriers and opportunities, and providing phased tailored packages of support in each priority area to further stimulate growth and innovation.

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

In January 2023, the Scottish Government agreed to produce a retrospective report in relation to the allocation of fish quota to vessels fishing by means associated with a lower environmental impact.

The report will review how quota was allocated to help incentivise selective fishing gear and low impact techniques, and other relevant factors such as the level of uptake of quota, where it was landed across the Scottish coast, and number of vessels involved. We plan to publish this report in the first half of 2024.

I would also take this opportunity to highlight that the Scottish Government recently published a consultation on how we allocate a portion of our fishing quota. This consultation seeks views on how the Additional Quota Scotland receives following the implementation of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement with the European Union and the UK becoming an independent Coastal State are distributed throughout Scotland.

The consultation is available at: https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/fish-stocks-allocation-of-additional-quota/ . It closes on 11 January 2024.

The Scottish Government seeks to support the adoption of innovative aquaculture practices and recognises the role which legislative frameworks and other incentives play in fostering innovation. A recent example is the reduction of SEPA’s CAR licence fees by 50% for sites which plan to utilise innovative waste capture technologies.

The potential for a Scottish marine aquaculture innovation site was explored by the previous Aquaculture Industry Leadership Group. The Scottish Government remains open to discussing the purpose and aims of a marine innovation site further with stakeholders.

The National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care launched at the beginning of October, and is currently focused on delivering a programme of work designed to improve the capability of rural, remote and island primary care and community services, and support the improvement and retention of a more highly skilled rural health workforce.

The Centre will be delivered by NHS Education Scotland and is backed by £3m until 2026. The Centre, will be both virtual and local to ensure its availability to all communities, and will provide a resource to support Health Boards and Health and Social Care partnerships in their responsibilities and drive essential improvements in sustainability.

We are developing a new digital strategy to support our ongoing commitment to improve digital access for learners. This strategy will define the key elements for successful digital learning and seek to deliver the right technology, in the right place, with a workforce that knows how to use it.

Officials will engage with key partners across the education sector in development and implementation of the strategy, which we will publish in 2024.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to Women’s Aid East and Midlothian through the Third Sector Homelessness Fund and the Delivering Equally Safe Fund.

Women’s Aid East and Midlothian was funded through the Scottish Government’s Third Sector Homelessness Fund between 2021 and 2023. The objectives of Women’s Aid East and Midlothian's funding in 2022-23 was to:

• Deliver rapid access, permanent housing for women and children with complex needs and provide intensive and flexible support.
• Promote and increase the use of trauma-informed responses throughout Scotland for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.
• Prevent women and children experiencing domestic abuse from homelessness by implementing Housing first as a preventative approach.

Since October 2021, Women’s Aid East and Midlothian have been funded through the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, which will run until March 2025. The objectives of the fund are:

• Women and children affected by violence are identified (early)
• Women and children’s safety needs are met
• Women and children’s wider wellbeing needs are met
• Fewer people adhere to gender stereotypes
• People have increased understanding of all forms of VAWG (causes, consequences, and appropriate responses)
• Power, decision-making and material resources are distributed more equally between men and women.
• Tolerance of VAWG is reduced and people are more likely to recognise and challenge it
• Perpetrators are identified early
• Perpetrators are supported to change their behaviour
• Perpetrators are sanctioned / held to account
• Violence against women and girls is reduced / eradicated
• Negative impacts on women and children who have been affected by violence are reduced / eradicated

Additionally, Women’s Aid East and Midlothian received indirect funding through the 100 Days (Covid emergency) funding. In 2021, the Scottish Government awarded £2,250,000 of funding over three years to Scottish Women’s Aid through the 100 Days (Covid emergency) funding. The funding was provided to frontline services for women and girls affected by gender-based violence to deal with additional pressures that occurred during the pandemic. Scottish Women’s Aid divided the funding amongst local Women’s Aid organisations, including Women’s Aid East and Midlothian.

The objectives of the 100 days (Covid emergency) funding were:

• fund additional staff to respond to an increase in demand from victims of abuse for support services
• improvements to organisations’ IT and digital resource
• additional training to allow services to be augmented so that people could quickly and easily access help.

We are aware that stigma can act as a barrier preventing people from seeking treatment. This is why we are taking actions to reduce the stigma around alcohol misuse.

For example, last year we ran a national campaign to increase people’s awareness that a drug or alcohol problem is a health condition, which requires help and support and not judgement. We also referenced stigma on the NHS Inform website , which reinforces the message that a drug or alcohol problem is a health condition requiring help.

In addition, we published a cross-government Stigma Action Plan , aimed at tackling the stigma of substance use. We are working with a range of partners and stakeholders to co-design the next phase on the details of the actions outlined in the plan.

We also welcome the ‘See Beyond, see the lives’ campaign , which recognises the importance of supporting the families of people with problem substance use, who are often stigmatised and excluded from support, despite experiencing harms in their own right. In delivering the actions in our stigma action plan we will work with families to ensure that we can tackle the specific types of stigma that they experience both in accessing services and support and in daily life.

Moreover, we are planning to ensure treatment standards for alcohol, informed by the UK-wide clinical guidelines, will introduce new approaches to treatment, including non-stigmatising service delivery.

I recently chaired a series of meetings of a Priority (previously known as Vulnerable) Energy Consumers Working Group to consider the key principles and practicalities of delivering a social energy tariff. The work of the group has informed the Scottish Government’s representation to the UK Government ahead of its Autumn Statement. We are continuing to call for additional and meaningful support to be delivered to those who need it the most including the urgent introduction of a social tariff mechanism.

In addition, I have met with the UK Government Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability three times and advocated for a social tariff targeted at consumers living under vulnerable circumstances, including high energy users that use medical equipment at home.

Scottish Government has outlined the importance of a person-centred approach to treatment in it’s alcohol and drug treatment strategy, Rights, Respect, Recovery . By developing recovery oriented systems of care and creating services that are trauma informed, the root causes of problematic alcohol and/or drug use can be identified and supported.

We recognise the many drivers behind problematic use of drugs and alcohol, and the importance of working together to address the underlying causes, providing support to those affected to live full and healthy lives.

We are tackling this by ensuring a holistic approach and strengthening links between work on poverty, structural inequality, education, children and young people and work on alcohol and drug policy.