Chamber and committees

The majority of funding allocated to the Drug Deaths Taskforce was dispersed via Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) and The Corra Foundation. The Taskforce also funded the Digital Inclusion Project.

Alcohol and Drug Partnerships received additional funding in 2020-2021 and
‎ 2021-2022 from the Drug Deaths Taskforce.In order to receive funding ADPs were required to submit a proposal, clearly setting out how they would use this funding to address gaps in delivering the Taskforce’s six evidence-based strategies to help reduce drug-related deaths. Funding allocated to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships is subject to Scottish Government’s robust grant management process, outlined in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). The SPFM provides guidance on the proper handling and reporting of public funds.

Through The Corra Foundation, a Research Programme Fund and an Innovation Fund was developed by the Drug Deaths Taskforce. The Corra Foundation facilitated review panels with members from a wide range of backgrounds, including those with lived experience, to review and consider applications made to both the Research Programme Fund and the Innovation Fund. The funds were created to contribute to the evidence base to inform future actions.

Monitoring of the projects was managed by The Corra Foundation. Monitoring and evaluation were a critical element in obtaining funding. When funding was awarded, each grantee signed grant offer paperwork which contained several conditions. These included conditions around payment and reporting. The content of the grant offer letters (including the conditions) were agreed with Scottish Government for each round and new conditions added as required. Additionally, a thematic evaluation was funded by the Taskforce through the Corra Foundation.

The independent Drug Deaths Taskforce concluded in July 2022 after publishing its final report, Changing Lives . The Scottish Government then responded to the recommendations and actions put forward by the Taskforce within the Drug Deaths Taskforce response: cross government approach .

Based on Ofcom’s latest figures up to the end of January 2023, 5% of all residences in Scotland do not currently have access to a superfast broadband connection of 30 Mbps (megabits per second) or more.

Through the R100 programme, all premises without access to superfast broadband are being supported to obtain an improved broadband connection - either through inclusion in the R100 contract build plans, or via eligibility for the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.

Some people choose not to upgrade to faster broadband speeds, even when they are available to them, with Ofcom estimating that only 71% of premises in Scotland take up superfast broadband service when it is available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18902 on 22 June 2023. 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

The R100 programme is expected to be completed by March 2028 when the final connections in the R100 North contract are delivered.

Around 99% of the connections being delivered through the R100 contracts are full-fibre, capable of delivering speeds of 1,000 Megabits per second (Mbps) – more than 30 times faster than our original superfast commitment.

Scottish Government Directors General wrote to the chief executives of most public bodies in early 2023, setting out expectations for sustainable and impactful public services. As part of this, public bodies were encouraged to consider where savings and benefits can be achieved by working together, including for example through shared approaches on estates. Public bodies have since provided feedback and we expect Directors General to write again shortly.

The Resource Spending Review re-affirmed the Scottish Government commitment to minimise cost and maximise best value in relation to the Scottish public sector estate, which includes to increase co-location, collaboration and the interoperability of offices. A new programme of public sector property improvement work, being the Single Scottish Estate, is helping with delivery of these commitments and will support publicly-funded bodies to, where appropriate, co-locate as well as with other ways to optimise the estate footprint. I wrote to Chief Executives of public bodies on 24 May to update them on this work.

A total of £30m of Scottish Government funding is being made available through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund to support the aim of doubling the public network to 6,000 charge points by 2026; with the expectation of leveraging an additional £30m from private sources.

Transport Scotland is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charge point strategies and infrastructure expansion plans, to identify and take forward the opportunities to work with the private sector to grow Scotland’s public charging network. These plans are identifying local and regional charge point needs, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial charge point operators.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18867 on 21 June 2023. 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 .

Our Reaching 100% (R100) commitment is delivered through three strands of activity – the R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and continued commercial build.

While a property may move between these strands, for example properties can move from being eligible for R100 SBVS to being delivered commercially, no properties are removed from the overall scope of the programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18442 on 13 June 2023. 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

The following table shows the number of a nimals involved in injury collisions that were hit in the carriageway.