Chamber and committees

Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, published in 2021, contains a key commitment to increase access to existing and emerging diabetes technologies. Between 2016 and 2022, we have invested £29.6 million of additional funding specifically to support this.

The new Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway workstream will also support accelerated distribution of Closed Loop Systems, in a more equitable way across Scotland, by creating a new national onboarding team. We are aware there are variations in approach to the cost of replacement batteries for insulin pumps across NHS Boards and we have asked Boards and healthcare professionals to improve equity of access to technologies. Through the ANIA pathway workstream, the Scottish Government has invested a further £350,000 to accelerate the distribution of Closed Loop Systems.

Not all insulin pumps require batteries, and we expect NHS Boards and staff to support patients to find the most appropriate technology for their specific circumstances.

We are committed to supporting families and households who are facing the increased cost of living, and this includes tackling the barriers people face when trying to access diabetes technologies.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that on 19 July 2023, out of the 2040 registered titles with a footprint area over 500 ha, 809 are owned exclusively by one or more natural persons. A further 15 titles are leased exclusively by one or more natural persons and 2 are mixed tenure titles registered under the Land Registration (Scotland) 1979 Act.

These figures exclude titles where a natural person may be acting in a special capacity (e.g., as a trustee or partner), as well as titles with a complex proprietorship structure consisting of a mix of natural and non-natural persons acting in various capacities.

Of the 615 areas of unregistered land over 500 ha, which have been linked to a Sasines Search Sheet in the Registers of Scotland Unlocking Sasines dataset, an estimated 244 are indicatively owned exclusively by one or more natural persons.

A breakdown by region is provided in the following table. 10 Land Register titles over 500 ha Register are near shore or offshore and therefore fall outwith the mapped boundaries of Scottish Local Authority areas.

Table: Land Register Titles/Unlocking Sasines polygons held by one or more natural persons

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that on 19 July 2023, out of the 2040 registered titles with a footprint area over 500 ha, 434 are owned exclusively by one or more companies. A further 212 titles are leased exclusively by one or more companies and 2 are mixed tenure titles registered under the Land Registration (Scotland) 1979 Act.

These figures exclude titles with a complex proprietorship structure consisting of a mix of natural and non-natural persons which may include a company.

Of the 615 areas of unregistered land over 500 ha, which have been linked to a Sasines Search Sheet in the Registers of Scotland Unlocking Sasines dataset, an estimated 188 are owned exclusively by one or more companies.

A breakdown by region is provided in the following table. 5 Land Register titles over 500 ha are near-shore or offshore and therefore fall outwith the mapped boundaries of Scottish Local Authority areas.

Table: Land Register Titles/Unlocking Sasines polygons held by one or more companies

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. She advises me that the Registers of Scotland does not collect information that is meant to identify land as publicly owned. Estimates are highly dependent on how public bodies are defined and searched for (by name) in the Land Register of Scotland and the Registers of Scotland Unlocking Sasines dataset.

Using available data sources, we estimate that on 21 July 2023, public sector bodies (including local authorities) held approximately 32,882 holdings across all tenure types, covering a combined area of approximately 884,350 ha.

288 holdings exceed 500 ha.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09277 on 4 July 2022. 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 .

Through the Corra Foundation, a Research Programme Fund was developed by the independent Drug Deaths Taskforce. The requested information is publicly available at Taskforce Funded Projects - Drug Deaths Taskforce (knowthescore.info) .

The capital funding provided by the Scottish Government to individual local authorities is included in the Local Government Finance Circulars.

Local government finance circulars - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Local authorities in Scotland also have a statutory power to borrow for their own capital expenditure and a duty to determine and keep under review the maximum amount which it can afford to allocate to capital spending.

Capital spending by local authority is included in the Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics (SLGFS). SLGFS is an annual publication that provides a comprehensive overview of financial activity of Scottish local authorities based on authorities audited accounts.

Local government finance statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme

The following table sets out the number of households who have received funding through the HES Grant and Loan Scheme (formerly HES Loan and Cashback Scheme) for solar PV/energy storage systems where not installed with a certified renewable heating or energy efficiency measure. These figures include instances where solar PV/energy storage systems have been installed alongside an existing renewable heating system.

Information on data quality will be included as part of the first release in autumn 2023.

The changes to the methods for producing census estimates have not fundamentally changed the way in which NRS is quality assuring and validating the data before publication.

Professor James Brown, Professor of Official Statistics Sydney, Chair of the International Steering Group noted: “Decisions were made on a sound methodological basis, providing NRS with a strong position for the statistical processing phase.”

In their Statistical Quality Assurance Strategy , NRS made a distinction between quality assurance at every step of the census data processing journey and validation of final estimates. By assessing quality at each step, NRS can be confident that errors are not being introduced while processing the data.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the integration of former Hong Kong residents into our communities. We have published a dedicated British National (Overseas) welcome pack, in both English and Cantonese, on our website.

We continue to provide significant levels of funding to a range of organisations supporting the integration of migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum. This includes supporting organisations, such as COSLA, the Scottish Refugee Council and British Red Cross. We aim to ensure that all arrivals to Scotland are welcomed and supported to integrate into Scottish society from day one of arrival. This work will continue.