Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government commissioned independent research into the state of the steel sector in Scotland from the University of Warwick. This report is available to read online and can be found here .

Decommissioning at Scottish ports should be undertaken in line with the principles of a circular economy and promote the reuse of materials over recycling and disposal. A circular approach has the potential to reduce the energy intensity and emissions from decommissioning structures, create new jobs and business opportunities, and provide cost savings for manufacturing processes that use decommissioned material.

We would encourage any company interested in developing a major project in Scotland, such as a steel mill, to engage early with the Scottish Government and our Enterprise Agencies.

To develop the Scottish Veterans Treatment Pathway, we are working with a range of partners, including the Scottish Trauma Network to understand what is required to most effectively treat and meet the needs of veterans and their families who have endured injury while in service.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13888 on‎ 27 January 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 Scottish Government works with key veteran stakeholders, NHS Armed Forces and Veterans Champions and through the Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans Health Joint Group to ensure we create the conditions for and drive forward progress towards the ‘Distinctive Scottish Approach to Veterans Health’ as set out by the Scottish Veterans Commissioner.

The action taken by Scottish Government against this set of recommendations can be found here SVC Annual Progress Report: Findings | (scottishveteranscommissioner.org)

The work of Armed Forces and Veterans Champions throughout Scotland is crucial to ensuring veterans can access the right support, guidance and services. The Scottish Government supports fully the work of the Champions in public sector organisations including Police Scotland, Local Authorities, the NHS, Department for Work and Pensions and Higher and Further Education institutions. I am chairing a roundtable with Local Authority Champions in late January.

We would encourage any service delivery organisation providing support to veterans to consider developing a veterans champion role.

Scottish Government has established a working group to further progress our vision of developing a Scottish Veterans’ Treatment Pathway. The pathway will integrate physical, mental and wellbeing support and provide a route for treatment for veterans presenting with a service-related injury, which remains a cause for concern despite treatment, either previous or current.

The funding mechanism is still to be determined this may include a specialist services being commissioned by National Services Division through their standard process About specialist services | National Services Scotland (nhs.scot)

The RSA programme started in 1972 and not all records dating back to this time are available to Scottish Government or Scottish Enterprise. In answering this question we have therefore provided all information available to both Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise.

Scottish Enterprise who currently have responsibility for delivery of the programme, have interrogated all digital records available to them and provided the information in the following table. This captures the year in which grant offers were accepted and the maximum grant payable, broken down by local authority area. It does not reflect the funding paid to projects in those local authority areas, or the duration of the projects.

It should be noted that while the digital records available to Scottish Enterprise include some grant awards dating back to 1994, it was not responsible for recording keeping prior to 2009 and so cannot guarantee that the information provided is a complete record of all grant awards made in the local authority areas within that timeframe or in the period preceding it.

The Scottish Government actively participates in a number of cross border networks through MoD/Department of Health Partnership Board and Department of Health and Social Care sub groups. These groups have UK wide representation and provide an opportunity to share information regarding veterans health.

In addition we have regular meetings with Office of Veterans Affairs and NHS England.

The Scottish Government has collated Scotland level data on the number of enforcement notices since 2010. Information about notices should be available from individual local authorities via their online building standards registers on their websites. These have been publicly available since 2016. The number of notices issued under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 is provided in the following table.

As I announced to Parliament on 19 January 2023, the Scottish Government intends to introduce the Housing Bill – which will include long-term rent control measures – as soon as possible after the 2023 summer recess.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the supply of accessible homes as set out in the long term housing strategy Housing to 2040. We are in the process of reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide. This guide is a key reference document for the affordable housing sector in Scotland and we plan to consult on proposed changes to the guide this spring. It is intended that the review of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide will directly inform the development of an all-tenure Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which will be implemented through changes to building standards and guidance from 2025-26. This will improve the accessibility of new build homes from the outset.