Chamber and committees

Published information on drug-related (or drug-misuse) deaths can be obtained from the National Records Of Scotland website - Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2021 | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk). Information on Local Authority Wards is information that is not held.

The following tables provide the information by Local Authority.

All drug misuse deaths by Local Authority

The number of drug-related deaths by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) data zone quintile is not information that is held, but the following table provides the rate.

Drug misuse deaths in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) Quintiles, age-standardised death rates per 100,000 population, 2010-2021

The Low Carbon Transport Loan, launched in 2011, provides interest free loans to help households and businesses purchase electric vehicles. Since its launch, the scheme has invested over £176 million, helped purchase 6,148 low emission vehicles, and saved over 113,000 tonnes of CO2. The LCTL has several distinct streams, including the domestic, business and taxi loan streams.

The Energy Saving Trust deliver the Low Carbon Transport Loan on behalf of the Scottish Government. The target for processing submitted claims containing all requisite information is within 10 working days.

The following table shows the percentage of payments made to businesses within 10 working days of all the necessary information being submitted by the applicant. Despite the challenges posed by COVID, for the vast majority of cases falling outside of the target, payments have only been delayed by 1 or 2 days.

Network Rail advise that the list of 18 high priority stations to have tactile paving installed is as follows:

The Scotland Act 2016 empowers the Scottish Parliament to legislate for a devolved tax to replace the UK Aggregates Levy. This is an environmental tax that aims to reduce extraction of primary – fresh or new – aggregate, mainly crushed rock, gravel and sand, used as bulk fill in construction.

Official Statistics on Adult Disability Payment were published on 13 December 2022 and provided information on processing times up to 31 October 2022. This publication is available from: https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-scotland-stats-publications/#benefitsforcarersanddisabilityassistance.

Information on average processing time and the profile of processing times is available in Table 9 of the accompanying Excel tables.

We don’t hold the data that provides the total number of all events of near-fatal overdoses across Scotland.

The need for improved data sharing has been identified as key for the improvement of near-fatal overdose follow-up pathways. Through the Directors of Public Health National Drug Deaths Incident Management Team (NDDIMT), the need for improved data sharing is being taken forward as matter of priority in relation to MAT standard 3 - that all people at high risk of drug related harm are proactively identified and offered support to access treatment or care and support.

I am actively pursuing options for clarifying the position on information-sharing and discussions are ongoing with the Data Protection Officer around potential action they can take to assist with the sharing of essential information.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s Collaborative Framework Working Group, which is comprised of all active offshore wind developers in Scotland, the enterprise agencies and ORE Catapult, to develop a Strategic Investment Model (SIM). The SIM will deliver on the commitments in the Collaborative Framework Charter, and facilitate timely, strategic investment through the pooling/sharing and coordination of funds linked to supply chain commitments associated with the ScotWind projects. The Strategic Investment Model is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks, with further detail to be announced in early 2023.

Public Health Scotland is working with partners to develop and publish data on the prevalence rate for problematic drug use in Scotland. The next publication will include an estimate of the number of people with problematic opioid use during 2018-19 and this will be published by the end of 2023.

The most recent figures on the prevalence rate for problematic drug use in Scotland were published in 2018 and covered 2015-16.

Network Rail advise that of the 359 operational railway stations, 214 currently have platform edge tactiles installed. As the second phase of the installation programme is underway some stations where work has been completed may not yet have been captured in this data.

The list of stations is as follows:-

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the Building a new Scotland paper, A stronger economy with independence , are set out in the following table.