Chamber and committees

We are aware of the distress to families affected by tissue and organ retention at post mortem. We are further aware that while the majority of families have been reunited with their loved ones’ remains, there are a few cases in which this has not been possible.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and NHS boards have responsibility for facilitating the reunion of families with their loved ones’ remains. In cases where COPFS has been made aware of historic retained organs, it has worked with Police Scotland to identify and contact families and facilitate their wishes. However, where the Scottish Government is made aware of such situations we will liaise with the COPFS or NHS boards to try to reunite those affected by organ retention with their loved ones’ remains.

It is now rare for an organ to be retained to establish cause of death. In any case where retention of an organ is considered a realistic possibility, the Procurator Fiscal will ensure that the nearest relative is made aware at the earliest opportunity, preferably by someone already known to them (such as a Victim Information and Advice officer or police Family Liaison Officer).

The Procurator Fiscal will also ensure that the options for how that organ is dealt with following analysis are explained to the family and that, where they wish to discuss and express a view, their request is followed if possible. In certain circumstances, the organ may be retained for research or education but only where the pathologist believes there would be value in doing so and only with the clear authorisation of the nearest relative and the consent of the Procurator Fiscal.

COPFS works with families affected by retention of organs and follows their well-established procedures following a procurator fiscal arranged post-mortem. The retention of tissues and organs following post mortem examination must also follow guidelines produced by the Royal College of Pathologists.

In addition, COPFS maintains a record of all retained organs and carries a monthly reconciliation with pathology providers to ensure that all organs that have been retained are known about and that affected families have been made aware.

An evidence based approach is central to the development of our policy to restrict promotions on less healthy food and drink.

Further to our 2018/19 consultation , we recently consulted again on our proposals on restricting the promotions for foods high in fat, sugar or salt to further inform the evidence base and development of this policy. As part of this we have engaged with a range of industry organisations, including manufacturers and food producers, to seek views on our proposals. Responses to this consultation are now being analysed and will help to inform development of this policy.

We continue to engage with a range of stakeholders and update our wider evidence base to inform a suite of impact assessments in order to assess whether the proposed measures are proportionate as well as to consider their impact on health inequalities. This includes engagement with businesses to inform a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment that will set out the anticipated costs and benefits of these measures. These impact assessments will be published upon introduction to Parliament of the Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill.

The last meeting between the Scottish Government and the UK Government Department for Transport to specifically discuss the Union Connectivity Review’s recommendation for investment in the A75 was on 16 June 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10290 on 24 October 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

Transport Scotland received 14 bids for the Bus Partnership Fund. As of the end of August 2022 the Scottish Government allocated £25,801,453 to Partnerships from the Bus Partnership Fund. Funding was issued to a lead Local Authority to manage on behalf of Partnerships which cover more than one Local Authority area, therefore it is not possible to break down the funding awarded by Local Authority. The following table shows the value of each bid.

Table 1: Bus Partnership Fund awards:

The Scottish Government, through Scottish Enterprise, has worked closely with Arjowiggins and its partners since the successful management buyout in 2019. Arjowiggins has received Scottish Enterprise loans totalling £12m, equity investment of £100,000 and grant funding totalling £141,000.

Ministers have been routinely updated on the challenging trading conditions faced by the company since 2020, which included the negative impact of the pandemic and more recently the significant increases in energy costs and the price of raw materials. In relation to Arjowiggins entering into administration, Ministers were advised on 20 th September 2022 that a potential sale of the business would not be proceeding, which resulted in the company entering into administration on 22 September 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11307 on‎ 24 October 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

The remit of the new Islands Transport Forum is currently being drafted, and will be agreed with the forum members at their first meeting.

Details of the remit and meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website when agreed.

We announced the new capital budget of £11.7 million for coastal change adaptation in the 2020 Programme for Government. Scottish Ministers and COSLA agreed a methodology to distribute the new budget for the first two years to coastal local authorities based on evidence from Dynamic Coast which identifies assets most at risk from erosion ( https://www.dynamiccoast.com/ ). The budget covers the four-year period from 2022-23 until 2025-26, split as follows:

2022-23 - £1.6 million

2023-24 - £2.6 million

2024-25 - £2.7 million

2025-26 - £5.0 million

Total - £11.7 million

The distribution for 2022-23 and intended distribution for 2023-24 are as follows:

Our independent Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) Panel, supported by the HEF Secretariat, have prepared an Annual Report on HEF spend across 2021-22. In the interests of transparency and accountability, the Scottish Government will make this available on our website in due course.

In the meantime, I am able to confirm the Scottish Government's £1 million Humanitarian Emergency Fund was activated four times in the 2021-22 financial year. Additional funding of £4.4 million was provided to respond to crises in Ukraine and Malawi. A breakdown of funding allocations in 2021-22 is available in the following table.