Chamber and committees

Our approach to supporting people who have a terminal illness is demonstrated in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, which introduced a new definition of terminal illness. Rather than imposing an arbitrary life expectancy, the clinical judgement of the person’s doctor or nurse is relied upon. This allows people who have been diagnosed as having a terminal illness to receive fast-tracked access to Child Disability Payment or Adult Disability Payment

It is already the case that people who receive a disability benefit in relation to their terminal illness may be eligible to receive a Winter Heating Payment, where they otherwise meet the criteria for eligibility for the Payment. Any further developments to Winter Heating Payment including amendments to eligibility criteria will be considered once the new benefit is being delivered and its initial evaluation is complete.

All children and young people should receive the support they need to reach their full potential.

Education authorities are legally responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs of their pupils, including any additional support needs of pupils receiving Gaelic-medium education. The Scottish Government has supported education authorities in the delivery of these duties through the preparation and publication of statutory guidance.

We are also working closely with local government partners, through the Additional Support for Learning Project Board , to ensure we continue to see progress with the delivery of the recommendations from the 2020 additional support for learning review. In November 2022, we published an updated action plan and progress report to further support improvement in the implementation of additional support for learning, including within Gaelic-medium education.

The Scottish Government is aware of the paper that Dr Foxley and Professor Robertson have produced on Gaelic medium teachers and officials met with them on 1 December to discuss this.

The Scottish Government continues to work with university partners and other stakeholders to address recruitment issues for Gaelic education and other priority areas. The Strategic Board for Teacher Education oversees issues relating to teacher education including recruitment to the teaching profession.

We are considering the responses to our recent consultation on the Future of Gaelic and Scots. These will help strengthen our aims for the Gaelic language and support for those interested in teaching in Gaelic Medium Education.

The Scottish Government has not recovered and has no plans to recover any COVID-19 related funding from councils. Individual councils continue to have complete autonomy to allocate their reserves based on local needs and priorities.

The Scottish Ministers provided £145 million in Covid support grants to local government between 2019-20 and 2021-22 (TBC).

This included £95m for Hospitality and Leisure, £9.5 million for Public House Table Service, £4.7 million for Nightclub Closure, £1.2 million for Scottish Brewers, £29.4 million for Taxi and Private Hire and £5.5 million for Business Ventilation.

Local authorities have confirmed that £32 million has not been spent. Consideration of amounts to be recovered from local authorities is ongoing and therefore I cannot provide figures at this time. However, I would be happy to provide those figures once they are available.

Conditions may be attached to planning permissions for wind farm developments which “require wind turbines to be constructed and operated in accordance with the approved details and maintained in the approved colour, free from external rust, staining or discolouration, until such time as the wind farm is decommissioned”.

The Scottish Government does not monitor or enforce conditions attached to planning permissions, and therefore has not issued any fines relating to the failure to maintain wind turbines. It is the relevant local planning authorities who monitor and enforce development and operational controls imposed through conditions, and who can take enforcement action up to and including requiring removal of the turbine, as well as referring matters to the Procurator Fiscal to consider prosecution.

As per the answer to S6W-12989 on 22 December 2022, it is the responsibility of the wind farm operator to properly maintain their wind turbines, in accordance with their planning permission and any conditions imposed. The Scottish Government is not responsible for taking action in this area.

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 legal and commercial arrangements for the Ardrossan project continue to be discussed between the project partners; Transport Scotland, Peel Ports Groups and North Ayrshire Council. The partners will provide an update at the next Ardrossan Task Force meeting on 24 January 2023

CalMac is making good progress in relation to recruitment, in line with expectations for staffing both vessels.

Emerging contaminants of concern, including microplastics and Bisphenol A, are continuously being risk assessed by the EU under the Water Framework Directive for inclusion as priority substances. The EU Commission has recently proposed a revised list of priority substances, including Bisphenol A, for further consideration by the Council and the European Parliament. The Scottish Government has made clear its commitment to maintain or exceed environmental standards in place upon EU exit, and to maintain alignment with developing EU standards, as far as possible.

When applications for wind farm developments are submitted to the Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act 1989, the impact on the water environment is assessed within the Environmental Impact Assessment Report submitted with the application. The Scottish Ministers take into account the impacts on the water environment and on granting consent for wind farm development conditions can be attached to the deemed planning permission in relation to water quality and monitoring as required.

The Scottish Government’s response to the Commissioner’s intervention is documented by the three progress reports which the Commissioner has produced during the intervention. These set out the progress which has been made and the areas in which the Scottish Government still requires to make further improvement. The Scottish Government published its Improvement Plan 2022-23 in July setting out its action plan to address these areas of improvement.

As the member is aware, the Government pivoted to respond to the Covid pandemic in early 2020, and the subsequent redeployment of staff to critical areas, has affected the delivery of improvements. As the Civil Service itself recovers from the pandemic, we are taking the time to ensure that we embed continuous improvement in the structures which facilitate and deliver information access to ensure sustained improvement.

The Government’s ‘on time’ response rate over several months remains comparable with the wider public sector in Scotland. This performance has been sustained despite higher year on year request volumes (as at the end of October 2022, requests are up 48% on the previous three years), and increasing complexity of cases. The Government is committed to achieving the 95% target set by the Information Commissioner.