Chamber and committees

SEPA is the scheme regulator but cannot prosecute retailers as this responsibility rests with Police Scotland and their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. As such, they have not been allocated funding for this purpose.

The works at each of the ports as part of the Skye Triangle Infrastructure programme (Tarbert, Lochmaddy & Uig) are aimed at replacing life expired infrastructure, improving resilience and increasing the range of vessels that can use the ports. The Tarbert (Harris) project is estimated to cost £23million. Our response to the Freedom of Information Request 2022-00297832 published in July 2022 outlined that we have offered a capital funding contribution of up to £19.599million with the remaining contribution to be met by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) as statutory harbour authority.

No expressions of interest have been received by the Scottish Government as the Community Bus Fund has not launched. Officials have engaged with local authority representatives ATCO and CoSLA, who have indicated the general feedback from local authorities on the Community Bus Fund has been positive.

The Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) (most recently published in 2021) ( The Scottish Government's Medium Term Financial Strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) sets out the range of funding available to the Scottish Government to invest in infrastructure, including revenue finance models. As part of the National Infrastructure Mission commitment, the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) were commissioned to examine new privately financed profit-sharing schemes. SFT assessed different funding models (such as evolved Private Finance Initiatives, financial transactions and MIM variations) against their ability to deliver additional investment, value for money, affordability, investor interest and financial risk. More information on the analysis performed by SFT can be found here: sftoptionsappraisalreportlowres.pdf (scottishfuturestrust.org.uk) .

The Scottish Futures Trust also supports the Scottish Government in considering the range of sources of finance and their relative merits for different types of infrastructure investment– a summary of which can be found in Appendix 5, here:

NPF4_Draft_3.QXP_Layout 1 (scottishfuturestrust.org.uk)

The School Libraries Improvement Fund (SLIF) is distributed via the Scottish Library and Information Council (as is the Public Libraries Improvement Fund). £200,000 has been allocated in 2022/23 to SLIF which has supported a total of 18 initiatives across Scotland. In this year’s funding round, priority was given to applications which focused on supporting anti-racism and racial equality, supporting the aims of the Scottish Government’s Anti-Racism in Education Programme.

In 2022-23 the Scottish Government has also provided funding of £450,000 to the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) for the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF), which enables libraries to undertake a wide range of pioneering projects within communities. Eight initiatives were selected to receive grants from the 2022-23 PLIF, supporting sustainable development and innovation within Scotland’s public libraries.

Ensuring the development and availability of sector-specific skills is central to a just transition towards reaching our net-zero targets.

We will be taking forward work on sector-specific skills needs for the renewable energy sector as we finalise the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan and the refresh of the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan.

In addition, through our work on oil and gas analysis, which will be published in due course, we are developing our understanding of the opportunities in sectors across the energy economy, and we will use that to inform future skills work.

Thrombectomy services are run on a regional basis with North, East and West of Scotland hubs. Prior to making funding allocations to regions for the 2023-24 financial year, the Scottish Government has asked that each region provides detailed workforce resourcing plans and can demonstrate how these plans will increase the provision of thrombectomy procedures. This is in line with our aim of further expanding the national thrombectomy service and maximising the number of patients able to benefit from this treatment.

Applications for the 2022-23 School Libraries Improvement Fund were accepted from 29 August 2022 to 29 September 2022.

We are engaging with the Scottish Library and Information Council and will set out future plans in due course.

The Scottish Government’s Budget prioritises a just transition to a net zero, climate resilient and biodiverse Scotland, with over £2.2 billion of investment in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government’s public sector climate funding map , highlighting funding opportunities in a range of areas including transport, heat and waste, is available on the Sustainable Scotland Network Website.

On the specific question on Highland Council's Corran Ferry Infrastructure Improvement Scheme, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13974 on 31 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

Following the publication of the Health and Social Care Winter Resilience Overview I wrote to General Practices on 15 November to set my expectations regarding the need to ensure there is an appropriate mix of pre-booked, same day, face to face and remote appointments that suits individual practice populations.

I also announced the formation of the General Practice Access Group. The group aims to understand the challenges and issues affecting access to General Practice and will establish high level core principles to support and enhance patients’ experience of accessing ‘The Right Care, Right Time, Right Place’. The group has commenced its work and I understand will be looking to consult on a draft document in February.

On 21 December 2022 NHS Forth Valley and NHS Lanarkshire have been allocated £52.565 million and £109.967 million respectively to provide primary medical services.