Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not have any immediate plans to directly fund PhD students through the introduction of student loans.

We do however support postgraduate research by providing universities with funding to support the training of PhD students through the core research and knowledge exchange grants from the Scottish Funding Council. One of these is specifically aimed at PhD training and support: the Research Postgraduate Grant which is £36.9m in 2022-23.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14158 on 3 February 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 is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall Roundabout as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal.

Transport Scotland continues to progress the proposed scheme through the statutory process to deliver improvements at this key junction as soon as possible.

Following publication of draft Orders and Environmental Statement, Transport Scotland received a significant number of representations, including objections, to the proposed scheme. Given the number of objections, a Public Local Inquiry (PLI) is required, during which an independent reporter will consider all outstanding objections prior to making recommendations to the Scottish Ministers. The PLI is due to commence on Monday 30 January 2023. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate statutory forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn.

While I am keen to see the improvements delivered as soon as possible, the statutory right for individuals to have their say on proposals cannot be set aside. Delivery of the scheme itself can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory procedures, at which point a timetable for its progress can be set.

The operational assessment of the A720 Sheriffhall Roundabout project has included modelling of traffic flows to assess the impacts as a result of the proposed scheme. The modelling indicates that the resultant elimination of the conflict between strategic and local traffic at this junction would result in operational benefits for road users on all routes through the junction.

Details of the traffic assessment undertaken are available from the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges Stage 3 Scheme Assessment Report which is available on the Transport Scotland website at https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/dmrb-stage-3-assessment-report-a720-sheriffhall-roundabout/ .

While we cannot reliably estimate the weather conditions in future years, over the last 7 years (2015-16 – 2021-22) around 97% of households in 22 out of the 27 weather station areas in Scotland received, on average, between zero and two Cold Weather Payments each winter. Five weather station areas received, on average, more than two Cold Weather Payments from 2015-16 – 2021-22, with around 12,000 eligible people resident in those areas. For the vast majority of those 12,000 people, the support received during that 7 year period was still, on average, less than 3 Cold Weather Payments per year.

Our new Winter Heating Payment will provide over £20 million investment each year, more than double the £8.3 million provided on average per winter by the UK Government over the last 7 years. This will provide reliable financial support for all eligible households in Scotland, rather than depending on sustained cold weather. This year around 415,000 people will receive Winter Heating Payment from the Scottish Government.

The focus of this report was providing a response on how to implement the recommendations of the Drug Deaths Taskforce Report, Changing Lives , published in July 2022.

However, people with problematic alcohol use and those who use alcohol alongside drugs will benefit from a number of the actions outlined in the plan such as the work to address stigma, the actions on early intervention and actions to support people with co-occurring mental health and substance use needs. In addition, the actions outlined in the plan to develop a trauma-informed workforce, to ensure that those with lived or living experience are involved in the development of work across both alcohol and drug policy and on residential rehabilitation services, will benefit people with problematic alcohol use as well as problematic drug use.

The Changing Lives report was the final report of the Drug Deaths Taskforce which has now concluded its work.

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council, in partnership with the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI), has been working for a number of years to engage with universities and colleges to shape the future workforce for the digital health and care sector. This includes work with Skills Development Scotland, and the FUTUREquipped project with Scotland's colleges: FUTUREquipped | Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (dhi-scotland.com)

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14346 on 3 February 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 has identified the space sector as a key priority in our National Strategy for Economic Transformation and Inward Investment Plan. We recognise its potential to support regional economic development across Scotland. We are supportive of all spaceport projects that will support the realisation of our overall ambition to capture £4 billion of the global space market and 20,000 jobs in the sector by 2030.

The STEM Strategy advocates for connection between schools and industry, and space has demonstrated a remarkable power to inspire widespread interest in STEM subjects. This launch represents an opportunity to promote science and technology learning and space related careers. Scotland’s curriculum is a general framework rather than a prescribed curriculum, and it is a matter for individual schools to determine the curriculum most appropriate to their learners.

In the coming months, Education Scotland will engage with spaceport company SaxaVord’s Education Strategy and support local authorities, schools and other partners to raise awareness of the launch and explore opportunities for partnership working around this and similar events. This is a core part of work to provide our young people with a range of exciting learning opportunities, encouraging them to have in interest in STEM careers and jobs.

The Scottish Government’s capital budget increased from £5.8 billion in 2022-23 to £5.9 billion in 2023-24, a rise of £115 million. In my previous response, I explained the process the Scottish Government undertakes when agreeing annual budgets. It considers a whole range of factors, including the phasing of and the delivery arrangements for projects, particularly those which span several years, and this allows resources to be allocated accordingly to meet our commitments and our priorities while delivering a balanced financial position.