Chamber and committees

Crown Estate Scotland have not sold seabed through the ScotWind leasing process. Option Agreements and ultimately leases to use areas of the seabed for offshore wind energy generation have been provided, raising around £700 million in initial fees and potentially many millions more in rent, once these projects are operational. If projects do not proceed to full lease, the option agreements expire. Furthermore, through the Supply Chain Development Statements, ScotWind developers will invest an average of £1.5 billion in Scotland for each project – across the 17 different sites, that could lead to more than £25 billion of investment.

As per S6W-08314 on 7 June 2022, Crown Estate Scotland conducted market testing and evidence gathering to inform option fee levels and this is not information held by Scottish Government. Following the announcement of The Crown Estate’s Round 4 results and a very clear change in the market, Crown Estate Scotland paused and reviewed the ScotWind option fee levels accordingly.

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 Super Sponsor scheme is designed to provide a quick and safe route for displaced people from Ukraine to come to a place of sanctuary by removing the need for applicants to be matched to an individual sponsor prior to being given permission to travel to the UK.

Once people have arrived, a national matching service, delivered by COSLA, will match those settling here with longer-term accommodation across Scotland.

Displaced people from Ukraine are asked to complete a short questionnaire that captures key information and preferences. This information is then used to find suitable longer-term accommodation, which will be offered as a choice.

All 32 of our local authorities are taking part in this programme, and hosts have offered up their homes right across the country. The national matching service will ensure that people are offered settlement opportunities across Scotland, recognising that people will have different preferences and available housing is limited in some local authorities.

The Scottish Government recognises and supports the generous offers from the people of Scotland to privately sponsor Ukrainians through the UK Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme, as well as the work of the many charities and groups across the country who are facilitating matches between displaced Ukrainians seeking accommodation and volunteer hosts.

On Tuesday 24 and Tuesday 31 May we delivered public webinar sessions on host guidance in collaboration with the Scottish Refugee Council. A final session will take place on Thursday 9 June. These sessions allow us to address questions on our recently published guidance for hosts on our website, which includes a range of information on safeguarding, property checks, matching, funding and the roles of hosts and their guests.

Crown Estate Scotland (CES) is responsible for the ScotWind seabed leasing process and the management and collation of the information used to support its decision to review and, ultimately, change the option fee prices for seabed leasing. The Scottish Government has already released the advisory note procured from Strathclyde University ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202200277291/ ) and did not provide any further information to CES.

CES also procured additional advice that the Scottish Government do hold but these have not been released due to the ongoing nature of ScotWind clearing process and applications.

The Scottish Government welcomes the announcement from the UK Government on the ambition to develop an Action Plan on ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and fully supports its two core principles. We plan to work with the UK Government to explore areas of potential shared interest and learning, particularly in terms of research into ME/CFS.

We also welcome the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline for ME/CFS and are considering how best to review the existing Scottish guidance in light of this. On 12 May 2022, NICE published an implementation statement to support the implementation of the ME/CFS guideline. We intend to contact health boards in Scotland to raise awareness of the implementation statement and the key recommended changes to practice within the guideline.

We recently commissioned an external organisation to consult with the third sector, those with lived experience and clinical stakeholders to consider how we move forward in reviewing the existing Scottish guidance and on addressing priorities for service improvement in ME/CFS care. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders on how we progress the findings of this consultation and consider what other activity is required to support implementation of the NICE guideline recommendations.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08705 on 7 June 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 Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with epilepsy are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Decisions on local staffing requirements are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards, such as NHS Western Isles which is reviewing its method of delivery for all people with neurological conditions, including epilepsy, across the island groups.

The Scottish Government and COSLA recently published a National Workforce Strategy on 11 March 2022. The Strategy commits to publishing new workforce projections in the autumn, once we have had the opportunity to consider Health Board and Health and Social Care Partnerships' three year workforce plans. The staffing needs for services and professional specialties across NHS Scotland will be, in partnership with stakeholders, factored into the development of those projections.

In 2019 we published a Neurological Care and Support – National Framework for Action 2020-25 , which sets out a vision to ensure everyone with a neurological condition, including epilepsy, can access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms. Since October 2020, we have invested £324,500 in funding via the Framework to projects which specifically improve the health and wellbeing of people with epilepsy in Scotland.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) continue to work with Health Boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of immunisation services.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, HPV and teenage booster programmes were delayed due to school closures. Pupils who were not offered their vaccines or who missed the immunisation sessions at their school, were offered the vaccine during catch-up sessions arranged by their Health Board. Health Boards have confirmed that these catch-up sessions have now been fully completed.

Therefore, all Health Boards have returned to a routine vaccination schedule for HPV and teenage boosters for the 2021-22 academic year.

Public Health Scotland collate data on the HPV vaccination programme for the previous school year every autumn. Data for school year 2021-22 will be collated in autumn 2022 and published in December 2022.

The most recent PHS publications can be found online: Publications - Public Health Scotland

Crown Estate Scotland (CES) is responsible for the ScotWind seabed leasing process and undertook the review following the Round 4 announcements. The Scottish Government was informed of options under consideration by CES and of the review’s conclusions, which it supports. Annual fees were considered by CES but ultimately not selected as a preferred option, before or after review.

Furthermore, once projects have secured seabed leases and wind farms are generating energy annual rental payments will be made.

In 2022, the National Events Programme, which has now closed for applications, would allow an eligible airshow to apply for EventScotland funding of up to £25,000. EventScotland are supporting the Largs Viking Festival (27 Aug – 4 Sept) and the Making Waves festival in Irvine (22-24 July). Both festivals include an air display as part of their event and are receiving funding via the National Events Programme.

For future years, the Resource Spending Review (RSR) published on 31 May provides a high level direction of travel and sets out Scottish Government priorities. The RSR delivers what certainty the Scottish Government can against the challenging context of the spiralling cost of living, Covid recovery and the Ukraine crisis and within the limits of the fiscal framework. The Scottish Government will work with the events sector and our public bodies on the detail of the spending review and what this means for budgets for individual programmes and projects.