Chamber and committees

The 2019-20 Scottish Budget included a £29.5 million provision for implementing the Scottish Government’s commitment to extend free personal care to all those under 65 who need it. This funding was baselined into the Local Government Settlement and, while it was not formally ring-fenced, local authorities were advised how the funding should be utilised.

Sarcoma cancer incidence data is collected by Public Health Scotland. Public Health Scotland is aware of the complexities that can arise when categorising diseases such as sarcoma, where there may occasionally be more than one technically correct option for coding the disease, and will be discussing this further with its counterparts in England.

As National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and most taxation levers are reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government does not have the range of options to provide support that are available to the UK Government. This is why I wrote to the Chancellor prior to the Spring Statement, urging him to consider all options to help those hardest pressed – from cutting existing VAT on energy bills, to a new windfall tax on those who have enjoyed excess profits from the Covid pandemic, cost of living crisis and now the situation in Ukraine. The Chancellor’s decision to ignore our calls and press ahead with the NICs rise was extremely disappointing. The increase in the payment threshold does nothing to help the lowest earners who need support now. That is why the Scottish Government is taking all measures we feasibly can under the current devolution settlement, such as the £290 million cost of living support package, uprating eight Scottish benefits by 6% from 1 April 2022, providing more than £4.5 billion to support businesses and keep people in employment, and doubling the Scottish Child Payment to £20 – with this increasing further to £25 by the end of 2022.

We are extending the retail, hospitality and leisure relief by offering 50% relief for the first three months of 2022-23, capped at £27,500 per ratepayer. This follows 100% relief for retail, hospitality and leisure premises for the past two years without any cap. We are also maintaining a competitive package of reliefs, including the UK’s most generous Small Business Bonus Scheme which takes over 111,000 properties out of rates altogether.

Throughout the pandemic we have consistently delivered more direct support to business than we have received in consequentials and recognise the difficulties the necessary additional public health measures brought for businesses including retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.

In December we announced a £375m support package for firms impacted by the necessary measures introduced to control the spread of Omicron.

We also announced an £80m Covid Economic Recovery Fund for local authorities to support local economies and cities recover from the pandemic. This fund empowers councils to consider the needs of local businesses, communities and households and to target support to maximise economic recovery in their areas.

The Scottish Government closely monitors all emerging evidence on COVID-19 treatments and their clinical effectiveness.

On 17 March 2022, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced that it had granted a Conditional Marketing Authorisation for Evusheld in Great Britain . The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is carrying out further testing on the treatment’s effectiveness against Omicron and its sub-variants. As part of the additional testing being undertaken by the UKHSA, an assessment of the most appropriate patient groups which could potentially benefit, as well as the deployment and administration process for pre-exposure prophylaxis, is also being considered. Once completed, these results will help inform any decisions on next steps for this treatment, including whether this medicine is procured and made available to patients. The Scottish Government will therefore closely monitor the outcome of this additional testing to ensure that any decisions to make Evusheld available to patients in Scotland are based on the best available evidence.

It is testament to the hard work and planning of Police Scotland that fewer than 100 COP26-related arrests were made while the event was taking place.

The Netpol/Article 11 report has been carefully considered by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), who now await a report from Independent Advisory Group on the policing of COP26 which is chaired by John Scott QC.

While Police Scotland are operationally independent of ministers, the service continues to learn from their activities on an ongoing basis.

Once the IAG findings are presented, all observations and recommendations will be for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority to consider and act upon where appropriate.

The provision of allotments is the responsibility of local authorities as set out in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.

In accordance with section 121 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, local authorities report annually on provisions of allotments in their areas. Reports are available from each local authority online. The Scottish Government do not hold historic data on allotment provision.

The Lord President of the Court of Session is responsible for making and maintaining appropriate arrangements for the training and guidance of Scotland’s judicial office holders as set out in the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007. Judicial training is delivered by the Judicial Institute for Scotland.

On the day the report was published on 8 March, the First Minister welcomed the recommendations and thanked Baroness Helena Kennedy and the working group for their efforts over the past year. The First Minister made clear the issues raised in the report are pivotal in challenging society’s tolerance of misogyny and sending a clear message that male attitudes that emanate from prejudice and misogyny have no place in a modern, equal Scotland.

The Scottish Government is considering the detailed recommendations with a view to ensuring that any provisions proposed for legislation in due course are workable and can meet the expectations of, and intentions behind, the working group’s report.

We will provide our initial response to the report in the coming weeks and will outline the next steps then.

The Scottish Government welcomes the research of the Dog’s Trust National Survey, and we will continue to engage with our stakeholders to improve animal welfare.

I would also like to refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07415 on 29 March 2022 regarding their query on engagement between Scottish Government and UK Government in relation to the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.

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 .