Chamber and committees

Scottish Government officials met with representatives of small drinks producers on 2 July 2021. We will consider their views alongside the findings of the Gateway Review into Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme.

While it is reassuring that, during a further national COVID-19 lockdown in Q1 2021, once a decision to treat was made, cancer patients in NHS Forth Valley waited on average four days for treatment. However, the 62 day standard remains challenged and while the overall aim is to recover cancer waiting times performance, our priority - as the NHS continues to remobilise - remains ensuring that vital services are delivered safely to patients based on their clinical priority.

To support the improvement of cancer waiting times, we are now releasing an additional £10 million non-recurring revenue funding across NHS Scotland, of which £545,000 has been made available to NHS Forth Valley.

Recovery and Redesign: An Action Plan for Cancer Services was published on 9 December 2020. The Plan will ensure patients have access to the best possible treatment and care and is monitored and overseen by the National Cancer Recovery Group.

The Scottish Government is in weekly contact with NHS Forth Valley to ensure that patients referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer are moved through the pathway as quickly as possible based on clinical priority and plans are underway to review the boards implementation of the Scottish Government Effective Cancer Management Framework.

We have no plans to monitor this Order. The comments received from statutory consultees at the time of making the Order confirmed that they were content with the proposal, providing the requirement for prior notification of the change remained in place, ensuring that any visual or environmental impacts resulting from the use of larger cages could be effectively managed under the planning process.

SEPA has not yet published information on its Compliance Assessment Scheme results for 2019 and expect to publish the results later this year. As such, no discussions have been held with SEPA or Ineos in relation to the assessment.

The draft result for Ineos Kinneil Terminal was included in the information stolen from SEPA in the cyber attack and was subsequently published in the press. The information stolen was an draft of this assessment - and had therefore not been subjected to all the necessary verification processes to finalise the assessment.

We are committed to expanding the maximum total support package available to students over the next three years to reach the equivalent of the living wage.

Following agreement with the Improvement Service, the National Entitlement Card Programme Office and Young Scot, who are responsible for handling applications for and issuing the National Entitlement Cards on which the national concessionary travel schemes depend, we plan that young people should be able to travel under the new Young Persons Free Bus Scheme from 31 January 2022.

We have previously announced our intention to extend the scope of the scheme to include 19-21 year olds and committed to making as much progress on this as possible this financial year. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the legislation required to amend the age eligibility for the scheme, when the new scheme goes live it will do so for young people up to and including the age of 21.

Following agreement with the Improvement Service, the National Entitlement Card Programme Office and Young Scot, who are responsible for handling applications for and issuing the National Entitlement Cards on which the national concessionary travel schemes depend, we plan that young people should be able to travel under the new Young Persons Free Bus Scheme from 31 January 2022.

We have previously announced our intention to extend the scope of the scheme to include 19-21 year olds and committed to making as much progress on this as possible this financial year. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the legislation required to amend the age eligibility for the scheme, when the new scheme goes live it will do so for young people up to and including the age of 21.

The option to take part in the pilot scheme was open to all Scotland’s universities. Discussions are continuing with all universities in Scotland about ways to increase the available supply of suitable quarantine accommodation for international students from Red List countries.

We have provided funding to Energy Action Scotland for a number of years to undertake a programme of work that supports Scottish Government fuel poverty policy development and delivery, as well as increasing stakeholder awareness of fuel poverty issues in Scotland . In 2020-21 this amounted to £130,000.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we also made funding available to a number of organisations to assist households struggling with their energy costs. The Fuel Bank Foundation was provided with £877,000 in total, which it used primarily to provide same-day top ups to households with prepayment meters who were at risk of self-disconnecting. Later their services were extended to include households reliant upon unregulated fuels such as heating oil. Advice Direct Scotland delivered the Home Heating Support Fund on our behalf, making available £1,050,000 to households referred by specialist energy and debt advice services, who were at serious risk of self rationing their energy use, regardless of fuel type or meter type. A further £2,100,000 was provided to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to deliver the Social Housing Fuel Support Fund, which supported member RSLs to deliver schemes designed to support tenants experiencing fuel insecurity.

Further funding is planned for 2021-22, as part of the Social Renewal Advisory Board Response Fund, which will build on the projects undertaken over the last year. Details are expected to be confirmed soon.

It is for local authorities to process an application to withdraw a child from school, and the home education guidance advises local authorities to note that home education is a key aspect of parental choice, and that consent to withdraw a child from school should not be unreasonably withheld.

The review of the home education guidance will emphasise the importance of all parties working together to develop mutual trust and respect, and a positive relationship that functions in the best interest of the child. This is inclusive of the process around requests to withdraw a child from school.