Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government, working with Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) and other partners, developed a vision and action plan to support sustainable, green datacentres, terrestrial digital connectivity and international subsea fibre connectivity in Scotland.

Scotland’s Vision and Action Plan for Green Datacentres & Digital Connectivity was agreed by Ministers on 09 March 2021 and launched by Mr Wheelhouse at the Rural, Economy and Connectivity (REC) Committee on 17 March 2021: Green datacentres and digital connectivity: vision and action plan for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

This provides a roadmap for this important sector – considering the supply and demand for data hosting facilities across the country and in support of Scotland’s wider digital ambition.

We are in the process of setting up a Cluster Management Organisation (CMO) which will look at supporting the growth of Scottish Datacentres - enhancing links with other existing and emerging cluster groups in Scotland, for example: Scotland’s Data Cluster, Scotland’s Cyber Cluster, Technology Scotland etc.

The Scottish Government is currently exploring the potential to establish an office of the Climate Change Committee in Scotland.

Financial expenditure data relating to Fair Start Scotland is broken down by contract area, rather than by Local Authority area. For a breakdown of these contract areas, please refer to Annex A of the Fair Start Scotland Annual Report .

The anticipated spend on Fair Start Scotland is regularly published by the Scottish Fiscal Commission and is based on performance levels set within provider contracts. As this is dependent on provider performance in supporting people into sustainable employment this figure is subject to some variation.

The Scottish Government proactively publishes information relating to the annual spending on Fair Start Scotland. Annex B of the Fair Start Scotland Annual Report published on 9 th November 2020 outlines the total expenditure in its first two years of delivery. Further information on annual spend will be published in future publications.

The Scottish Government also publishes annual Evaluation reports that fully assess the effectiveness of the service. These reports include commissioned research with service users, delivery partners and providers, as well as ongoing analysis of performance. Links to the first two Evaluation reports can be found below. The next Evaluation report is due to be published in September 2021.

Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 2: overview of year one - November 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Fair Start Scotland - evaluation report 3: year two - overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Individuals who intend to marry can currently choose to be designated in the register of marriages as either ‘bride’ or ‘bridegroom’ or they can choose that no designation be entered for them in that register. An extract from the marriage register (a marriage certificate) reflects the content of the register of marriages.

Under the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965, the statutory registers of births, deaths and marriages may be altered only where authorised by that, or another Act. Corrections to these registers are permitted in limited circumstances, such as when a clerical error is identified or, in the case of the register of births, a decree of parentage has established a child’s father.

As I confirmed in my answer to the member’s question S6W-00609, the Registrar General for Scotland and the Scottish Government will, when time permits, write to key stakeholders to seek their views on what changes may be required to the marriage notice form for future couples. The answer to question S6W-00609 provided on 22 June 2021 is 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

We have no plans, in advance of that work, to consult on changes to the legislative arrangements for correcting the register of marriages.

Table 1 shows the median waiting time (in days) for individuals with first treatment type recorded as either (1) Community based support and/or rehabilitation or (2) Residential Detoxification/Inpatient Treatment. Figures are presented for each of the last 5 financial years and include Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP) breakdowns as well as Scotland level data. Treatments can be for drug or alcohol clients, or clients with a combination of the two. Waiting times are calculated from date of Referral to date of First Treatment.

Table 1 Median Waiting Time (in days) from Referral to First1 Treatment for treatment types (1) Community based support and/or rehabilitation2 or (2) Residential Detoxification/Inpatient Treatment3 , drug and alcohol clients or clients with a combination of the two, by ADP and Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that high quality, person centred bereavement care and support is available for those who need it. It is important to reflect that each individual and family’s experience of bereavement is unique as are their support requirements. That is why we undertake a broad range of work to improve the bereavement care and support available for those who need it, particularly at this difficult time.

Since 2016 the Scottish Government has funded Cruse Scotland and Child Bereavement UK through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund to provide support to individuals and families who have been bereaved. This Fund has been extended to end March 2022 to provide greater stability to organisations and we will announce in due course plans for funding the third sector from April 2022.

In 2020 we awarded a contract to Includem to establish a Scottish childhood bereavement co-ordinator who will ensure effective provision of bereavement support and care for children and young people.

Our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, published in October 2020, sets out a number of commitments to support the mental health of people following bereavement and we will continue to engage with providers of bereavement support, and people with lived experience, to design improvements. Through the work of our National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group we are supporting the piloting of suicide bereavement support services and pilots will launch in Highland and Ayrshire & Arran in the coming months.

We will continue to work closely with NHS Boards, Integration Authorities and third sector organisations to continually revisit our work in this area and respond to the additional needs of people and families arising from the pandemic and provide additional support where needed.

The Scottish Government have worked closely with the Scottish FA, with Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland and other partners on the operations of the EURO 2020 Fan Zone at Glasgow Green. The situation with the Fanzone in being continually reviewed during the EUROS and as part of that ongoing work Scottish Ministers set up a review team, comprising of the government, city council and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Public Health, to provide advice on the ability of the Fan Zone to operate safely.

The fan zone provides an outdoor, highly regulated space for fans to watch the tournament. Although there are up to 3000 people in attendance per session, this is in a large, outdoor space with normal capacity for up to 80,000 people. Necessary physical distancing and hygiene measures are of course in place. In addition, there is comprehensive stewarding, cleaning and contact tracing provisions in place. Rapid lateral flow test kits have been mailed to all visitors to the Glasgow Fan Zone as part of a series of measures to help reduce the risk of transmission before and after the event.

I held discussions with the Minister of State for Transport on 28 June 2021 to discuss progress with the High Speed (Crewe to Manchester) Rail Bill. This proposed phase will build on the benefits of HS2 phase 1 and 2a, bringing further reductions in journey times between Glasgow Central and London when implemented.

The details of the levels of active travel capital funding for the next five years will be discussed and agreed as part of the annual budget process.

Proposals to the Bus Partnership Fund were scored against the following criteria, which were published when the Fund opened on 9 November 2020:

• Evidence of congestion and ideas to reduce congestion, through improved emissions (25%)
• Partnership strength and demonstrated commitment, which will include match in kind (20%)
• Deliverability: the ability of the lead local authority and its partners to deliver the proposed developments, including local political buy-in (15%)
• bus services (40%)
• How the proposal fits with the partnership area’s overall strategy for integrated transport, to encourage a modal shift from cars to more sustainable transport and reduce