Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy in this parliamentary term. Funding allocations to individual portfolios for 2022-23 will be confirmed following the passage of the Budget (Scotland) Bill. Decisions on future spending will also be considered within the context of the Resource Spending Review which will publish in May 2022.

The Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 provide local authorities with powers to issue fixed penalty notices to drivers of parked idling vehicles who refuse a reasonable request to switch off their engines. It is for individual local authorities to decide how to make use of their powers. The Scottish Government provides guidance and financial support to assist authorities in undertaking these duties.

The Government's new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone', which was published in July 2021, sets out a wide range of measures intended to deliver further air quality improvements over the period to 2026.

Every six years, when preparing Flood Risk Management Plans, SEPA assess measures for reducing flood risk against a range of criteria and consider the priority to be given to each measure. The availability of Scottish Government funding is not one of the criteria used to prioritise measures.

It is for individual local authorities to take forward the design and construction of schemes proposed in the Plans ensuring that the schemes meet the necessary statutory requirements for approval set out in Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. To support this work, the Scottish Government provides a minimum of £42million per annum through the General Capital Grant. An additional £150million has been committed over the next 5 years.

Unboxed is a festival of creativity and innovation with Green Spaces, Dark Skies one of the six cross-UK programmes funded directly by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports and administered via Festival UK Ltd.

Details of all planned activity across these cross-UK programmes and the relevant contacts for further queries are available using the URL UNBOXED | Creativity in the UK (unboxed2022.uk) .

The organisers of the Green Spaces, Dark Skies programme across the UK (Walk the Plank) are responsible for delivery of their programme in all Four Nations and the Scottish Government understand that they have already been in contact with NatureScot (Scotland's nature agency), the relevant National Park Agencies, Historic Environment Scotland, the RSPB and relevant local partners in each community to ensure the work will be responsive to the sensitivities at the selected sites, including no adverse impact on wildlife and bio-diversity.

The Animals and Wildlife, Penalties, Powers and Protections (Scotland) Act 2020 recently introduced higher penalties for a range of wildlife crime offences including offences related to hare coursing. The Act increased the maximum penalty for killing or injuring hares in their close season under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the maximum penalty for hunting a hare with a dog under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, from six months imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine to five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. The new maximum penalties are available for offences committed after 30 November 2020.

With the sentencing regime having recently been updated and strengthened, we have no plans to review the sentences given to people found guilty of hare coursing under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002.

NHS National Services Division is establishing a Strategic Network bringing together clinical experts, NHS Boards and lived experience to support the ongoing development, resourcing and implementation of services for people with long COVID. When established, the Strategic Network will have a key role in identifying and ensuring that the £10m long COVID Support Fund is targeted at areas where support is most needed and can make the biggest impact.

We anticipate that the long COVID Support Fund will be allocated and spent over the next three financial years, providing Boards with additional resource to respond in a flexible and tailored manner to the needs of people with long COVID.

For this financial year, 2021-22, total health portfolio funding exceeds £16 billion, with a further £1.9 billion provided to address pressures related to COVID-19. This substantial investment is already benefiting a range of NHS services which are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

The Scottish Government has provided £240m to the culture sector over the pandemic, including £65m to help alleviate the financial pressures that individuals and organisations face following cultural venue closures and event cancellations in light of the Omicron variant.

Cultural organisations employing workers are eligible for the £25m COVID-19 Cancellation Fund for Cultural Organisations, administered by Creative Scotland. We would expect any organisation who applies to the Creative Scotland Cultural Organisations Cancellation Fund would use any money they receive to pay all their workers.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role upskilling and retraining interventions play in improving productivity and business competitiveness, and is committed to providing relevant support for businesses of all sizes in doing so. This is particularly the case in regard to our transition to net zero emissions.

In December 2020 the Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland published the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) setting out the actions required to ensure Scotland’s labour market is able to effectively support the transition to net zero. Through CESAP, the Green Jobs Workforce Academy administered by Skills Development Scotland, launched on the 23 August to help workers identify and access relevant green jobs and training.

In addition, the National Transition Training Fund is supporting a number of work-based training opportunities/funding streams to support net zero, including:

• Training support for those businesses receiving Green Jobs Fund grants to enable necessary workforce upskilling;
• Support for a range of projects being delivered as part of the Green Skills Workforce Academy, including awareness for SMEs and work placements through Naturescot;
• Funding for the delivery of Passivhaus design and insulation through the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre;
• Energy Skills Partnership delivery through colleges of courses to support net zero including heat pump fitting.

Regulations made using Covid-19 legislation must be reviewed at least every 21 days by Scottish Ministers. This review process ensures that the measures they provide continue to be necessary and proportionate.

Any new or revised regulations are set out to the Scottish Parliament in plenary and are considered by the Parliament's Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee and the Covid-19 Committee Recovery Committee.

Regulations made under Covid-19 legislation are considered through the Four Harms approach which draws on evidence and analysis to assess both current and future direct and indirect health impacts and the social and economic impacts of the pandemic and of proposed regulations. This approach is underpinned by Scotland’s Strategic Framework which sets out our approach to managing the pandemic.

Scottish Ministers also produce a report to Parliament every two months with regard to the status and operation of the Scottish and UK Coronavirus Acts – confirming that they have undertaken a review of whether the provisions continue to be necessary and proportionate.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05839 on 21 January 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