Chamber and committees

The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system has been operational since January 2014.

We are taking forward the commitment to move towards the use of a mandatory system for waste monitoring as part of our work to implement an electronic waste tracking system, set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan.

The Scottish Government criminal proceedings database does not hold information on the specific type of vessel involved in charges prosecuted under Loch Lomond Byelaws.

The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service were able to manually search relevant case records and confirmed that 3 people have been prosecuted for offences involving a jet ski under Loch Lomond Byelaws 2013 B3.5(1)&3.17 - Knowingly/recklessly/negligently navigate and behaviour of vessel.

The Scottish Government has made clear its commitment to maintain or exceed environmental standards in place upon EU exit, and to maintain alignment with developing EU standards, as far as possible. We have legislated under the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 (“the Act”) for a discretionary power to align devolved law with EU law, where appropriate and practical to do so.

Scottish Ministers are currently preparing the policy statement, as required by section 6 of the Act, which will set out the approach to be taken, the factors to be taken into account and the process to be followed when considering whether to exercise this discretionary power.

The Scottish Government is committed to action to protect its natural environment. The policy on the protections and standards afforded by the Habitats Regulations remains unchanged following our departure from the European Union. The proposed amendments to the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 must not result in a reduction of the level of environmental protection.

The UK Internal Market Act was imposed against the will of the devolved administrations and is a risk to our ability to exercise devolved decision-making powers across a wide range of policy areas, including environmental policy. The Scottish Government will seek to ensure that regulations made by the UK Government take into account potential cross-border impacts on Scottish interests.

The Scottish Government is providing funding of £60 million towards renewing play parks in Scotland to ensure that all children have access to quality play in their own community. This funding will be distributed to local authorities over the course of this parliamentary term. The first allocation of £5 million for 2021-22 was agreed with COSLA in July 2021 and every local authority has been notified of their individual allocation.

The funding being provided is for the renewal and refurbishment of play parks, ongoing maintenance of play parks is the responsibility of individual local authorities, who will manage their budgets and allocate financial resources to play parks maintenance based on local needs and priorities. We are continuing to work in partnership with COSLA to agree a suite of national aims and principles to provide the framework for delivery of the commitment.

The Scottish Government want every child to have safe access to play and expect that local authorities and other local agencies will play their part in ensuring this. Law and order around the location of public play parks is matter for the relevant local authority and Police Scotland, who are able to exercise powers under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, section 96 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, section 18 - 22 of the Public Order Act 1986 and section 38 of the Criminal justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

It is for the local authority, Police Scotland and ultimately the courts, to use the powers available to them, to take appropriate and proportionate action against any individual taking part in antisocial behaviour.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Whilst a site for HMP Glasgow has been acquired, SPS still need to finalise the future operational requirements for the establishment and undertake a procurement exercise to appoint a suitable contractor who will develop the design of the new prison. There are also obligations to secure further statutory approvals for the site which will include satisfying any planning conditions, before construction work can begin.

A University of Glasgow study on lifelong health outcomes in former professional footballers, especially in relation to dementia, was published in 2019 containing evidence of possible increased risk of dementia for this group. Further work is underway to establish why footballers may be at greater risk and we will give full consideration to the report published into this subject in August 2021 led by Dr Willie Stewart.

We remain in close contact on these issues with experts at the sportscotland Institute of Sport and the Chief Medical Officer at the Scottish FA and will work with partners, including PFA Scotland, to carefully consider emerging evidence on former footballers developing dementia.

We are funding a new body, Brain Health Scotland, for five years , to embed brain health within clinical services and across public health. As part of this, we are exploring links between pilot brain health clinics from next year and the feasibility of additional national work focussing specifically on brain injury.

Last year we added an additional £1.1 million to the annual £3 million voluntary sector Short Breaks Fund and have committed a further £570,000 this year, enabling more families/carers and young carers to take a break from caring, including families of loved ones with dementia.

Recently we launched a £1.4 million holiday voucher scheme for tourism businesses to sign up to help low income families, unpaid carers and disadvantaged young people enjoy a break. The scheme will open for applications from these groups in October 2021.

Our National Infrastructure Mission plans for over £33 billion of Scottish Government investment over the course of the current Parliamentary term. This means that annual investment in our hospitals, schools, houses, transport, low carbon technology and digital connections, will be around £1.56 billion higher by 2025-26 than in 2019-20.

All international studies show that boosting infrastructure investment is expected to have a positive impact on Scotland’s long-term economic growth. Scottish Government analysis published in 2018 available at www.gov.scot/Infrastructure investment: evidence summary showed the annual UK government investment was around 2.6% of UK GDP, one percentage point below the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average.

The National Infrastructure Mission represents an increase in annual investment by 1% of 2017 Scottish GDP by the end of this Parliament, raising the level of public investment in infrastructure in Scotland to internationally competitive levels and providing economic stimulus.

Bus services played an essential role in keeping Scotland moving safely during the coronavirus pandemic – and have an equally important part to play as we gradually start to return to some sense of normality.

Today I am announcing that up to £42 million in funding will be made available between 4 October 2021 and 31 March 2022 to support bus operators to maintain services.

With the easing of restrictions, more people are now using local bus services and I continue to encourage people to do so safely and in particular, to continue adhering to rules on the wearing of face coverings unless exempt.

In total, we had made up to £96.8 million available in 2021-22. Because passenger numbers have risen, I am pleased to report that the required funding for this financial year is now forecast at £88.2 million. We will continue to monitor that closely to ensure that bus operators have the funding they need to continue to maintain services, but also to ensure that we are not over or under paying them.

Statistics detailing a range of information on the Scottish Welfare Fund including application numbers and awards are published on the Scottish Government website monthly, quarterly and annually. The annual update for 2020-21 lists application numbers and awards by local authority area for each year since the Fund began in 2013. These statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/collections/sg-social-security-scotland-stats-publications/