Chamber and committees

Young people can be referred to Routes from anywhere but are mainly referred to Routes by schools. Referrals are also made by addiction services, GPs, local authorities, social workers and family members. Young people often refer friends and they can self-refer.

In 2023-24, there was a monthly average caseload of 134 young people supported by the service, this included 1818 hours of one-to-one sessions, 1,234 group services, 241 hours in professional meetings with housing, education and teaching. This information can be found in the Scottish Families Affected by Drugs and Alcohol 2023-24 impact statement; Impact Reports - SFAD

Scottish Families Affected by Drugs and Alcohol have an active caseload of 152 young people in East and West Dunbartonshire. They have supported a total of 187 young people.

Each of the six Grow Your Own Routes partnership services has between 27 and 77 young people on their current caseload. The total number of young people being supported by the Grow Your Own Routes partners is 296.

The total number of young people who have ever been supported by Routes across Scotland is 483.

Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs supports young people through the Routes programme in East and West Dunbartonshire. Through Scottish Government funding, Routes has expanded to ‘Grow Your Own Routes’ partnership services at Barnardos in North Lanarkshire, Action for Children in Renfrewshire, Aberlour in Falkirk, Right There in Orkney, ADA in Aberdeenshire and Circle in East Lothian.

Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs are also funding some small Grow Your Own Routes grants of £5K to other areas who want to trial Routes. This has included £5K to South Lanarkshire (My Support Day) and Helensburgh and Lomond (Young Carers).

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads with the local road authorities, including parking. The provision of parking, the charges levied and how they are collected is therefore at the local authorities discretion and this is not something in which the Scottish Government would become directly involved.

There is a National Parking Platform available across the UK, run at no cost to local authorities by the Department of Transport, which local authorities in Scotland would be free to participate in if they so wish.

To ask the Scottish Government how often car deck space on sailings of the passenger Northern Isles Ferry Services between Aberdeen-Lerwick has been full in each of the last five years.

The number of sailings where vehicle deck space reached full bookable capacity on the Aberdeen – Lerwick passenger vessels for each Contract Year is displayed in the following table, which also includes the number of passenger vessel sailings each year.

The Draft Grangemouth Just Transition Plan has been published today for consultation. The plan sets out the strategic approach to securing a long term and sustainable future for the Grangemouth cluster. I am grateful to all those who have shaped this work to date and welcome their further constructive input over the course of the consultation period. The Scottish Government intend to publish the final plan in Spring 2025.

The publication can be found here.

Following the Government’s proposal to establish a new National Park in Galloway, NatureScot – in its role as reporter – has been engaging with communities, businesses, public bodies and other interested parties in the Galloway area in order to seek initial views and develop more detailed proposals for consultation.

Today, NatureScot will launch a formal statutory public consultation on the proposal. As well as gauging support for the proposal, the consultation will seek views on options for the possible area, functions, powers and governance of a new National Park.

The consultation process will include a full consultation paper and survey available via the NatureScot website, Have Your Say Today - Information Hub - A Proposal For A National Park In Galloway - Commonplace a survey available both online and distributed to households and businesses in, and near, the area proposed in the nomination, as well as events for businesses including agriculture, forestry and other land-management sectors and activities; and events for under-represented groups and young people. Information about the consultation surveys and events will be published today on NatureScot’s website and the dedicated online engagement hub.

An important part of the consultation process – in addition to the consultation paper and surveys – will be a series of independently facilitated consultation events and drop-in surgeries that will take place throughout the area proposed for National Park status. NatureScot began publicising these consultation events on 1 November, via the NatureScot website National Parks | NatureScot and the Hub Have Your Say Today - Consultation Events - Information Hub - A Proposal For A National Park In Galloway (commonplace.is) and they also intend to promote them in local news outlets and with posters in an effort to make these events as visible as possible.

Attendees at the consultation events will be supported to share their thoughts and opinions in a welcoming environment. There will be sessions within each event asking for responses on different topics, and interactive boards and spaces, as well as opportunities to leave anonymous feedback, and to complete a consultation leaflet in writing.

Additionally, a number of drop-in surgeries, hosted by NatureScot, will also be announced between November and January, with the locations and times publicised via the NatureScot website National Parks | NatureScot in due course. These sessions are aimed at individuals with questions about the consultation. They will complement the more structured consultation events. Completed surveys can also be left with NatureScot at these events.

It is extremely important that we hear from people living and working in the area and that the people of Galloway and South and East Ayrshire have the opportunity to discuss the issues, consider the content of the proposal including the desirability of a National Park in their area and suggest any alternatives.

I recognise the significant public interest in this proposal and am aware that there is both support and opposition. Everyone’s views will be listened to and taken into account and I would encourage everyone with an interest to engage with the consultation process in a constructive and respectful way.

The 14 week consultation period will start today and it will conclude on Friday 14 February. The consultation period has been extended to take account of the festive period and to enable as many people as possible to respond.

All views received will be captured and reported on.

We will carefully consider the outcome of this public consultation and NatureScot’s report before taking any further decisions on the proposal for a new National Park in Galloway.

The following table provides the number of injury road collisions recorded by Police Scotland as taking place at or within a half mile radius of the Toll of Birness.

Please note that the figures for 2024 are provisional, as they are based on monthly returns received thus far from Police Scotland in 2024, with the most recent returns being received on 10th October 2024. This may be an incomplete picture of casualties up to that date due to a slight lag between collisions occurring and the data being processed and shared by Police Scotland. These figures are also subject to change due to subsequent corrections and late records.

I meet with Transport Scotland officials on a regular basis to discuss improvements across the entire trunk road network including those located in the North East of Scotland, and most recently met at our regular portfolio meeting on 30 October 2024.

A breakdown of the Scottish Government fleet (including pool, Government Car Service and Transport Scotland) over the last 5 years is provided in the following table.