Chamber and committees

Our Islands Connectivity Plan draft Strategic Approach paper, published 1 February 2024, noted feedback that the space for vehicles on busy ferry routes fills up quickly at popular times, especially in summer. At other times, and on other routes, there is space available for more vehicles to be carried and there is almost always space for people on any sailing at any time.

With the introduction of larger vessels and increased services, vehicle deck capacity has already increased and planned vessel deployments and service enhancements will bring further increases during the current decade.

The draft Strategic Approach set out our proposal to publish key baseline data, including on capacity, and that work is coming to its conclusion. Transport Scotland will use this information as the starting point for refreshed community needs assessments. This will support our proposed identification of key “pinch points” on the Clyde & Hebrides and Northern Isles networks and consider options for additional vehicle capacity where this is practical, beneficial and affordable.

Our updated Vessels and Ports Plan, published 1 February 2024, confirms that a “resilience vessel” will be retained in the CalMac major vessel fleet to cover planned and unplanned outages.

Deployment of vessels is an operational matter for CalMac, who are looking again at options for the Winter timetabling light of current challenges with the ferry fleet.

Work is currently progressing with additional technical and economic studies, including ground investigation scoping, now underway by CMAL. It is vital that a robust business case is completed to refine the options, costs and risks, as well as outlining affordability and value for money, taking cognisance of the current fiscal challenges across the Scottish Government.

This work related to a new duty related to inclusive communication in Scotland made under the Equality Act 2010. This means that the legislation could only relate to communities who have protected characteristics set out in that Act.

However, the Scottish Government’s policy understanding of inclusive communication, is as follows: “Inclusive communication is giving information in a way that is accessible to as many people as possible. It ensures people can receive information and express themselves in ways that best meet each individual’s needs.” Therefore we anticipate that many communities could benefit from activities to enhance the use and understanding of inclusive communication across the public sector.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Practices must apply to their Health Boards to close their lists and agree the conditions and timelines for reopening them.

Circumstances will arise where GP practices experience capacity issues and are unable to routinely accept new patients onto their lists. We expect Health Boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to help manage these situations and ensure that all patients have access to GP services.

The Scottish Government remain committed to increasing the Scottish Land Fund to £20m by 2026. Annual budgets for the SLF are set as part of the annual budget process.

Social Security Scotland communicate the reasons why Funeral Support Payment applications are denied to applicants on an individual basis by letter. Applications can be denied if the client is not eligible or provides insufficient evidence to support their Funeral Support Payment application.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Funeral Support Payment including applications received, application outcomes and payments.

The latest statistics publication for this benefit can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Funeral Support Payment Statistics.

Decisions on future funding for third sector organisations dealing with domestic abuse will be confirmed on completion of the budget process later this year.

The Scottish Government is committed to an ongoing programme of land reform, working with the powers and resources available to us, to tackle the pattern of land ownership in Scotland. Communities in Scotland now have more options than ever before to take ownership of land and assets. Since 2016, the Scottish Land Fund has approved 300 awards of funding for the acquisition of land and land assets, totalling over £50m, bringing over 24,500 acres into community ownership.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill introduced into Parliament earlier this year sets out ambitious proposals that will change how land is owned and managed in our rural and island communities for the better. If passed by the Scottish Parliament, the Bill will prohibit certain sales of over 1,000 hectares, until Ministers can consider the impact on the local community. Potentially, this could lead to some landholdings being lotted into smaller parts if this will support community sustainability. The Bill also seeks to empower communities with more opportunities to own land through introducing advance notice of certain sales from large landholdings.