Chamber and committees

In 2022 the Scottish Government published the Rehabilitation and Recovery: A Once for Scotland Person-Centred Approach to Rehabilitation in a Post-COVID Era. Which sets out a framework for delivering innovative and inclusive rehabilitation for all.

It supports rehabilitation service providers to identify ways to deliver individualised, cross-sector rehab utilising existing services. It also supports community-based services and supported self-management.

The approach outlines Six Principles of Good Rehabilitation that can be applied across rehab services which are universal principles for delivering good and accessible rehabilitation for all, at the point of need.

We also have a specific work plan aiming to improve access to Pulmonary Rehab across Scotland and provided recommendations to NHS Boards in 2024.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan has another year left in its current lifespan. We will continue to implement the commitments in the Plan over the coming year, alongside our work to explore a new long term conditions strategy to ensure equitable and sustainable access to the services that all people with long term conditions need, while still allowing for targeted action on condition-specific care and support where appropriate. We will take the progress of this work into account as we consider the best way to continue work to improve care and support for people with respiratory conditions in the future.

A breakdown of the funding support provided by the Scottish Government to the Energy Transition Zone project over the past three financial years is provided in the following table.

The Scottish Government has not held discussions with Peel Ports regarding a potential development of a cruise ship berth on the Upper Clyde. Transport Scotland officials communicate with ports, including Clydeport, on a wide range of issues including development opportunities. Ports are deemed to be commercial businesses, and decisions on how best to utilise their resources are the responsibility of the port authority.

The initial, industry-led, phase of the development of the Energy Skills Passport has been supported by £3.7 million of Scottish Government Just Transition funding over financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. This funding has helped to lay the groundwork for a successful Passport, including both cross-sectoral working and the development of a digital solution, leading to the pilot version of the passport launched in January 2025.

We are now looking forward to seeing the Passport develop further, providing more options and pathways for workers to transition between sectors. Success going forward will require the Passport to be fully supported from a range of bodies, including UK Government. The Scottish Government will also remain closely involved as a supportive project partner.

The Energy Transition Skills Hub is supported by £4.5 million in Just Transition Fund capital support. The construction phase of the project is expected to conclude later in 2025.

There have been two instances where groups of prisoners have been granted early release from their sentence at the order of Scottish Ministers in the last five years – firstly in May 2020, and secondly in June and July 2024.

Data was made available on the number of individuals who returned to prison custody (either held on remand or sentenced) amongst the individuals released in those processes. For the May 2020 Coronavirus specific emergency early release process, as of November 2020, 142 of the original 348 individuals who were released early had returned to custody.

For the June and July 2024 emergency early release process, as of December 2024, 61 of the 477 individuals who were released early had returned to custody before their original date of liberation.

The information requested on reoffending is not held centrally by the Scottish Government and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33255 on 23 January 2025. 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

A decision has been made by the Environment Agency to replace some of the Quality Protocols (QP) which only apply in England and Wales, including the QP for Tyre Derived Rubber Materials, with a ‘Resource Framework’. The outcomes of the review of the Tyre Derived Rubber Material QP (published in 2009) are yet to be published therefore we do not know to what extent the Resource Framework will mirror or amend the approach currently set out in the QP.

In Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's (SEPA) approach to end-of-waste is similar to the QPs. SEPA has equivalent end-of-waste positions for many of the materials covered by QPs, including compost, anaerobic digestate and aggregates. They do not currently have a published end-of-waste position for Tyre Derived Rubber Materials but have discussed the possibility with tyre recyclers in the past.

The Environment Agency is currently working with representatives from the tyre recycling industry on the design and contents of the new Resource Framework and SEPA will consider the Framework’s findings, once it is understood what the Framework for this material contains. While awaiting the outcome of the QP review, SEPA remains open to approaches from any business seeking to agree an end-of-waste position.

SEPA’s end-of-waste positions take the approach that the storage of recovered materials remains a regulated waste activity until they are dispatched to their end user. This is to ensure that the recovery of the material is genuine and that the material is not just stockpiled with no actual prospect of an end use.

There is no obligation on private companies to inform the Scottish Government of redundancy figures, therefore this information is not held centrally. The Scottish Government will continue to engage regularly with both the oil and gas industry and the relevant trade unions, including in relation to workforce planning matters. We will also continue to monitor company announcements.

In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will always offer and provide support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE. Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

As shown in Scottish Water’s Long Term Strategy which was published on 4 February 2025, resolving water deficits is a matter for everyone not simply Scottish Water. At 180 litres per person per day Scotland has one of the highest rates of water consumption, compared to 125 litres in Germany and 105 litres in Denmark. As set out in its Strategy, it is important that Scottish Water continues to reduce rates of leakage, support demand reduction by customers and invest in new water sources and water treatment works.

Scottish Water will publish its draft business plan for the 2027-33 period this summer which will set out prioritised investment proposals to reduce the number of zones in deficit and secure supplies for customers. Each zone is unique and will have its own set of measures to put in place to secure supplies for customers.