Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will interact with the UK Government and Ministry of Defence to support the opportunity for any significant contracts with the potential to provide ongoing employment opportunities for shipyards and fabrication businesses in Scotland.

There are several Scottish yards that possess the capabilities and specialist workforce skills needed to deliver this kind of infrastructure project, and we would encourage the MOD to utilise those resources. It is of course a commercial matter for each business to bid for work, however we would support any bid that ensured the work is delivered in Scotland.

Transport Scotland has worked in partnership with its Operating Company BEAR Scotland and industry experts to test potential solutions and mitigation measures for ice accretion on the Queensferry Crossing, including cable cleaning.

This work, supported by laboratory testing, showed that cleaning of the cables stays helps to reduce ice accretion. Whilst a clean cable may reduce ice accretion, this measure cannot prevent it entirely. This was confirmed by detailed inspection during the November 2024 ice accretion event, which found that ice had accreted to stays which had no visual detritus. Notwithstanding this, we believe that cleaning the cables is a worthwhile mitigation measure that should be completed periodically.

I refer the member to the Committee debate of 12 December 2024 where I set out that to help employers address all potential barriers to recruitment in rural and island areas, a whole system approach was required.

Telehealth as a term can represent a range of digital and remote access to services across healthcare. As such, there are multiple telehealth services on offer at a national and local level across Scotland and therefore it is not possible to provide a complete number undertaken across all services provided.

The Scottish Government undertook engagement with stakeholders on issues relating to non-core and discretionary support, including support for part-time students following the response to the recommendations of the Independent Review of Student Support. Further work in this area, including the launch of a public consultation, was unable to continue due to the reprioritisation of resources to deal with issues related to Brexit and then the response to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

As a Government, we recognised the importance in continuing this work and as a result, the Post-school education, research and skills - initial priorities set out the commitment to undertake a review of student support for part-time students. This commitment was also incorporated in the 2023-24 Programme for Government.

We are in the process of considering the best way to engage with the sector to ensure that the relevant views of key stakeholders and students are captured. All issues impacting on part-time students will be given careful consideration as part of this Review. As an initial step, we have opened up living cost support to disabled students who are studying full-time distance learning courses and who are unable to study campus based courses because of their disability.

The Scottish Government is firmly committed to reducing deaths by suicide, whether this is by intentional self-poisoning or any other method.

Our 10 year suicide prevention strategy and action plan - published jointly with CoSLA - aims to tackle the root causes of suicide – and has a clear focus on people at higher risk of suicide, including those affected by substance use.

We are continuing to deliver the National Mission which aims to reduce drug deaths and includes specific work to improve the interaction between mental health and addiction recovery services.

We are also prioritising suicide prevention training for staff working in the substance use sector to increase their confidence and skills in supporting people at risk of suicide.

We recognise that intentional self-poisoning can be a form of self-harm, and in some cases this can increase the risk of suicide. We have provided funding to Penumbra since 2022 to deliver a bespoke Scotland-wide self-harm support service.

Special care dentistry is predominantly carried out by the Public Dental Service (PDS). The PDS are NHS Board-run services and therefore the responsibility of the health boards.

The review of the Preparing Scotland guidance has been completed by officials within Civil Contingencies Division in early 2024 as initially planned. Due to a number of competing demands on the time of responder agencies, and a range of other consultations and requests for participation in working groups etc, the draft document has not yet been circulated for consultation and approval. This decision has also been influenced by the fact that the existing guidance is still current, valid and fit for purpose and therefore there is no immediate disadvantage or danger in postponing the circulation in favour of other work. It is expected to consult on the refreshed guidance by summer 2025.

This information is not held centrally. NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships are the experts on their communities and are responsible for providing services that meet local needs. This may include providing services in-house or, where appropriate, through robust referral pathways to non-specialist services.

Following publication of the recent HIV Outcomes Beyond the Virus report, officials will work with the HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Implementation Group and the Scottish Health Protection Network’s HIV Clinical Leads Group to consider its recommendations and ensure that psychological support for adults living with HIV meets the high standards we would expect.

The Scottish Government is also providing NHS Education for Scotland with around £30 million in 2024-25 to deliver multidisciplinary education, training and workforce expansion for staff supporting adult and children’s mental health and psychological wellbeing.

Ernst & Young Parthenon continue to undertake a thorough analysis of viable alternatives for the Grangemouth site with a focus on three levers through which competitive advantage could be driven and these are demand, feedstocks, and infrastructure.

Additionally, the Scottish Government has asked Ernst & Young Parthenon to focus on opportunities that maximise the potential employment and GVA impact of prospective projects, and have been clear that the outputs of Project Willow must align with the contents of the draft Grangemouth Industrial Just Transition Plan.