Chamber and committees

There is no correlation between sportscotland’s voluntary severance scheme and the Changing the Boundaries report and independent referrals investigation.

The referrals process underlined the failings of the governing body over recent years, and Cricket Scotland, having fully accepted all actions and recommendations for improvement, is committed to delivering on those. We recognise the progress that has been made and sportscotland is providing continued support to Cricket Scotland to ensure the sport can move forward with confidence.

sportscotland is not making staff redundant. Their severance scheme is a voluntary scheme and it is an individual’s choice if they wish to apply. The scheme is intended to mitigate financial challenges facing the sector including the unprecedented levels of inflation experienced over the past 3-4 years, and the UK Government’s planned increase in employer national insurance contributions. The severance scheme will enable sportscotland to maximise the impact of investment in sport and physical activity.

The Scottish Government is greatly concerned by the UK Government’s planned increase in Employer National Insurance Contributions and the damaging implications for businesses, public services, and communities. We are calling on the UK Government to reverse the planned increase.

Transport Scotland provided £2.4 million to local authorities for the completion of their road assessments to identify if there are areas of footway they may wish to exempt from the national pavement parking ban. It is not for Transport Scotland to assess how local authorities undertook their road assessments. Local authorities are best placed to make informed decisions on the management of their local road network and to assess which of the footways within their area are suitable for exemption, in line with ministerial directions.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the retirement ages of GPs.

Regular updates will be provided by Transport Scotland to Ministers to ensure appropriate action is taken to address concerns at the Shawhead Flyover. The current position is that Transport Scotland has asked its maintenance contractor (Scottish Roads Partnership) to assess several options for works at the junction to improve driver confidence. This work is underway. In addition, Transport Scotland has also asked Police Scotland for the junction to be assessed by their Police Camera Safety Team in the next site selection exercise, which is due to begin in April.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold information on how many individuals may seek regulated independent healthcare provided transgender chest surgery.

This is an operational matter for Caledonian Sleeper Ltd (CSL).

CSL advises that it is taking a number of actions to promote its iconic services, which are fully booked for a growing proportion of the year. The Member may wish to contact CSL directly for more details.

Improving access to testing for blood borne viruses (BBV) plays an important role in achieving the Scottish Government’s hepatitis C elimination and HIV transmission elimination goals. However it is vital that we carefully consider which interventions are likely to be most effective in Scotland. This is why we have funded emergency department (ED) opt-out testing pilot projects in NHS Lothian, Grampian and Highland.

Whilst there are no imminent plans to expand ED opt-out testing, the Scottish Government is using evaluation data from the pilot projects, combined with evidence from the programme in England and Scottish Government-funded academic research, to determine whether further roll-out would be acceptable, deliverable and cost-effective.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has supported the Scottish Government in the development of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (SBS) and Delivery Plan, through participation in official working groups ran by the Environment and Forestry Directorate.

FLS provided written evidence to Scottish Forestry officials on forest policy related actions which subsequently fed into the SBS.

FLS are now discussing internally how to support delivery of the Biodiversity Actions which will be summarised in their next corporate plan.

As Scotland’s largest manager of wild deer FLS provided practitioner input to the development of the SBS reflecting the critical dependency for SBS outcomes to be enabled by proactive deer management by all land managers.

The following table shows the number of cases closed during the past 5 financial years which were time barred on receipt of report by COPFS. Each case may comprise multiple accused and a variety of charges. To ascertain case type would require a manual check of each report. This information is not readily available.

Criminal cases reported to COPFS

Count is cases closed using the marking - 'No Action: Timebarred On Receipt'

Grouped by financial year case closed

count is by case

Financial year closed

As promised in the Scottish Parliament debate on Young Carers Action Day on 14 March 2024, I have tasked my officials with looking at the feasibility of the Scottish Government committing to the Young Carer Covenant. The Covenant’s overarching principles are cross policy in nature, and touch on many aspects of the Scottish Government work.

This work is ongoing. I will write to the member to advise her of the outcome.