Official Report 1104KB pdf
Good morning. The first item of business is general question time.
Pet Services (Regulations)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to introduce regulation for pet groomers, animal boarders and dog walkers, in light of the results of the public consultation from earlier this year that showed a high level of support for such measures. (S6O-04073)
Although the consultation that was undertaken last year demonstrated support for licensing, concerns were expressed about the proportionality and cost of statutory licensing and about the capacity of local authorities to absorb and meaningfully enforce additional licensing requirements when budgets are already stretched. We are therefore assessing whether less onerous and more proportionate approaches, such as registration schemes linked to codes of conduct, could deliver similar outcomes to licensing.
In the meantime, our immediate focus is to deliver on the proposal to regulate canine fertility businesses, due to the significant animal welfare concerns that are associated with that sector.
Those of us who have pets recognise that they are treated as one of the family, and it is reasonable for pet owners to want reassurance that any services that they access are insured and that staff are appropriately qualified, which, as the minister will know, has not always been the case.
Will the minister commit to consulting the sector more widely to understand the scale of growth in pet services in Scotland, with the intention of developing a proportionate yet robust regulatory framework covering the sector to protect pets from harm?
I agree whole-heartedly with the member’s point that pet owners need to be reassured that persons who provide pet services are suitably insured and qualified. I therefore encourage any pet owner who accesses such services to undertake due diligence and to confirm with the service provider that they are insured and qualified.
We do not propose to take forward further consultation at this time, but the Government will continue to engage with stakeholders in order to develop proportionate controls for pet service providers.
Safer Speed Limit (20mph)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it will ensure that all appropriate roads have a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025. (S6O-04074)
The Scottish Government is firmly committed to reducing road casualties and creating safer streets for everyone. Evidence shows that a person is seven times more likely to survive if hit at 20mph than at 30mph.
All local authorities are committed to meeting the 2025 deadline and have developed their plans to designate their streets, and £4 million has been provided to 21 local authorities this financial year to aid implementation. Transport Scotland has issued national guidance to support local authorities with the roll-out of 20mph speed limits on appropriate roads.
Early feedback from Scottish Borders Council and Highland Council, as early adopters, has been positive, with a recognition from local communities that the initiative can significantly reduce road casualties, encourage sustainable travel and foster safer, more vibrant communities.
It is clear that every council in Scotland is ready to roll out 20mph, which is remarkable. That means that, by the end of next year, every child in every community could be living on a safer street. Local implementation, alongside a national programme, will help to drive forward the national road safety messages that have been so successful in driving down casualty rates in Wales. However, when I speak to councils and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, there is uncertainty about what funds will be available to get the job done in the next 12 months, particularly in relation to staff resources in councils. How will the budget that was announced yesterday enable each and every one of those 32 councils to deliver implementation plans in the next year, as it is clear that that will cost more than £4 million?
Council road authorities had to submit the expected expenditure to deliver their plans to achieve the 20mph limits on the roads that they have chosen in their areas. However, we know that early adopters have spent significantly under those estimates—in one case, by 62 per cent. Therefore, we are confident that there are sufficient funds in the 2025-26 budget to meet the needs. That funding can be found in the road safety line in the roads budget that was published yesterday.
There is a brief supplementary question from Sue Webber.
Bus passengers in Edinburgh face longer journeys under the council’s plans to cut speed limits from 60mph to 20mph. The proposed changes are expected to cost £850,000 and would affect 66 roads in Edinburgh. Lothian Buses has raised concerns that the slower traffic will affect journey times for passengers, adding to the misery that commuters face across our capital. Only 18 fines for breaching the 20mph speed limit in Edinburgh have been issued since 2020-21. Without enforcement, it is nothing more than an expensive box-ticking exercise. Does the cabinet secretary agree that introducing more 20mph limits will increase congestion and journey times and do nothing to encourage people to use public transport?
I am not sure whether the Conservative Party is aware of the data that shows that there are significant reductions in the numbers of casualties on affected roads. That is the driver for that change and improvement. I know that the member is a former Edinburgh councillor, so she will be aware of the powers that local authorities have on enforcement. She makes a valid point about whether the 20mph limit slows traffic and whether there is an issue around congestion affecting bus travel times. However, again, that is an issue that the City of Edinburgh Council, which owns the buses in Edinburgh—
It does not own the buses.
Well, it runs a publicly—[Interruption.]
Ms Webber, will you allow the cabinet secretary to respond?
Lothian Buses has shareholders. A very small number of shares are held by West Lothian Council; shares are also held by the City of Edinburgh Council. I would have thought that the transport spokesperson for the Conservatives might have known that. In putting forward a reasonable case for how we make sure that we get the benefits of increased bus use as well as safer streets, I refer the member to her former colleagues in the City of Edinburgh Council on that Edinburgh-specific issue.
Supported Businesses
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to maintain and grow supported businesses. (S6O-04075)
The Scottish Government values the role of supported businesses and is committed to helping them to achieve commercial sustainability. In Scotland, we pride ourselves on leading in that area with legislation and systems that support that. Legislation such as the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 contains a number of provisions to support supported businesses. The multi-supplier dynamic purchasing system for requirements reserved for supported businesses describes a range of products and services that supported businesses can provide to the public sector.
Recent data shows that almost £28 million of public sector spend was spent by public bodies with supported businesses in the previous year. Supported businesses are also included in the recently published social enterprise action plan. We are now working with officials to provide further guidance to public bodies and to set guidelines on how much they should seek to spend with supported businesses across the country.
I thank the minister for that answer. Haven Products in Larbert, with nine out of 10 of its workforce disabled, is facing closure. I have been pressing the Government to act to save those jobs for more than six months. As of today, neither the Government nor its short-life working group has come up with a plan to save the factory. This week, the board of Haven Products confirmed that, unless the situation is resolved, redundancy consultations will begin in early January. Does the minister agree that the time for words has long passed? Those workers need action. Will he give an undertaking today that a rescue plan will be put in place before Christmas to save those vital jobs?
I absolutely agree with the member, and I genuinely thank him for bringing the issue to the chamber. I have met the chief executive of Haven Products, who I believe will be visiting the Parliament in the next few days, at the request of Mr Leonard.
I have been working tirelessly on the matter to support Haven Products and other supported businesses, because we recognise that it is not only the right thing to do but, frankly, more cost effective to support such businesses than it is for them to close and for the individuals concerned to have to be supported, with costs to wider public services. I am absolutely committed to doing that.
Richard Leonard will be aware that we work within a regime on what we can and cannot do with specific procurement requirements, but I have told officials that we need to deliver on this and ensure that Haven Products and other supported businesses are supported. Officials have identified opportunities in the medium term, which is welcome, but, as Richard Leonard rightly identifies, we need the delivery of orders and financial support in the immediate term. He can rest assured that we are working to ensure that that happens.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has estimated that Labour’s national insurance hike will cost the sector £75 million, with Edinburgh social enterprise Four Square warning that, after Labour’s tax hike, it has “nowhere left to cut”. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the impact on the third sector of the changes? Will the minister outline how the Scottish budget, which was announced yesterday, is supporting third sector organisations, including social enterprises?
Colin Beattie raises an important point. The measures that have been taken in the United Kingdom budget have a significant impact on the sector. We are working with the sector and others to understand the full impact, and we are holding negotiations with the UK Government to secure funding for all the organisations that are impacted in Scotland as a consequence of those actions. Colin Beattie will know that the Scottish budget, which was published yesterday, contains a range of measures to support those enterprises.
I would be grateful for concise questions and responses.
NHS Dental Services (Dumfries and Galloway)
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Public Health Scotland’s recent national health service dental monitoring report, which indicates that almost 40 per cent of adults in Dumfries and Galloway are not registered with an NHS dentist. (S6O-04076)
The Scottish Government has made available tailored grant funding, and NHS Dumfries and Galloway recently held a successful Scottish dental access initiative application, which will result in 2,000 new NHS registrations in Moffat. We are also funding dental emergency evening clinics for unregistered patients, which have been in operation for almost 18 months.
Officials are working closely with the board to ensure that measures are in place for appropriate staffing of the Gardenhill practice in Castle Douglas to support the provision of emergency and urgent care to unregistered patients and to provide routine dental care to a number of registered patients in priority groups.
It is not just about adults; more than 20 per cent of children in Dumfries and Galloway are not registered with an NHS dentist, which are the worst figures in Scotland. The actions that the minister has outlined are clearly not working, because the problem has been getting worse. Why is the crisis so bad in Dumfries and Galloway? Why is the action not making a difference? More important, what more will the Government do to tackle the crisis, before NHS dentistry becomes a thing of the past for far too many of my constituents?
Colin Smyth will recognise that, prior to Brexit, a large proportion of the dentists in Dumfries and Galloway and in other rural areas of Scotland came from European countries. I recently met the Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, as well as my counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland, to talk specifically about how we can improve the recruitment of dentists in the United Kingdom—this is an issue not just in Scotland.
Colin Smyth will be pleased to recognise the important investment in dentistry that the Scottish Government has put into the budget for next year. I suggest that he supports the Scottish budget, so that we can continue the improvement.
Battery Energy Storage (Guidance)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update planning guidance for battery energy storage systems. (S6O-04077)
Where new development proposals come forward, our fourth national planning framework, which was published and adopted in 2023, ensures that the impacts of proposals on communities and nature are important considerations in the decision-making process.
On 5 November, the National Energy System Operator published advice to the United Kingdom Government on how to achieve clean power by 2030. At the same time, NESO also published a consultation on connections queue reform, and the UK Government is due to publish a clean power action plan. The outputs of that work will be considered in due course.
At present, 18 battery sites are operational and a further 18 are under construction. Planning permission has been granted for 132 sites, where construction is awaited, and applications for planning permission have been submitted for a further 136 sites. The situation is completely out of control. One developer told us that there is a gold rush to get applications for battery sites into the planning process before the Scottish National Party Government puts controls in place.
Will the Government consider a moratorium on new applications until we have an energy strategy and can evaluate how many battery sites are required and where?
It is important to say that there is a statutory structure that must be followed in all decision making in the planning system. Section 25 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 requires that decisions must be made in accordance with the development plan.
I understand the point that the member makes about cumulative impacts. The cumulative impacts of development, including landscape, visual and amenity impacts, are important considerations in the determination of applications, where such impacts are identified.
Rail Services (Mid Scotland and Fife)
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve rail services for passengers in the Mid Scotland and Fife region. (S6O-04078)
I appreciate that services in Fife have been affected by overcrowding for some time. ScotRail is working hard to increase capacity and to improve the resilience of services, and it has recruited more maintenance and engineering staff, as well as train drivers.
Newly recruited engineering staff will allow for two high-speed trains to be returned to service between Glasgow and Aberdeen from the December timetable change, which will release diesel trains for other parts of the network, and additional stops will continue to be made at Dalmeny and Burntisland to reduce pressure on busy morning and evening Leven services.
The electrification work between Edinburgh and Dalmeny has started. That is the first step towards electrification of the Fife routes.
In Mid Scotland and Fife, which has a reliable service, ScotRail is adding longer trains for Saturday services on the Glasgow to Alloa line to meet the growing passenger demand.
The cabinet secretary has identified a number of issues with the trains in my region, but I want to ask about ScotRail’s proposals to close—sorry, to adjust the hours of—54 station ticket offices. That conceals the fact that 47 stations across my region will change their hours. I feel that there is a lack of transparency around those plans and that they are not being clearly communicated to the public. The 2022 consultation showed that passengers did not support changes to ticket offices, and the Government’s own report on the safety of women and girls emphasised the importance of having visible station staff.
The on-going consultation does not include members of the public, so how will the cabinet secretary ensure that the needs of all passengers are heard? Can she confirm that ScotRail will provide an up-to-date equality impact assessment?
With regard to that latter point, yes, I can. That point has already been made to a number of members.
Claire Baker will know that ticket office opening hours have not been adjusted for 30 years. The proportion of tickets that are sold at ticket offices has reduced from 78 per cent to 14 per cent. I am glad that she corrected herself: no ticket offices are closing; their hours are being adjusted.
In Claire Baker’s region, the ticket office at Cowdenbeath station will have its opening times reduced, but staffing hours will remain unchanged. Opening hours at Cupar will increase, and although opening times at Dalmeny will be reduced, staffing hours will remain unchanged on that line. Opening hours at Dunfermline city will be increased, and although opening times at Leuchars will be reduced, staffing hours will remain unchanged.
Visibility on platforms and in stations is important, as Claire Baker has stressed, and that is the focus of the adjustments that are being made, which are currently being consulted on with staff.
NHS Grampian Winter Preparedness
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting NHS Grampian with its winter preparedness. (S6O-04079)
Earlier this year, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities jointly published a plan setting out how we will address the exceptional pressures that our health and care services face over winter. Building on previous experience, we are supporting local systems, including NHS Grampian, with a comprehensive, whole-system range of effective measures. That includes preventative action such as vaccination programmes; ensuring that people receive the right care in the right place and at the right time through measures such as hospital at home and public messaging campaigns; maximising capacity and capability in the system; and focusing on the wellbeing of our workforce.
Following the critical incident that was declared in NHS Grampian last week, will the cabinet secretary speak about the actions that the Scottish Government will take to alleviate pressure on accident and emergency services in the winter months and to ensure the most effective possible care for patients?
I again place on record my thanks to the staff in NHS Grampian and other health boards who were involved in responding to the critical incident. I recognise the clear relationship between long waits and overcrowding in A and E and the increased risk of harm, which is why the budget for next year is investing in action on waiting times and will address capacity in primary and social care. Clearly, those things can happen only if members vote for the budget.
We also continue working with health boards and the national centre for sustainable delivery to enhance patient flow at acute sites, improve discharge planning and hospital-at-home services and reduce the conveyance of people from care homes, where that is clinically appropriate. All of that will, in turn, reduce pressures on A and E.
Finally, officials continue to meet regularly with NHS Grampian specifically to discuss the improvement activity that is under way within the board and any challenges that it faces.
That concludes general question time.
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First Minister’s Question Time