Good morning. The first item of business is general questions. Short and succinct questions and responses are appreciated.
Greyhound Racing
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s recommendation that no further new greyhound tracks be permitted in Scotland. (S6O-02087)
The Scottish Government will collectively consider all the recommendations made by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission before any final conclusions are reached.
The minister, Màiri McAllan, confirmed during a parliamentary debate on 6 October last year that greyhound racing would be included within our commitment to consult with stakeholders on extending licensing legislation to animal care services. The responses to that consultation, along with the views of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee and the SAWC’s recently published report, will inform our next steps in respect of greyhound racing in Scotland. I would encourage all interested parties to share their views via the full public consultation, which is scheduled to be launched in early summer.
I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. I take this opportunity to be the first to welcome her back to her position as cabinet secretary and pay tribute to the considerable leadership that we have seen from her over the past two years.
The commission’s report highlighted that
“a dog bred for racing in Scotland currently has poorer welfare than ... other dogs”.
The inherent risks of injury and death associated with racing greyhounds at up to 40 mph round oval tracks, alongside the lack of a veterinary presence at unlicensed tracks, led the commission to conclude that a phase-out of greyhound racing is “desirable”. Does the cabinet secretary agree that it is now time to explore options for a phase-out in a way that leaves no dogs behind?
First, I thank the member for his initial comments.
The Scottish Government absolutely appreciates the depth of feeling that is associated with this issue. That is why we have committed to undertake a full consultation later this year into animal care services, which is now going to include greyhound racing. Scottish ministers will make clear our final position once we have been able to gather all of that evidence. That will include looking at the recommendations in the SAWC report. Once we have received all the responses to the consultation, we will fully consider all of that information and then consider what the next steps might be. I reiterate that it is ultimately about improving animal welfare, and I assure the member that that is at the forefront of our considerations.
I support my colleague on this issue.
I note that the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission also supports a snaring ban in Scotland, recommending that the sale of snares and their use should be banned on animal welfare grounds. However, the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, as it has been introduced, just restricts their use. I advise the cabinet secretary that I—along with others, I imagine—will be pursuing a complete ban on snaring.
I suggest that that supplementary question is not relevant to the substantive question.
Affordable Homes (Highlands and Islands)
To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes are required to be built to meet the needs of rural communities in the Highlands and Islands. (S6O-02088)
Local authorities, as the statutory housing authorities, are responsible for assessing affordable housing needs in their areas and setting out their plans to meet those requirements in their local housing strategies and strategic housing investment plans.
We are committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 10 per cent will be in our remote, rural and island communities. In this session of Parliament, we are making available £3.5 billion for affordable housing across Scotland. The Highlands and Islands region will see an increased investment in affordable housing of over £468 million in this session of Parliament—that is £85 million more than in the previous session of Parliament.
There is a huge pressure on housing across my Highlands and Islands region, which is leaving many families and many key workers struggling to find a home, yet the Scottish Government has allocated less than £18 million of the £30 million that is available from the rural housing and islands housing funds. Will the cabinet secretary explain why that support is not being fully utilised? How will she make sure that, in the future, funding gets to the communities in my region that need to build the homes that so many desperately need?
I reiterate that, through the affordable housing supply programme, which is the general housing investment fund, the Highlands and Islands region will receive £468 million in this session of Parliament, which is £85 million more than it received in the previous session.
The member referred to the £30 million rural housing and islands housing funds, which have been described as game changing. The budget adds value, but it is demand led, so projects need to come through the system. The funds offer support to community groups and others, complementing delivery by councils and registered social landlords. Between 2016-17 and 2021-22, those funds have supported the delivery of almost 8,000 affordable homes in rural and island areas. However, there is more to be done, which is why we are bringing the remote, rural and islands housing action plan forward in the near future, in order to see what more we can do to help rural housing development.
The demand is there and it is urgent. However, affordable housing policy is made with urban, not rural, areas in mind. Will the cabinet secretary review housing policy with an eye to what works for rural areas? Young people are being forced away from home and essential services remain unstaffed because of a desperate lack of housing.
We have done that, which is why the work on the remote, rural and islands housing action plan has been under way for some time. I hope that Rhoda Grant has been inputting into that plan. We have certainly made sure that key stakeholders have been involved in its development, and we are working with key agencies, including Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, as well as the housing sector, to strengthen joint work and support key workers with employer-led housing. The plan will be published in the coming weeks.
I agree with Rhoda Grant that we need to do more around key worker housing in rural areas, which is why I am keen that, through the plan and other work, we do more about it. I am happy to speak to her further about that.
General Practitioner Surgeries (New Patients)
To ask the Scottish Government how many general practitioner surgeries are not currently accepting new patients. (S6O-02089)
The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of GP surgeries that are operating with closed lists. Under the terms of their contracts with national health service boards, GP practices must apply to the local NHS board if they wish to close their patient lists. The process for closing lists ensures that practices do not have to register more patients than they can treat safely, and practice closure notices should include conditions for reopening of the lists. We expect all NHS boards to ensure that everyone is registered with a GP practice.
It would be helpful if the Scottish Government could find out that information. I recently met with residents of Twechar, in East Dunbartonshire, which has traditionally relied on two GP surgeries in Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch, as well as previously having a weekly satellite service. However, new residents have told me that those surgeries are no longer accepting new patients and that the satellite service has not been restarted since Covid. Instead, they are having to travel to a third GP surgery with poor and unreliable public transport links. I also spoke to a Mrs Carey, who, because of a lack of GP out-of-hours services, had to wait six hours to be taken 18 miles to the south side of Glasgow for treatment. What is the minister going to do to fix the problems that are having a huge impact on people in Twechar?
We must have more concise questions and responses.
I assure the member that my officials will be engaging with all the boards and health and social care partnerships in order to ascertain their plans for that area. I am clear that the health and social care partnerships and the health boards in the two local authority areas concerned need to work together to ensure that patients’ needs are met in Twechar.
With the Scottish National Party cutting £65 million from the primary care budget, it is little wonder that GPs are struggling to take on new patients and that GP surgeries are closing their doors for ever. Will the minister commit to reinstating the £65 million to protect general practice and patients?
The member will be aware that we have more GPs per head of population in Scotland than there are in every other nation of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Government is committed to recruiting 800 new GPs by 2027, and we are significantly investing in a range of recruitment and retention initiatives so that being a GP remains an attractive career choice. We launched our GP recruitment marketing campaign in June 2022.
Primary care will be an absolutely key area for the incoming Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, and I know that he will be keen to meet all interested parties to find the best way forward for that area of his portfolio.
Schools (Poverty-related Issues)
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any poverty-related issues in schools. (S6O-02090)
The Scottish Government is committed to closing the poverty-related attainment gap and has a long-standing commitment to investing £1 billion in the Scottish attainment challenge. Our spending plans for 2023-24 across education and skills provide additional funding measures to address the cost of living crisis. That includes £13 million to continue the school clothing grant, an additional £16 million of resource and £80 million of capital to fund the expansion of free school meals for all primary 6 and 7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish child payment, and we are investing £22 million to provide meals during the school holidays to the children who need them most.
A key anti-poverty initiative for Scotland has led the United Kingdom to extending universal free school meal provision, which has been increasingly important during the cost of living crisis. That policy is at the heart of our Scottish National Party Government strategy, with universal entitlement currently provided up to P5 and with the intention to roll it out to P6 and P7 as soon as possible. As I am sure the cabinet secretary will appreciate, parents are keen for the policy to be delivered, so can the cabinet secretary provide an update on progress? Where delay may be a result of capital works requiring completion, can the Scottish Government not support councils where they are already ready to deliver the policy—
Thank you, Mr Doris.
Can it not support them to deliver universally free school meals in P6 and P7 as soon as possible?
I again ask members to ensure that their questions are concise.
As I mentioned in my original answer, we are going further than the free school meals that are provided at the moment, which is the most generous provision anywhere in the UK. We see the expansion to primary 6 and 7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish child payment as the first step. Bob Doris rightly points to some of the challenges that some local authorities have regarding the capital project work that is required, but that is exactly why we are investing that £80 million of capital funding in support of local authorities, in addition to the £30 million that they have already been given.
Children and Families with No Recourse to Public Funds (Services and Support)
To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of recent reported comments by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland regarding children and families with no recourse to public funds being unable to access front-line services in Scotland, what action it can take within devolved powers to monitor the situation of any such children and families, including any support that can be provided. (S6O-02091)
The Scottish Government is clear that people with no recourse to public funds should be able to access public services unless the service is restricted under the United Kingdom Government’s immigration rules. The Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities published the “Ending Destitution Together” strategy in 2021, with the aim of preventing and mitigating destitution caused by the impact of NRPF restrictions as far as possible within devolved powers. The Scottish Government will continue to monitor that, and we will do all we can within devolved powers to protect and support our communities, while urging the UK Government to change its position on this matter.
Local authorities do not routinely publish data on the numbers of children and families who are subject to NRPF or information on how they monitor the issue—including in relation to costs and access to support. There are concerns about the resourcing of local health and social care partnerships to support them in dealing with the complex mental health needs involved.
Will the cabinet secretary consider putting the joint national guidance on NRPF that has been drawn up with COSLA on a statutory footing, and will she consider what needs to be done to provide the specialist mental health services that are required in different parts of the country?
The national guidance for local authorities sets out the current legal framework and good practice to assist local authorities in meeting their statutory duties and in delivering an effective response when working with people who have no recourse to public funds.
The Scottish Government has provided £223,000 of funding to the Simon Community Scotland, in partnership with Safe in Scotland, to explore and address challenges that people with no recourse to public funds face in accessing support for their mental health. I am happy to speak to Maggie Chapman in more detail about that.
Long Covid (Research and Care Services)
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on investment in research and co-ordinated care services to support those living with long Covid. (S6O-02092)
We are funding nine Scottish-led research projects on the long-term effects of Covid-19, with a total funding commitment of around £2.5 million. That includes projects to better understand the symptoms of—and factors associated with—long Covid, examine effects on cognitive function and evaluate rehabilitation approaches. In 2022-23, we have made available an initial £3 million from our £10 million long Covid support fund, to help national health service boards to increase the capacity of existing services that support people with long Covid, develop the services into more clearly defined local pathways and provide a more co-ordinated experience for people who access support.
I recently visited the Lister centre in Kilmarnock, where, among other pieces of extremely important work that are linked to heart, health and physiotherapy, the team will look at providing NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s dedicated long Covid support. The work that the team does is incredible and should be commended, but the reality is that having access to co-ordinated long Covid care services is not guaranteed. It is a postcode lottery, and people from the most deprived areas are most likely to report symptoms of long Covid. Therefore, will the minister commit to making it a priority to ensure that further resource is provided for long Covid, so that there is adequate research into its lasting impacts and that there are clinics available across the country to help people who are suffering—
Thank you, Ms Mochan.
Absolutely. Our chief scientist office research funding schemes are open to applications on long Covid. Those applications are very much welcomed and they go through the CSO’s standard independent expert review process to allow funding decisions to be made. The guideline on long Covid—from the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Royal College of General Practitioners—is a living guideline, which means that its operation is reviewed, and decisions to continue or improve services are made in a dynamic way. The organisations that are responsible for the guideline’s development continue to actively monitor the global evidence base on Covid and to make sure that the recommendations are informed by the most up-to-date and high-quality evidence, regardless of where the studies generating that evidence are. We must take the opportunity—
Thank you, minister—we must move on to the next question.
Learning for Sustainability Action Plan (North-east Scotland)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the learning for sustainability action plan in educational settings in the north-east. (S6O-02093)
As with any aspect of the curriculum, the implementation of learning for sustainability is led by local authorities in individual education settings, but I am aware of the great work that is taking place across the country, including in the north-east. To further raise the level of ambition, the Scottish Government has been working with a range of partners to refresh its learning for sustainability action plan, which was first published in 2019, and that refreshed action plan will be published very shortly.
If Scotland is to meet our net zero ambitions, it is essential that we promote skills development in alignment with the fastest growing industries of the north-east. However, after another long, drawn-out announcement from the United Kingdom Government this morning, the Tory Government failed to give any credible detail on when the Acorn project will be given the green light to progress. Does the cabinet secretary think that Westminster Governments will ever stop treating Scotland’s energy as a cash cow for the UK Treasury? [Interruption.] Will the UK Government ever harness the skills here to deliver a just transition?
I ask Ms Dunbar to remember that the focus of questions must be on issues for which the Scottish Government has general responsibility in relation to the transition.
I am not surprised that the Tories do not like to hear that point once again, because there is a lack of focus from the UK Government on a just transition, and that makes the Scottish Government’s job on that even more difficult. Although there are some welcome announcements in the UK Government’s package, it did not provide clear content or a strategy to decarbonise the energy economy. The decision not to award the Scottish cluster track 1 status was, quite frankly, illogical. Although we welcome the UK Government finally setting out that the Scottish cluster is eligible for track 2 funding, it has failed to provide any certainty around when that funding will be awarded. This Government will continue to support the north-east and our highly skilled workforce. It is disappointing that the UK Government has, once again, failed to do so.
That concludes general questions. Before we move to First Minister’s question time, I invite members to join me in welcoming to the gallery the ambassador of Iceland to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Mr Sturla Sigurjónsson. [Applause.]
Air adhart
First Minister’s Question Time