- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government which of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies it expects, in accordance with the document, Guidance on due diligence: human rights, to have undertaken human rights checks on organisations that have successfully bid for offshore wind projects under the ScotWind leasing round announced on 17 January 2022.
Answer
The ScotWind process is administered by Crown Estate Scotland and therefore Crown Estate Scotland is the body who has the responsibility to undertake all relevant checks.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it or its agencies and non-departmental public bodies have, in accordance with the document, Guidance on due diligence: human rights, undertaken human rights checks on organisations that have successfully bid for offshore wind projects under the ScotWind leasing round announced on 17 January 2022.
Answer
ScotWind leasing is administered by Crown Estate Scotland who are responsible for completing the process of due diligence in line with relevant guidance.
Crown Estate Scotland advises that all project partners were required to make a declaration providing Crown Estate Scotland with written assurance that they have not been convicted of unlawful activity in relation to a range of requirements, including aspects such as; corruption, bribery, fraud and human trafficking and exploitation, within the last five years. Only companies providing such assurances were allowed to proceed with bids.
The ScotWind terms and conditions make clear that Crown Estate Scotland reserves the right to void any application which is found to have provided false information. If any companies have been found to have made false declarations on these matters Crown Estate Scotland will take the appropriate action.
The Scottish Government is clear that both public authorities and private enterprises have a responsibility to ensure human rights are respected and protected in the workplace. Scottish Ministers remain committed to defending the vitally-important legislation which protects human rights in Scotland and in the UK – including both the Human Rights Act 1998 and the constitutional protections built into the Scotland Act 1998.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Islands Energy Strategy will take account of the reportedly significantly higher costs of retrofitting in island communities.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises that island communities can face distinct challenges in the transition to zero emissions heating. We are committed to continuing to make higher levels of funding available per head through our energy efficiency/fuel poverty delivery programmes in remote rural areas, where we know installation and labour costs are higher.
Through our Islands Energy Strategy – of which a draft is due to be published later this year, we will work with stakeholders to take an evidence based approach to explore the need additional support for those rural and island homes which require bespoke and targeted advice for heat and energy efficiency.
Furthermore, our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Action Plan, due to be published later this year will include a specific focus on developing local supply chains, including in our islands and remote communities, to help bring costs down.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 18 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to making all public sector buildings net zero by 2030, with an interim target of 75% by 2027 and a target for absolute zero by 2035, as recommended by Scotland's Climate Assembly in its report, Recommendations for Action.
Answer
The Scottish Government agrees with the Assembly on the importance of rapidly decarbonising public sector buildings. We are committed to developing and agreeing, through consultation, a series of phased targets for the decarbonisation of public sector buildings. Targets will start in 2024, with the most difficult buildings like hospitals being decarbonised by 2038 and for all publicly owned buildings to meet net zero emission heating requirements by 2038. This is seven years earlier than the backstop of 2045 for the rest of Scotland’s building stock.
Action is being taken by the Scottish Government to support Scotland’s public sector to meet these targets:
- The Scottish Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation Scheme will distribute £200 million of capital funding during this parliamentary session to aid the decarbonisation of Scotland’s public sector estate.
- NHS Scotland’s £10 billion programme of investment in new hospitals and healthcare facilities is guided by a commitment that all new buildings and major refurbishments will produce net zero emissions and use renewable heat.
- The £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme, managed by the Scottish Futures Trust, aims to benefit around 50,000 pupils across Scotland by the end of the next Parliament by delivering digitally enabled, low-carbon schools and campuses.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 18 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a monitoring and evaluation framework for the Heat in Buildings Strategy, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee in its report, Progress reducing emissions in Scotland - 2021 Report to Parliament.
Answer
As set out in chapter 11 of the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we are developing a monitoring and evaluation framework which we will publish later this year. We will publish our response to this recommendation, and the Climate Change Committee’s other recommendations this spring.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-buildings-strategy-achieving-net-zero-emissions-scotlands-buildings/pages/12/
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 8 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many probable suicides there were in each year from 2017 to 2021, broken down by local authority and also given as an annual crude rate per 100,000 population.
Answer
National Records of Scotland (NRS) publishes figures on probable deaths by suicide annually. Figures for each year from 2017 to 2020 are provided on the NRS website, and this includes a breakdown by local authority areas at Table 5. The data is found here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/probable-suicides/2020/suicides-20-all-tabs.xlsx
NRS plans to publish figures of probable deaths by suicides for 2021 in summer 2022.
NRS does not publish annual crude rates of probable suicides at a population level. Instead, it uses age-standardised rates which provide reliable comparisons across local authority areas by taking account of different demographic profiles. NRS publishes this data on a 5 yearly basis, rather than on an annual basis, to ensure the data does not disclose individual cases. Detailed information is available in figure 6 of the spreadsheet provided in the above link.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland provides financial support to officers and staff seeking to attend the psychological wellbeing and counselling programmes at the two Police Treatment Centres, in Harrogate and Auchterarder.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. Any financial support provided to the Police Treatment Centres, by Police Scotland, is a matter for the Chief Constable and the Scottish Police Authority.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many police working days were lost due to mental ill health in (a) 2019, (b), 2020, and (c) 2021, broken down by region.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. The recording of absences, in relation to Police Scotland’s workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what formal support is available to police officers and staff experiencing poor mental health.
Answer
The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.
Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. This includes the signposting of services by ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the programme has resulted in a raised awareness of the services available, such as occupational health and employee assistance, which offer counselling, and specific interactions through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM).
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what specialist support Police Scotland offers to police officers and staff experiencing poor mental health.
Answer
The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.
Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. This includes the signposting of services by ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the programme has resulted in a raised awareness of the services available, such as occupational health and employee assistance, which offer counselling, and specific interactions through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM).