Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the Official Report of the Meeting of the Parliament for 18 May in which the First Minister replied to question S6F-02119W. It is available on the Parliament’s website and can be found at the following address; https://archive2021.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=15312&i=130603#ScotParlOR.

A number of amendments that sought to introduce a third party right of appeal were considered, and rejected, by the Scottish Parliament during consideration of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. We are aware of the communication brought to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) concerning planning appeal rights in Scotland (ACCC/C/2022/196). A response will be issued to the ACCC in due course.

I refer the member to my answer to S6W-17651.

Home haemodialysis is provided for people who need this. Any reimbursement for increases in utility bills as a result of home haemodialysis would be the responsibility of the NHS Board. Individuals who wish to pursue reimbursement of living costs should contact their local NHS Board in the first instance.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund – established in 2020 and tripled to £30 million for 2023 to 2024 - is a critical plank in our support to people who are struggling with their energy costs.

As with the development of all new trade arrangements, the Scottish Government has sought to engage with the UK Government at Ministerial and official level throughout the negotiation process for accession to the CPTPP to ensure that Scottish interests are identified and taken into account. Most recently, I wrote to the UK Government Minister of State for International Trade, Nigel Huddleston MP, following his confirmation that the UK Government had secured Agreement in Principle to accede to CPTPP. In this correspondence I raised a number of concerns including those around Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

The Scottish Government’s position, as set out in the Vision for Trade, is that no future Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system should prevent Scotland (and the rest of the UK) from making laws on health, social, environmental and economic matters. Any future ISDS system should be transparent, based on judicial procedures, and permit meaningful representations by all parties with a potential stake in the matter.

We will continue to call on the UK Government to recognise widespread concerns around ISDS, actively consider alternative models of dispute resolution, and to contribute to the development of international best practice.

The Scottish Government is not currently directly funding any research projects or fellowships on the development of new diagnostic tests and tools to detect brain tumours.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the research spend of other funders. However, the National Cancer Research Institute database indicates that £2,846,401 was spent on early detection, diagnosis and prognosis of brain tumours in the UK in 2020-21 by charity and public funders.

A. The Scottish Government paid a total of £209,743 to Smarts Communications and £333,082 to Stripe Communications during the period 1 January 2022 to 10 May 2023.

B. Both companies were commissioned to provide public relation services by the Scottish Government’s Marketing Team to support vital public information and behaviour change marketing campaigns.

Survival analysis using the Scottish Government Quality Improvement Indicator dataset is undertaken to enable monitoring and to support continuous improvement in cancer care. The regional cancer networks are subsequently able to reflect and act on these indicators to ensure equitable treatment and care across Scotland.

This analysis predates improvement work that has been undertaken across all cancer regions, but the situation clearly requires continued prioritisation and close attention.

The study was discussed at the last meeting of the National Cancer Quality Steering Group in March. Immediate and medium term actions were presented to the group in an aim to drive improvement and close the observed difference in survival between cancer networks.

We will discuss these actions with the regional cancer networks, and local boards where required, seeking assurance that actions are well focussed and advancing.

In letters of 16 February 2023 and 27 March 2023, the Scottish Government offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials to discuss how they can work together to help achieve compliance. The Scottish Government has not yet received a response to that offer, however officials will be in touch with the Church of Scotland to follow up on this.

The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to deliver an additional engagement plan to raise awareness and help support stakeholders through the process. This will include a programme of additional awareness raising and reviewing the existing guidance, however this will not include further legislative intervention or legal advice.

The following two tables provide details of funding:

1. Awarded under various funding schemes to each of the local authorities for public EV charging infrastructure and to local authorities and other public bodies for public sector fleet EV charging infrastructure.

2. Awarded through the Energy Saving Trust to private businesses and domestic customers.

In addition to the figures in the Table 1, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Councils jointly benefited from a £5.3m grant to supporting public EV charging infrastructure through project PACE between 2019 and 2021, this resulted in the installation of 167 new charge points at 44 hubs across the region.

Table 1. Funding to Local Authorities