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Scotland’s Redress Scheme has been developed to ensure that survivors of abuse in relevant care settings are at the heart of the process at all times, and can maintain decision making responsibilities regarding their application and the content of that application.

The kind of information needed to accompany an application may come from diverse sources. In some cases it may already be in the applicant’s possession, or in the possession of others who were in the same establishment that they have kept in touch with. It is important that we acknowledge that personal data belongs to an individual and that when accessing information this is done in line with data protection law to ensure data is used properly and legally.

In line with the response issued to question S6W-10847 on 21 September 2022, it is an important aspect of the Scotland’s Redress Scheme that applicants have support available to them at all stages of the process, including to support accessing of records and other information relevant to their application.

When additional support is required, case workers refer applicants to the Redress Support Service provided by the In-Care Survivors Alliance. The In-Care Survivors Alliance draws on its existing network of over 70 delivery partners to provide support.

The Redress Support Service can help applicants access the emotional, practical or access to records support they require. They currently have contracts with two delivery partners; Birthlink and Wellbeing Scotland, who provide additional support for applicants in accessing records.

Support to access records can also be provided by a nominated representative, which may be a solicitor, with the scheme ensuring there is provision for legal fees to be paid directly to solicitors.

The Privacy Notice for Survivor Applicants and the Privacy Notice for Next of Kin Applicants provide details on how the information collected by Scottish Government, as administrators of Scotland’s Redress Scheme, is managed and how it is used.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
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The R100 contracts set out which premises Openreach will deliver to. Openreach has no flexibility to remove premises from contractual build without prior agreement from Scottish Government. To date, no premises have been removed from the R100 contracts.

Prior to contracts being awarded, commercial broadband infrastructure providers were invited to share details of their existing and planned build through an Open Market Review. The responses to this were then tested through a Public Review to ensure that only premises which were not in commercial build plans would be eligible for the build through the R100 contracts.

People in Scotland over State Pension age, who do not already have an award of Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance or Adult Disability Payment, can apply for Attendance Allowance.

Attendance Allowance is awarded to help with extra costs if a person has any disability severe enough that they need someone to help care for or supervise them. Attendance Allowance is currently delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions, on the Scottish Government’s behalf, through an agency agreement.

Pension Age Disability Payment will be the Scottish replacement for Attendance Allowance. Further information on Pension Age Disability Payment delivery will be provided in due course.

Management of reimbursement for energy costs associated with medical machines in individuals homes are decisions made by NHS Boards. The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS Boards to address financial pressures across the healthcare system, including the increase in energy costs. In May 2022, we published our Resource Spending Review that set out investment of £73 billion in health and social care to 2026-27.

The Scottish Government will also use the Emergency Budget Review to increase the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23. The Fuel Insecurity Fund is aimed at helping people who are at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely because they cannot afford their energy bills.

Tree planting in Scotland is supported through the Forestry Grant Scheme, managed by Scottish Forestry.

To be eligible for support, proposals for tree planting must be developed in line with the Woodland Creation Application Guidance published in 2018. Stakeholder and community engagement is an essential part of this development and assessment process. This helps to ensure that planting proposals take community concerns into consideration and select the right trees to be planted in the right places.

Our commitment to enhance the Forestry Grant Scheme in the latest Programme for Government includes measures to improve public engagement over woodland creation.

All tree planting proposals need to follow published guidance, which seeks to avoid large scale planting on better agricultural land and requires assessments to be carried out for projects with planting on better land.

Where projects involve significant planting on agricultural land, the Scottish Government’s Rural Payments and Inspections Division are consulted to help determine whether proposals are acceptable or whether they need to be amended.

Local Authority spatial strategies have been prepared to identify where woodland creation may be appropriate and these strategies follow the Woodland Expansion Advisory Group’s recommendations to direct woodland creation away from better agricultural land. These strategies are considered when making decisions around the suitability of tree planting proposals.

Farming and forestry can co-exist, forestry is not extensively replacing agricultural land across Scotland. Analysis of the Forestry Grant Scheme shows that in the twelve months to the end of August 2022, Scottish Forestry received 331 new applications to plant 9,931 hectares of new woodland, which is equivalent to less than 0.2% of farmland.

Figures for the area of woodland and the areas of new planting / restocking in Scotland on land owned by the Scottish Government and/or its agencies are published annually as National Statistics by Forest Research and are available from the Forest Research web site at https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-8w3lv3 .

Official annual restoration totals are only available from 2012-13 when the Scottish Government began funding Peatland ACTION, the national peatland restoration programme delivered by NatureScot. However, data from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is available prior to this time and around 60,000 hectares of degraded peatland have been put on the road to recovery since 1990.

We are committed to further increasing the annual area of peatland and have committed £250 million to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.

In our 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government pledged to take forward work to develop and consult on a ban on the sale of peat-related gardening products as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture. This aligns with the Welsh and UK governments’ proposal, as stated in their joint consultation, to end the retail sale of peat and we support their approach. We chose to continue with our plans to launch our own consultation, designed to gather the information we need to form a plan honed to the specific needs of Scotland and its people.

In our 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government pledged to take forward work to develop and consult on a ban on the sale of peat-related gardening products as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture. We are working with industry to understand exactly where transitional issues lie so that we can remove peat from horticulture. We will soon launch our consultation, which will inform ambitious timescales for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture.

The Scottish Government will soon launch our consultation, which will inform ambitious timescales for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture.