Seòmar agus comataidhean

Financial support to those farming and crofting in our most fragile and remote areas is a priority for the Scottish Government. It is not possible to circumvent EU rules and reinstate payments to 2018 levels for the 2020 scheme year, which will instead be at 40%. We are currently considering options for the year 2 Upland Uplift part of convergence payments which will provide additional support to those farming and crofting in our less favoured areas.

The Scottish Government has put in place over £2.3 billion of support for Scottish businesses across a wide range of sectors to support them during the pandemic.

The Events Industry Support Fund is in place to provide support to businesses or individuals who organise, stage and deliver events. Eligibility was developed with input from the events sector. Where a trader or crafter can demonstrate that they meet the eligibility criteria then would be able to apply for support on the same basis as other businesses or individuals in the events sector.

If a trader or crafter is not eligible for this particular fund then they may wish to consult https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/ to see whether they are eligible for any other sources of support.

The Scottish Government have engaged with NFUS and we support their point of view in keeping the LFASS running. The passing of stage 3 of the Scottish Agriculture Bill is the first step in ensuring we have the legal powers to continue all CAP schemes. It is now essential that the UK Government give us clarity of future funding so that plans can be progressed for the delivery of CAP schemes in 2021.

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme has delivered fibre broadband access to more than 950,000 homes across Scotland, with over 31,000 premises benefitting from that investment in Dumfriesshire constituency alone. To date, 76 premises in the Mouswald area have been assisted by DSSB.

However, there were some areas, including in the community of Mouswald, that we couldn’t be reached within the funding and timescales available. An exacerbating factor in Mouswald is that there are some premises within the settlement where build could not be progressed within the timescales available due to wayleave (or access agreement) issues, despite exploring all options to resolve these with the relevant landowners. Seeing agreement being reached on this key issue, to ensure the support of landowners, would be enormously beneficial for the community.

For those remaining properties that were not reached by the DSSB programme itself, some in the area are expected to benefit from build through either the £133 million R100 South lot contract, or will be delivered through commercial coverage. Any properties which are not going to receive investment through these two principal routes, would be eligible for a main voucher – offering a subsidy worth up to £5,000 per premises to deliver a superfast solution at 30 Megabits per second or faster - through the Scottish Government’s Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS).

The Borders Historic Route on the A7 is promoted on the dedicated route section of VisitScotland’s website. This is linked into four other pages promoting the South of Scotland. In addition, the route features in VisitScotland’s blog showcasing Scotland’s five fantastic driving routes and also in the Scottish Borders Regional Explore Guide 2020-21.

As I said in my reply to question S5W-31154 on 19 August 2020 I encourage the Member and these bodies to contact EventScotland regarding the £10m support package for Events and to meet with the UK Government to encourage them to sign up to the UNESCO convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage which is how the Lowland Common Ridings and the Riding of the Marches could be recognised as culturally significant events as also detailed in that reply.

The closure of the coronavirus business support fund which offered grants to businesses to help protect jobs, prevent business closure and promote economic recovery was announced by Scottish Ministers on 8 June 2020. This reflected that applications to the fund had slowed, and it means that any remaining funds can be re-routed to help businesses and organisations in other ways.

The closing date of 10 July applied across all local authorities and applications submitted after that date cannot be considered. This deadline was published over a month in advance of the closing date on a number of websites, including individual local authority websites, mygov.scot and the Find Business Support website.

In recognition of the need to meet the change of demand away from resilience towards recovery, a new Third Sector Recovery programme is being developed. Details of this programme will be announced in September.

Community organisations can find information on additional funding, including the Third Sector Resilience Fund, on the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations’ Covid-19 Third Sector Information Hub at https://scvo.org.uk/support/coronavirus or from their local Third Sector Interface.

The First Minister announced on 20 August that driving lessons could resume from 24 August. The Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency (DVSA) is responsible for the administration of driving tests. They are planning on a resumption of vocational driving tests from 31 August.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

In the last three years, the SPS has carried out various projects at HMP Dumfries amounting to circa £1.685m ex. VAT and plans to spend circa £400k this year on further works. Previous spend has resulted in a range of cosmetic and functional improvements which have provided significant benefit to residential, kitchen and main Prisoner Reception areas.

HMP Dumfries remains an important part of the prison estate and there are no plans to alter this. The SPS will continue to maintain and invest in the prison to ensure that it remains safe and fit for purpose.

As at 31 March 2020, there were 2,338 patients waiting for elective surgeries under the Treatment Time Guarantee in NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Of the patients treated with completed waits in quarter ending 31 March 2020, half were seen in 71 days or less.

Information on average waiting times for patients waiting (on-going waits) for treatment is not available at Board level.

The figures set out above are in part affected by COVID-19 when Boards were asked to suspend non-urgent elective activity from 17 March:

However throughout the COVID-19 pandemic NHS Dumfries and Galloway have managed to maintain the safe continuation of surgery for urgent, emergencies and urgent suspicion of cancer patients.

Every effort is being made to restart elective surgery in a safe manner for patients and staff and will include increased theatre capacity, extended days and weekend working, while also maintaining the appropriate infection prevention and control measures.