Seòmar agus comataidhean

Please see the following table of contracts which have been awarded so far by year, as part of the National Care Service Programme.

Currently, there is no additional budget specifically allocated for procuring external advice from private companies, although the National Care Service Programme will retain flexibility to procure external expertise as necessary to deliver the National Care Service.

The Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 19 March 2020. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have provided an update from their live system and confirm that there have been no charges prosecuted under the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 since that date.

Local Authorities (LA) in Scotland are the main conduit to local communities to help them develop emergency resilience activities and plans.

LAs have a wide range of pre-identified venues in their areas, which can be used as rest or assistance centres that can be stood up quickly in response to prevailing weather conditions or other incidents. However I have asked Resilience Division Officials to look at ways the Scottish Government can support the enhancement of rest centres and community facilities used not only in a resilience response but also for uses below that threshold.

Regional and Local Resilience Partnerships (RRPs/LRPs) are the principal mechanisms for multi-agency co-ordination under The Civil Contingencies Act (2004).

The Scottish Government supports resilience partnerships through the provision of twelve staff across the three RRP areas. These RRP coordination teams support the development and maintenance of response arrangements which are reviewed and refreshed regularly, to ensure a timely and effective response should severe weather impact or other incidents occur which necessitate the setting up of rest or assistance centres.

LRPs, supported by SG Resilience Coordinators, carry out multi-agency exercises involving severe weather scenarios and plans for rest centres are tested with partners on a regular basis.

This activity is further supported by national guidance, resources and online learning through the Scottish Government emergency planning portal ready.scot which assists the public, community groups and the voluntary sector by raising awareness of emergency resilience structures and processes, helping them to understand how they can participate in an effective and joined up response.

Ready Scotland also includes a free online learning module which provides an overview of the steps that every community can take to become more resilient and to be well prepared for responding to an emergency. It also provides information on building strong connections with local responder organisations.

Throughout the winter, the Scottish Government will increase the amount of weather-related advice and information shared through digital channels to:

• Raise awareness of different emergency preparedness resources, guidance and information available from Scottish Government and partner agencies;

• Proactively promote this information to better equip individuals and communities to prepare for, deal with and recover from severe weather emergencies;

• Encourage individuals and communities to take proactive steps to reduce the risks and negative impacts before an emergency occurs, as well as how to stay informed and updated during an incident.

Providing advice in this way, even when the weather is not especially severe, will ensure that more people are aware of the support available to them and the steps to take in advance of, as well as during, an emergency.

The national Community Asset Register (CAR), hosted by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), is a Scotland wide database of voluntary sector assets which might help emergency response. SFRS continues to expand and develop the CAR on behalf of Scotland’s resilience community.

Local registers of assets belonging to the resilience community, already exist across Scotland. These registers of assets are being further developed and updated by our LRPs in response to the lessons from Storm Arwen.

The majority of Integrated Joint Board reserves are earmarked for specific purposes, in particular the ongoing response to COVID-19 and cannot be used to fund new spending commitments.

Further Covid funding has not been available from the UK Government for Covid related pressures in 2022-23.

Further work will be carried out to assess the amounts to be re-couped from IJBs in line with Covid requirements

More than £1.6 billion has been provided for social care and integration in 2022-23in addition to support for Covid, and we are committed to increasing spend in social care by at least 25% by the end of this Parliament, an increase of over £840 million.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

There are official figures available for businesses that have ceased trading during a given period. These figures do not represent a complete picture of business activity as only businesses that are registered for VAT and/or operate a PAYE scheme are included.

These figures, sourced from the Office for National Statistics Business Demography data, show that for Creative Industries in Scotland there were 1,810 businesses that ceased trading in 2019 and 2,170 in 2020 (Table 7.3 at Growth sector statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Data for 2021 will be available in February 2023.

The Scottish Governments understands how deeply the cultural sector has been affected by rising energy costs and the cost of living crisis which have come just as they are beginning to recover from the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is meeting regularly with the sector to discuss these issues.

We recognise the significant role cultural organisations play in our lives and we are committed to the long term recovery of the sector.

Resilience of the Energy Sector is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government works closely with power companies and recognises the many aspects of resilience of the energy networks in Scotland, including the management of felling trees.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans recently met with SSEN and visited one of their tree cutting sites in the North of Scotland. The issue of damage to power lines and the complexity of felling trees was discussed in depth, including:

Legislative limitations

Land owner complexities

Secondary impacts such as additional tree blow

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with power companies and UK Government on all aspects of resilience to the network in Scotland.

The Young Patients Family Fund is available to families of all young inpatients aged under 18 - no matter their diagnosis. Posters and leaflets to promote the Fund are available in all Health Boards and we continue to work with Health Boards to best ensure families are aware of the Fund.

The Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer is currently reviewing its web content and has confirmed that it will be signposting to the YPFF in its update.

The SLWG has yet to be established as we are presently intending to recruit additional clinical advisory capacity and expect to progress once this resource is in place.

This decision was taken on 14 September.

I last met with Gill Murray, Chief Superintendent, Scotland Division of British Transport Police on 15 June to discuss various aspects of my concern around women’s safety and anti-social behaviours on rail services in Scotland. Additionally, Additionally I will be meeting with Chief Constable, Lucy D'Orsi next month to discuss a range of factors relating to the British Transport Police