Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the Parliamentary Statement I made on Tues 8 November 2022, which set out the Scottish Government's pathway for the future of agricultural support including the conditionality of that support. This is in line with our Vision for Scottish Agriculture, published in March 2022, in which we committed to integrate enhanced conditionality of at least half of all funding for farming and crofting by 2025. We are seeking views on that conditionality in the public consultation “Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture”, which closes on 21 Nov 2022.

Agriculture support is already conditional, the current Basic Payment Scheme requires Farmers, Crofters, etc to meet Cross Compliance and Greening measures, to qualify for that payment. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11606 on 10 November 2022 in relation to future conditionality of agricultural support. 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 .

The Scottish Government is refreshing the non-statutory guidance for Local Child Poverty Action Reports (LCPARs) to support local authorities and health boards to deliver focused reporting on their actions to support priority families. CRER and other stakeholders representing priority families have been consulted in drafting the guidance. This is part of our work with stakeholders to strengthen targeted action for priority groups. We welcome the opportunity to work with CRER to enable a greater focus on BME families in our national and local practice and reporting.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with other national partners, review LCPARs and engage with local authorities and health boards, offering feedback and sharing learning across areas. This process provides a further opportunity to support local focus on the six priority family groups.

The non-statutory guidance also highlights that the intersectional approach needed to support priority families is best served by person-centred, holistic action. We will continue to support local leads to engage directly with priority families in their areas who have direct experience of poverty to understand, design and deliver the tailored support needed.

Evidence and data play an important part in efficient policy delivery. Our commitment to continue to improve on our data and evaluation efforts is highlighted as part of the revised evaluation strategy to tackle child poverty. The Scottish Government publish child poverty estimates by detailed ethnic group and since March 2022, time series for ethnicity breakdowns have also been published, including for child poverty estimates by detailed ethnic group. The Scottish Government is happy to support CRER – and any stakeholders – with finding our published data and producing ad-hoc analysis.

Whilst recognising the important role of detailed statistical data, our tackling child poverty delivery plan is clear that an intersectional approach is needed to support priority families. Beyond statistical analysis, our action to tackle child poverty is based on a strong evidence base identifying the main drivers of poverty, as the CRER report acknowledges. To design policies that specifically help minority ethnic families, further evidence has been published to widen our understanding. This includes a detailed focus report on minority ethnic families, a summary update on drivers of poverty for all priority family types which fed into the development of ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ and detailed understanding of what works to tackle child poverty.

This government welcomes CRER’s assessment of Local Child Poverty Action Reports (LCPARs) which recognises the vital role which local authorities, health boards and local partners play in our national mission to tackle child poverty.

Tackling child poverty is a national mission for this government and our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ focuses on the six priority family types at highest risk of poverty, including minority ethnic families. We know we cannot tackle child poverty without a clear focus on supporting priority families, including minority ethnic families, to increase their income from employment and benefits, and reduce their living costs.

We are refreshing our non-statutory guidance for LCPARs to support local authorities and health boards to deliver focused reporting on their actions to support priority families. CRER and other stakeholders representing priority families have been consulted in drafting the guidance.

This is part of our wider programme of work supporting local action to tackle child poverty. Through our partnership with the Improvement Service and the peer support network for child poverty leads from each Local Authority and Health Board we will continue to encourage and support local action to tackle child poverty amongst priority groups.

Please see the details of contracts awarded to private companies to undertake work regarding the establishment of a National Care Service in the following table.

First, I express my sympathies to everyone who has been affected by the loss of a loved one and to anyone who has been injured on our roads over this year.

The Government remains committed to investment in the A9, including dualling the road between Perth and Inverness.

We are currently progressing the procurement for the Tomatin to Moy section and undertaking design work on the rest of the programme, with ministerial decisions to complete the statutory process confirmed for seven of the remaining eight schemes. I will update Parliament shortly on the progress of this section.

I have also today announced to Parliament through the answer to S6W-12140 progress on dualling the A9 section from Killiecrankie to Glen Garry, in that I have determined that the Orders for that scheme should be made.

The only section not to have started the statutory process is the Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing project, where design and assessment is ongoing to identify a preferred route option following the innovative co-creative process with the local community. Work is progressing on announcing a preferred route for this section.

Work to determine the most suitable procurement options for the remaining sections of the A9 dualling is also ongoing. This is a complex exercise which looks at a number of factors including how the project can be delivered most efficiently by the industry, whilst minimising disruption to road users and helping to support economic recovery post-COVID.

I will of course keep Parliament updated on progress in relation to all aspects of these dualling schemes.

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

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an assessment of catamaran vessels in the past year. Any such assessments have been undertaken by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) supported by independent naval architectural consultancy.

As was widely reported at the time, CMAL gave detailed consideration to the opportunity to purchase a catamaran already under construction. This was not pursued primarily due to concerns that the vessel would not meet regulatory requirements for service on the Clyde and Hebrides services, a decision endorsed by the Scottish Government.

After competitive tender, a contract was awarded to Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP to obtain expert independent advice on the implications of VAT on the NCS and associated Care Boards. This work is ongoing. We will engage with the wider sector and HMT prior to any decision being taken which would have a VAT impact.

In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for health and social care. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

Health funding for 2023-24 will be confirmed through the forthcoming budget process.

We engage with NHS Boards on a regular basis regarding their capacity needs, and will continue to do so in order to inform the allocation of the long COVID Support Fund.