Seòmar agus comataidhean

The budget agreed by Scottish Ministers for SQA for 2021-22 is based on the SQA levy to local authorities and entry fees charged separately remaining at the same level as has been the case since 2012-13.

These fees provide a contribution towards the cost of awarding, rather than covering the full cost for that individual local authority, school or college. The costs of awarding National Qualifications, even this year, are greater than the contribution made by local authorities in the form of a levy.

The governance applied to the Marine Fund Scotland will deliver on the Future of Fisheries Management policy document published last December. This will provide a clear framework to manage fisheries, balancing environmental, social and economic interests, adopting an ecosystems approach to fishing which follows the science.

This approach will ensure that all sea fisheries catching activity is in balance with the available opportunity in the exploitation of wild fisheries stocks. In addition, scallop dredge fishing activity is also controlled by other measures such as the limited availability of licence entitlements which have been capped following the removal by Marine Scotland of latent unused licences ensuring there is no increase in scallop dredge capacity.

The number of times a mechanical problem has resulted in a delay to ferry services operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd between October 2016 to March 2021 is detailed in the following table.

Firstly, as means of clarification the Welsh Government did not commit to 50 percent of its fleet being assembled in Wales prior to its procurement. Both the Welsh and Scottish Governments must comply with relevant procurement law.

The procurement strategy for new rolling stock, to be produced by the wholly owned Scottish Government company named ScotRail Trains Limited, will be subject to approval by Transport Scotland. Through that process, the Scottish Government will seek to maximise opportunities for the involvement of the local supply chain.

Transport Scotland has already undertaken informal market testing with manufacturers to ensure the importance of local input is clear and any procurement will restate this. The current Class 314 conversion project at Bo’ness is focussed on developing a local supply chain which will support the need for diesel train replacement by zero emissions fleets.

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency and improving air quality in our cities. To help incentivise this shift, the Scottish Government have invested over £45 million in Scotland’s own electric vehicle charging network, ChargePlace Scotland, which has steadily grown since 2012 with the highest number of installs being recorded in 2020 for both private and publicly owned charge points.

The ChargePlace Scotland network currently hosts 2080 electric vehicle charge points, which includes 335 charge points that are not available for public use but will support the blue light services, fleets and depot charging.

Transport Scotland are preparing robust estimates for the all the works involved with the repairs to the viaduct. However, the current estimate for the propping to enable the M8 restrictions to be removed and facilitate the repair works is £33.36million. This estimate, and the delivery programme, is being refined to ensure value for money as detailed design progresses. Costs for the subsequent concrete repair works to the supports will be provided by Transport Scotland’s Operating Company, Amey, when the extent of the repair works and repair method is agreed.

The Scottish Government is working with mental health organisations, employer groups and trade unions to improve mental health support in workplaces across Scotland.

In October 2020 we published our ‘Mental Health – Transition and Recovery’ plan which outlines our response to the mental health impacts of COVID-19. We have recently convened a short life working group aimed at addressing 3 key employment actions from the plan: Mentally Healthy Workplaces; Fair Work Practices; and Home Working.

The focus of the group will be on identifying the key challenges that businesses of all sizes, including self-employed people, will face in supporting the mental wellbeing of their workforce. We will review existing practice and identify any key gaps that may prevent a positive mental health and wellbeing culture within the workplace.

Our Coronavirus guidance on reducing the risks in schools was developed in collaboration with local authorities, unions, parents representative groups and teaching bodies, with input from technical experts working across the UK. This includes a section on the potential use of CO2 monitors to assist in assessing whether adequate ventilation is being provided. Each local authority and school can utilise this technology as appropriate to their particular circumstances.

We have worked from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Scottish Heads of Property Services forum to get input and feedback on guidance, and ventilation is a standing agenda item at each meeting. The forum was used to request progress information including: local authority plans to utilise CO2 monitoring, ventilation upgrades required, observations from operational schools and issues arising during different weather conditions where ventilation and thermal comfort could be in tension. The Scottish Heads of Property Services use this forum to share expertise and learning to ensure that efforts and resources are best deployed to optimise solutions across the whole learning estate in Scotland. Links have also been established with other expert groups representing the UK governments to help inform future guidance.

Prior to the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic, there were six Health Boards in Scotland who had been escalated to Stage 3 or above within the NHS Boards Performance Escalation Framework. This is the stage at which Boards are considered to require a higher level of support and oversight, from Scottish Government and/or other senior external support.

Boards can be escalated for a number of different reasons and can have more than one status, reflecting their individual positions. Reasons for escalation include:

• Financial position and financial management
• Operational Delivery/Performance
• Governance, leadership and culture
• Quality and safety

The six escalated Boards escalated were as follows:

• NHS Ayrshire and Arran
• NHS Borders
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• NHS Lothian
• NHS Highland
• NHS Tayside

Following a recent review of escalated Boards by the Health and Social Care Management Board, and despite the challenges of responding to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the majority of Boards were found to have demonstrated sufficient improvement in relation to the issues which had led to their escalation to justify a reduction in their escalation status. The following table shows the changes which have now been made.