Seòmar agus comataidhean

Funding for devices was provided to local authorities by the Scottish Government. As such, local authorities undertook their own procurement exercises and devices purchased became assets of, and are managed by, individual local authorities. Decisions on their use are taken locally. We do not hold information on how devices are used and monitored.

We are currently considering our structure and staffing in the light of the findings of our Review into International Development to ensure we have the right resource in place to fully deliver on the outcomes of the review.

After assessment, the Scottish Government was pleased to be able to offer 12 month extensions to 5 of our projects in Rwanda and 2 in Zambia. In total, £1.6M of additional funding has been allocated between our Rwanda and Zambia programmes for financial year 2022/23.

We are currently working on restructuring our current funding schemes, in line with the outcomes of our 2021 Review. New funding streams will therefore include:

• funding under a new Equalities programme;
• funding to support sustainable recovery from COVID; and
• funding to support institutional resilience.

New programmes in Rwanda, Zambia, and Malawi will commence in 2023.

We will update the Parliament further in due course.

We have published the Report of the independent review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy.

The Report is available at: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781804353912/documents/

Dr Colin Church submitted his Report to Ministers on 13 April. Given the potential for the Report’s findings and recommendations to raise issues that could be of particular local interest, publication was deferred until after the local government elections.

We are considering Dr Church’s recommendations carefully and will respond to these in a statement to Parliament in June.

Given the important issues that the Review Report raises in relation to Scotland’s national capacity requirements for incineration, the temporary notification direction that was put in place during the review will remain in place until we determine our response to Dr Church’s recommendations. This notification direction requires local authorities to notify Scottish ministers when they receive, and when they intend to approve, a planning application for an incineration facility.

The Scottish Government commissioned independent research into the state of the steel sector in Scotland from the University of Warwick. This report is available to read online and can be found here .

I am pleased to announce that Scotland’s first Adult Learning Strategy has been published today, and can be found online here: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802018301

The strategy has bold and ambitious actions to remove barriers to learning, enabling more adults across Scotland to begin and continue their learning journeys. It outlines important steps required to create more accessible learning opportunities for our adult learners, particularly those experiencing disadvantage and furthest from learning.

The publication of the strategy deepens collaboration with adult learners to address and tackle the inequalities that many face. Our aim is to ensure that learners are at the centre of the strategy’s delivery as we work with them to realise their ambitions and aspirations.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports research grant schemes providing funding opportunities for applied research projects across the range of NHS, health and care challenges in Scotland. These are open to applications for research projects on long-COVID involving long-COVID patients that could include laboratory-based analyses. Applications to these schemes undergo independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees. CSO funded NHS Research Scotland infrastructure also provides support for research in this area including to recruit patients to the UK-wide Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study to understand and improve long-term health outcomes for patients who have been in hospital with COVID-19.

In accordance with the Sewel Convention and in line with Rule 9B of Standing Orders, the UK Parliament should not legislate with regard to devolved matters – that is on matters within the legislative competence of the Parliament or which change the competence of the Parliament or the Scottish Ministers – without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.

Within the legislative programme announced by the UK Government, Bills which appear to give rise to the requirement for the legislative consent of the Scottish Parliament are:

Procurement

Trade (Australia and New Zealand)

Bill of Rights

Levelling Up and Regeneration

Energy Security Bill

Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill

Brexit Freedoms Bill

Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill

Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill

Transport

Modern Slavery

Data Reform Bill

In addition, the following Bills may extend to Scotland but at this stage it is unclear whether they will generate the requirement for an LCM:

UK Infrastructure Bank

Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill

Electronic Trade Documents Bill

Financial Services and Markets Bill

Higher Education Bill

Social Housing Regulation Bill

Harbours (Seafarers’ Remuneration) Bill

The Scottish Government will consider the content of all Bills before making its recommendation to the Parliament on legislative consent. It will then be for the Scottish Parliament to determine whether to give or withhold consent.

It is possible that legislative consent may be required for other UK Bills and those will be drawn to the attention of the Parliament as they arise.

As noted in the reply to question S6W-08344, we commissioned independent research into the steel sector in Scotland: this included consideration of the scope for electric arc furnaces in Scotland. We would encourage any company interested in developing an electric arc furnace to seek advice and support from their local Enterprise Agency. These are large-scale ambitions that need large-scale solutions and will require significant private sector investment.

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

We are continuing to work with the BSI to finalise the membership and terms of reference for a new Scottish technical group to help achieve this. The membership of the group will include a representative who can highlight the needs and concerns of remote rural and island communities in Scotland. We expect the new group to identify and establish good practice for retrofitting traditional properties in more exposed locations, such as coastal and island communities.

The process of reaching out to potential members of the new group has been started and we expect the first meeting of the new group to take place during the Summer.