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The Scottish Government has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Danish Government to promote collaboration on zero emissions heat, heat networks and energy efficiency, plus onshore and offshore wind energy and hydrogen economy. As part of this, Scottish Government officials have held multiple knowledge sharing sessions with Danish Government officials in the past regarding heat in buildings and heat networks, including a session in June 2022 on heat network ownership models in Denmark, such as community models and co-operatives.

A number of amendments that sought to introduce a third party right of appeal were considered, and rejected, by the Scottish Parliament during consideration of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. We are aware of the communication brought to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) concerning planning appeal rights in Scotland (ACCC/C/2022/196). A response will be issued to the ACCC in due course.

As with the development of all new trade arrangements, the Scottish Government has sought to engage with the UK Government at Ministerial and official level throughout the negotiation process for accession to the CPTPP to ensure that Scottish interests are identified and taken into account. Most recently, I wrote to the UK Government Minister of State for International Trade, Nigel Huddleston MP, following his confirmation that the UK Government had secured Agreement in Principle to accede to CPTPP. In this correspondence I raised a number of concerns including those around Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

The Scottish Government’s position, as set out in the Vision for Trade, is that no future Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system should prevent Scotland (and the rest of the UK) from making laws on health, social, environmental and economic matters. Any future ISDS system should be transparent, based on judicial procedures, and permit meaningful representations by all parties with a potential stake in the matter.

We will continue to call on the UK Government to recognise widespread concerns around ISDS, actively consider alternative models of dispute resolution, and to contribute to the development of international best practice.

The Scottish Government is not currently directly funding any research projects or fellowships on the development of new diagnostic tests and tools to detect brain tumours.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the research spend of other funders. However, the National Cancer Research Institute database indicates that £2,846,401 was spent on early detection, diagnosis and prognosis of brain tumours in the UK in 2020-21 by charity and public funders.

Home haemodialysis is provided for people who need this. Any reimbursement for increases in utility bills as a result of home haemodialysis would be the responsibility of the NHS Board. Individuals who wish to pursue reimbursement of living costs should contact their local NHS Board in the first instance.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund – established in 2020 and tripled to £30 million for 2023 to 2024 - is a critical plank in our support to people who are struggling with their energy costs.

Survival analysis using the Scottish Government Quality Improvement Indicator dataset is undertaken to enable monitoring and to support continuous improvement in cancer care. The regional cancer networks are subsequently able to reflect and act on these indicators to ensure equitable treatment and care across Scotland.

This analysis predates improvement work that has been undertaken across all cancer regions, but the situation clearly requires continued prioritisation and close attention.

The study was discussed at the last meeting of the National Cancer Quality Steering Group in March. Immediate and medium term actions were presented to the group in an aim to drive improvement and close the observed difference in survival between cancer networks.

We will discuss these actions with the regional cancer networks, and local boards where required, seeking assurance that actions are well focussed and advancing.

A. The Scottish Government paid a total of £209,743 to Smarts Communications and £333,082 to Stripe Communications during the period 1 January 2022 to 10 May 2023.

B. Both companies were commissioned to provide public relation services by the Scottish Government’s Marketing Team to support vital public information and behaviour change marketing campaigns.

I refer the member to my answer to S6W-17651.

This Government wants Scotland to be at the forefront in the development of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and the start of the CAVForth trial will really help the country establish its credentials on the world stage. We are excited to see how this technology can help to support our vision for a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system.

Transport Scotland’s formal participation in the CAVForth project will cease at the end of July 2023, however the CAVForth service will continue to operate beyond that point, and is expected to include an extension of the service to Dunfermline.

We have no current plans for the introduction of further autonomous bus services, however Scotland is ‘open for business’ to test, demonstrate and pilot autonomous vehicle trials, and in line with our CAV Roadmap for Scotland my officials at Transport Scotland will continue to investigate and explore what future CAV opportunities there may be.

The Scottish Government deliver assistance and funding to local volunteer groups for the procurement of electric vehicles, e-Bikes and associated electric vehicle infrastructure through the Plugged-in Communities and eBike grant funds. This scheme is administered on behalf of Scottish Ministers by the Energy Saving Trust (EST). Some of the groups provided assistance through this scheme may not be full volunteer organisations but will have volunteers and volunteer drivers.

Table 1 – Funding for Electric Vehicles and e-Bikes procured through Plugged-in Communities and eBike Grant Fund in each Financial Year since 2016.