Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is taking significant steps to imbed the principles of a Circular Economy, enabling the increased recovery of sustainable materials, including those limiting emissions along entire material and product lifecycles. Within our draft Circular Economy Route Map the Scottish Government has also committed to creating a Product Stewardship Strategy, with the aim of minimising the health, safety, environmental and social impacts of products. We will focus on policies and activities which have the greatest environmental and economic impact while continuing to encourage best practice by all businesses and consumers, with the aim to produce, consume and manage resources as effectively as possible. We are engaging with research from ZWS, SEPA and other partners, along with looking at best practice internationally to ensure the policy interventions in this area are not only effective but as impactful as possible.

Alongside this, the 2023 Programme for Government outlined that we would continue to work on how we will help businesses and investors to realise the enormous economic opportunities of the global transition to net zero and create good, well-paid jobs across Scotland. Work is already happening at pace in various areas including how best to use and support research with the aim of capturing economic benefit from the transition to net zero.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-27838 on 7 June 2024. 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 also working on a joint 4-nations consultation on digital waste tracking which notes our intention to track waste through to end of waste products or materials that are produced from waste. The digital waste tracking will improve the quality of waste data and make it easier to identify opportunities to keep materials in use for as long as possible and ensure nothing is wasted, including material streams within electrical and electronic equipment.

The Scottish Government is aware of the guidelines issued by the Institute For Addressing Strangulation that have been endorsed by the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV Non-Fatal-Strangulation-Guidelines_AcuteEmergency_Feb24.pdf (ifas.org.uk) . We will continue to work with key partners, including the Scottish Health Protection Network, to consider how this guidance can be promoted and shared.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans for specific public health awareness raising relating to the risks associated with choking during consensual sexual activity. Through our existing channels we will explore opportunities to discuss these matters and to identify possible areas for this to be highlighted, including the new sexual health website for Scotland, which is currently being developed.

The Scottish Breast Screening Programme Statistics 2022-23 published by PHS confirm that uptake of breast screening is at its highest level. This means that more women with breast cancer are diagnosed at an early stage when it is more easily treatable and survivable.

Secondary data from this report shows the following number of women seen from 37 months in the respective years.

There is no national collection of waiting times for adult diagnosis of ADHD. Such collection is conducted at the level of Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), and is not aggregated nationally.

However, the Scottish Government established the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT), in partnership with Queen Margaret University, to support Health and Social Care Partnerships to consider best practice and improve service in the redesigning of autism diagnostic services.

In May 2023, NAIT published a review of waiting times for neurodevelopmental assessment in Scotland for adults , conducted between October 2021 and May 2022. These assessments include those for autism and ADHD.

This review found that, while the median overall waiting time for a diagnosis in adults was 252 days, aligning with the recommended timeframe, under half (47%) of individual assessments met the 252-day time standard, indicating that some individuals experience longer waiting times.

The 2020 Programme for Government included work to consider a National Clinical Pathway for ADHD. That work has now been completed and the Feasibility Study was published in January 2021 by the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT).

Following on from the study, the Scottish Government provided funding of £650,000 for a 12-month pilot in four HSCP areas - Fife, Borders, Lanarkshire and Highland. The findings of the pilot were published in March 2023. We have accepted the full recommendations of the report and are now working with NAIT on implementation.

It is the responsibility of local Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to put in place services to meet local needs, including the needs of adults with ADHD. Alongside this, the Scottish Government is engaged in work nationally to improve access to ADHD diagnosis in Scotland.

The Scottish Government funds Scottish Autism’s Autism Advice Line which is staffed by advisors who are trained and experienced in working with autistic people and their families. The Advice Line is open Tuesday – Friday, 10am-4pm. There is also a live chat facility, which you can access via the chat bubble at the bottom right hand corner of Scottish Autism’s website .

We also provide £1m of funding to several organisations via our Adult Autism Support Fund (AASF). Formal diagnosis is not required to access support from the new fund, which is directed at adults who currently receive very little local funding. The service is delivered in partnership with national charities and autistic led organisations, with Inspiring Scotland appointed as fund managers.

There are many other organisations across Scotland that run initiatives that support adults awaiting assessments for autism and/or ADHD. These initiatives do not require formal diagnoses as a prerequisite for access.

Alternative approaches to the work have been considered at meetings of the research group, which the Law Society of Scotland, Scottish Solicitors Bar Association, and the Scottish Legal Aid Board are part of, should the tendering process remain unsuccessful. Ministers are also very mindful that the recommendation of the Legal Aid Payment Advisory Panel was very clear that any research carried out should be independent from the Scottish Government and that there are commercial sensitivities around the data being sought. Any alternative approaches would have to be carefully considered to ensure that this independence remains and that legal aid providers have confidence in the data gathering process.

Every life lost to suicide is an enormous tragedy and while we welcome figures showing water related fatalities are at their lowest since 2018, we are not complacent. We are taking a whole of Government and societal approach towards suicide, focusing on addressing the social determinants, whilst ensuring we incorporate suicide prevention across our policy development and service delivery. To support this approach the Scottish Government published the Suicide Prevention Strategy in September 2022. It prioritises action on people with higher risk of suicide, and high risk settings which include locations which provide access to open water.

All workers should be paid fairly for the work they do and have the opportunity of job security. Recent research from Herriot-Watt University points to particular challenges in this regard in the gig economy.

These are not unique to Scotland. According to the Living Wage Foundation, 20% of workers in Scotland experience some form of work insecurity. Only London (18%) and the South East (19%) have lower levels compared to the highest region, Wales (26%). Research from the Fair Work Convention shows that other countries do better.

Responsibility for employment law, including the rights and protection of workers, is reserved to the UK Government, therefore the Scottish Government cannot legislate for greater job security. Nevertheless, through Fair Work First we require recipients of government funding to move away from the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. This is part of our approach to delivering an economy that is fair, green and growing, while creating more secure, sustainable and satisfying jobs.