The publication of Non-domestic rates relief statistics 2023 is currently planned for early 2024. The date of publication will be announced as soon as it is available, at https://www.gov.scot/publications/official-statistics-forthcoming-publications/ .

In January 2023, the Scottish Government agreed to produce a retrospective report in relation to the allocation of fish quota to vessels fishing by means associated with a lower environmental impact.

The report will review how quota was allocated to help incentivise selective fishing gear and low impact techniques, and other relevant factors such as the level of uptake of quota, where it was landed across the Scottish coast, and number of vessels involved. We plan to publish this report in the first half of 2024.

I would also take this opportunity to highlight that the Scottish Government recently published a consultation on how we allocate a portion of our fishing quota. This consultation seeks views on how the Additional Quota Scotland receives following the implementation of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement with the European Union and the UK becoming an independent Coastal State are distributed throughout Scotland.

The consultation is available at: https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/fish-stocks-allocation-of-additional-quota/ . It closes on 11 January 2024.

We are aware that stigma can act as a barrier preventing people from seeking treatment. This is why we are taking actions to reduce the stigma around alcohol misuse.

For example, last year we ran a national campaign to increase people’s awareness that a drug or alcohol problem is a health condition, which requires help and support and not judgement. We also referenced stigma on the NHS Inform website , which reinforces the message that a drug or alcohol problem is a health condition requiring help.

In addition, we published a cross-government Stigma Action Plan , aimed at tackling the stigma of substance use. We are working with a range of partners and stakeholders to co-design the next phase on the details of the actions outlined in the plan.

We also welcome the ‘See Beyond, see the lives’ campaign , which recognises the importance of supporting the families of people with problem substance use, who are often stigmatised and excluded from support, despite experiencing harms in their own right. In delivering the actions in our stigma action plan we will work with families to ensure that we can tackle the specific types of stigma that they experience both in accessing services and support and in daily life.

Moreover, we are planning to ensure treatment standards for alcohol, informed by the UK-wide clinical guidelines, will introduce new approaches to treatment, including non-stigmatising service delivery.

The Scottish Government provides funding to support our local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) who are responsible for the design and delivery of treatment and recovery pathways at the local level. They ensure a full range of recovery services are available such as aftercare, detox, residential rehabilitation and psychosocial treatments.

In 2022-23, £106.8 million was made available to ADPs, and nationally there is ongoing work including the expansion of our residential rehabilitation capacity by 50% by the end of the current Parliament and the UK Alcohol Treatment Guidelines which are currently out for public consultation until 8 December 2023.

Scottish Government also provides funding towards specific projects that support those with alcohol dependency, such as the Managed Alcohol Programme pilot being delivered by Simon Community Scotland in Glasgow.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to Women’s Aid East and Midlothian through the Third Sector Homelessness Fund and the Delivering Equally Safe Fund.

Women’s Aid East and Midlothian was funded through the Scottish Government’s Third Sector Homelessness Fund between 2021 and 2023. The objectives of Women’s Aid East and Midlothian's funding in 2022-23 was to:

• Deliver rapid access, permanent housing for women and children with complex needs and provide intensive and flexible support.
• Promote and increase the use of trauma-informed responses throughout Scotland for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.
• Prevent women and children experiencing domestic abuse from homelessness by implementing Housing first as a preventative approach.

Since October 2021, Women’s Aid East and Midlothian have been funded through the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, which will run until March 2025. The objectives of the fund are:

• Women and children affected by violence are identified (early)
• Women and children’s safety needs are met
• Women and children’s wider wellbeing needs are met
• Fewer people adhere to gender stereotypes
• People have increased understanding of all forms of VAWG (causes, consequences, and appropriate responses)
• Power, decision-making and material resources are distributed more equally between men and women.
• Tolerance of VAWG is reduced and people are more likely to recognise and challenge it
• Perpetrators are identified early
• Perpetrators are supported to change their behaviour
• Perpetrators are sanctioned / held to account
• Violence against women and girls is reduced / eradicated
• Negative impacts on women and children who have been affected by violence are reduced / eradicated

Additionally, Women’s Aid East and Midlothian received indirect funding through the 100 Days (Covid emergency) funding. In 2021, the Scottish Government awarded £2,250,000 of funding over three years to Scottish Women’s Aid through the 100 Days (Covid emergency) funding. The funding was provided to frontline services for women and girls affected by gender-based violence to deal with additional pressures that occurred during the pandemic. Scottish Women’s Aid divided the funding amongst local Women’s Aid organisations, including Women’s Aid East and Midlothian.

The objectives of the 100 days (Covid emergency) funding were:

• fund additional staff to respond to an increase in demand from victims of abuse for support services
• improvements to organisations’ IT and digital resource
• additional training to allow services to be augmented so that people could quickly and easily access help.

Scottish Government provide direct funding to Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs. The objectives for delivery during 2022-23 through this funding are as follows:

The appearance of nitazenes and other synthetic opioids in the drug supply has been a concern for Scottish Government for some time. Public Health Scotland issued an alert regarding nitazenes in January 2023 and the UK Government have since issued a similar alert. Following the issuing of these alerts, we are working alongside colleagues across the UK to identify areas for collaborative working with the various UK administrations, national police forces and the National Crime Agency.

Nitazenes are extremely potent opioid receptor agonists, however, naloxone is still effective in the treatment of any overdose. This is why we have invested over £3 million in widening access to naloxone, making it easier for people to access and supporting Police Scotland and our other emergency services to carry kits.

Recognising the global challenge around the appearance of new synthetic opioids, the Minister for Drug and Alcohol Policy and members of the Scottish Governments National Mission Oversight Group on Drugs are meeting with international colleagues to hear about their experience of dealing with the appearance of fentanyl and synthetic opioids in the drug supply, and their response, in early November. A further meeting is being organised to discuss operational level issues with international colleagues and Scottish drug service delivery providers.

Having reliable data about substances of concern in the drug supply is key and is why we have supported Public Health Scotland to establish the RADAR (Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response) system. We also continue to progress plans with local partners to establish drug checking facilities as this will also provide up-to-date information about the substances in the drug supply.

Restoring and enhancing our marine environment is vital if we are to meet our ambition to halt and reverse biodiversity decline and become Nature Positive by 2030. Scotland is unique in that most of the restoration projects in our waters are community-led, and our coastal communities, in many cases with support and funding from the Scottish Government, are rightly at the forefront of these new projects. These initiatives, alongside the protection to biodiversity already given by our MPA network, will contribute to our goals as set out in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund is also supported by Scottish Government, Crown Estate Scotland and NatureScot to leverage public and private investment towards projects that recover, restore or enhance the health of marine and coastal habitats and species across Scotland. Since 2021, SMEEF has distributed £3.3 million to 50 projects around our coasts and seas. Many of these projects are new or in early stages of development, demonstrating that the Fund acts as a key pipeline investor for this emerging sector. Alongside grant funding, SMEEF also provides guidance, and has recently published a new toolkit to help communities and groups wishing to undertake marine restoration projects understand best practice as well as regulatory requirements.

Data about the number of charges resulting in a conviction has been extracted from the management information used to publish the Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard (Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services Criminal Disposals Dashboard ).

The number of charges under the new Protection of Retail Workers (Scotland) Act that have received a conviction in criminal court from August 2021 up to March 2023 was 543.

Taking into account that an individual can have multiple charges and each charge can have different disposals (for example a custodial and a monetary disposal), 250 charges (of the total 543 charges) resulted in the person convicted going to prison and 189 charges received a community sentence as main disposal.

We are developing a new digital strategy to support our ongoing commitment to improve digital access for learners. This strategy will define the key elements for successful digital learning and seek to deliver the right technology, in the right place, with a workforce that knows how to use it.

Officials will engage with key partners across the education sector in development and implementation of the strategy, which we will publish in 2024.