Within the Scottish Government funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

CSO is funding the following research project:

ENDOCAN-1: A pilot randomised controlled trial of the efficacy of a Cannabinoid Oral Tincture in the management of Endometriosis-associated pain

Lead Investigator Dr Lucy Whittaker University of Edinburgh

Funding commitment £299,509

Project start date 01 April 2024

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to bring forward proposals for the regulation of carbon market participation for Scotland. It is committed to developing a values-led high integrity market for responsible investment in natural capital and will publish proposals for a Natural Capital market framework to support this commitment, and to strengthen the Interim Principles on Responsible Private Investment, in 2023-24.

Voluntary carbon credits generated in Scotland and purchased from the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code can only be used to compensate for UK-based emissions, in a UK-wide market.

Section 23 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act) requires the Scottish Ministers to set up an assistance scheme to fund the costs of alternative dispute resolution for individuals in relation to any matters under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act), such as child contact and residence cases.

Section 24 of the 2020 Act requires the Scottish Ministers to arrange a pilot scheme of mandatory meetings to provide information to individuals involved in proceedings under section 11 of the 1995 Act on the alternatives to court for resolving disputes.

Until the Scottish Ministers have fulfilled these duties there is a requirement under sections 23(7) and 24(4) of the 2020 Act to lay before the Scottish Parliament six-monthly reports explaining why the duties are not yet implemented and stating when they are expected to be fulfilled.

To date four such reports have been laid and published:

• First Report - Scottish Government website (PDF)
• Second Report – Scottish Government website (PDF)
• Third Report – Scottish Government website (PDF)
• Fourth Report – Scottish Government website (PDF)

The fifth report will be laid in due course.

The Scottish Government plans to produce guidance for individuals, who are considering seeking an order under section 11 of the 1995 Act, on alternatives to court.

The Scottish Government provided an update on implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act) during March of this year in a response to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee on Public Petition PE1968: https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/citizen-participation-and-public-petitions-committee/correspondence/2022/pe1968/pe1968_c.pdf

The Scottish Government is working with the Care Inspectorate with a view to the Care Inspectorate becoming the regulator of child contact services.

We are also considering what other provisions of the 2020 Act we can commence in the next year, but will need to take full account of current budgetary constraints.

The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a Bill on ending conversion practices in Scotland. A public consultation containing detailed proposals for legislative change will be published by the end of this calendar year. The consultation will allow us to provide clear and detailed information on our proposed approach in order to obtain views from stakeholders and the broader public.

In developing our proposals we are carefully considering a wide range of evidence and expert advice. This includes the report of the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee and the report and recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group set up by the Scottish Government.

The location of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service high reach appliances are listed below and can be found here: SSRP Information Pack (external-doc-library.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com)

Inverness

Central Aberdeen

Oban

Perth

Blackness Road, Dundee

Greenock

Johnston

Kilmarnock

Maryhill

Castlemilk

Coatbridge

Falkirk

Dunfermline

Tollcross, Edinburgh

McDonald Road, Edinburgh

Dumfries

There are currently no plans to close any fire stations in the next year. SFRS are currently considering the responses to a public consultation on the future of Leadhills Fire station in South Lanarkshire however, no decisions have been made at present.

In the last five years, SFRS have had a total of 26 High Reach Appliances in their fleet.

From 4 September this year, as part of the SFRS operational strategy and after careful consideration and scrutiny of Incident Recording System (IRS) data, this number will drop to 16. This is part of a number of operational changes the SFRS have undertaken last month.

The operation of high reach appliances and their commission is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The Bathing Water Directive is implemented in Scotland by the Bathing Waters (Scotland) Regulations 2008. Under these Regulations Scottish Ministers designate bathing waters where they expect a large number of people to bathe, having regard to past trends and infrastructure and facilities provided, or other measures taken to promote bathing. We have set this figure at around 150 bathers. Across Europe large numbers of bathers can range up to 300 bathers per day.

We have taken a proportionate approach to designating bathing waters and there are no plans to change it. 2023 not only sees the highest number of bathing waters ever in Scotland, but the highest number rated excellent for water quality – and a total of 98% of locations achieving a classification of sufficient or better.