Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is developing a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Early Learning and School Age Childcare Profession which will set out the priorities for the sector and actions we will take to ensure a sustainable, thriving childcare workforce. We will consider the payment of SSSC fees as we develop the Framework.

The Scottish Government recognises the benefits magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) could provide to eligible patients with essential tremor.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of MRgFUS for the treatment of essential tremor.

We understand the University of Dundee and Ninewells hospital continue to run a MRgFUS service for essential tremor on a trial basis. It is imperative that before any new procedure is adopted into the NHS, it is first subject to rigorous clinical assessment to establish patient safety and efficacy. The trial in Dundee will help contribute to the building evidence base for the treatment.

The level of funding invested each year by the Bank since it was established is as follows:

2020-21 (November to March): £23,097,000

2021-22: £130,414,000

2022-23: The Bank’s final outturn is still being finalised and it is too early to provide a provisional figure to Parliament. The Bank will lay its audited Annual Accounts in Parliament before the end of September.

The Bank’s most recent Annual Accounts are published on its website: https://www.thebank.scot/sites/default/files/2022-10/the-bank-annual-report-2022.pdf .

The portfolio page on the Bank’s website also provides details of the deals they have completed: https://www.thebank.scot/portfolio .

The third Scottish Annual Pollinator Conference on 15 June 2023 is an online only event organised and staffed by our conservation agency, NatureScot. The 2023 theme is monitoring, with the intention of highlighting pollinator monitoring schemes, and, in line with our final draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, published in December 2022, demonstrating the necessity of monitoring for a better understanding of the status of our pollinating insects and wider biodiversity. Scottish Government policy officials will attend the conference.

Following public consultation on our proposals in 2022, the Scottish Government has been working with key partners – including Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Keep Scotland Beautiful – to finalise the new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and we aim to publish this in the coming months.

The Scottish Government has provided an additional £793 million to local government in 2023-24, which is a real terms increase of £376 million or 3 per cent, however, it is for locally elected representatives to manage the allocation of resources and the level of services that are delivered to their local communities, taking account of local needs and priorities. The Scottish Government has not made an assessment of any association between local authority budgets and levels of littering across Scotland.

£36 million of public money is spent every year removing litter from the Scottish environment. We are supporting local authorities to prepare for the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme, which will mean that local authorities will have less waste to handle, as well as reducing litter and associated clean-up costs, which is good for residents and council budgets.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to keep land clear of litter and refuse. To fulfil this duty, local authorities should have a robust monitoring regime in place to ensure that land is maintained to an appropriate standard and if this standard is not met, that restoration will be carried out within appropriate response times. In 2018, the Scottish Government published an updated Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse to support local authorities in undertaking their duties under the Environmental Protection Act (1990).

The forthcoming National Litter and Flytipping Strategy will support ongoing work on the Litter Monitoring System, which is designed to facilitate data capture in order to assist local authorities in the planning, delivery and evaluation of litter prevention measures.

The Scottish Government consulted on proposals for a new draft National Litter and Flytipping Strategy in early 2022.

Following publication of a consultation analysis report in July 2022, the Scottish Government has been working in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Keep Scotland Beautiful and other stakeholders to finalise the strategy and initial action plan.

We will be publishing the National Litter & Flytipping Strategy in the coming months. This will set how we plan to work with partners to develop more effective litter and flytipping prevention and enforcement measures.

The Scottish Government and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have consulted each other at various stages in the development of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. This has included CMA providing general guidance on competition matters relevant to DRS policy. Executive agencies of the Scottish Government have not consulted CMA on DRS. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15101 on 20 March 2023 that decisions regarding contracts entered into by Circularity Scotland are for them as a private non-profit organisation. 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 working with Disabled People’s organisations and their members to develop a new Disability Equality Strategy. Our focus is on listening to what disabled people have told us are the challenges and obstacles they face, and finding solutions that we can deliver.

The steering group has met 5 times to identify priorities for the strategy and specific actions. Work is ongoing and the strategy will be consulted on with wider stakeholders and partners when the actions are defined.

The Belgian Minister of Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and the Green Deal and I held a positive meeting in May last year, in which we spoke about the circular economy, wellbeing economy and climate governance policy matters.

The subject of Scottish independence was not an agenda item in discussions, however Scottish ministers will always be polite enough during international meetings to answer any questions put to them about the Scottish Government's stated policies, including a legal, constitutionally sound referendum, as set out in our Programme for Government.