Chamber and committees

NHS Dumfries and Galloway does offer adult ADHD diagnostic assessments, but I do appreciate however that there is a growing demand from people seeking referrals from their GP.

We are committed to improving access to ADHD diagnosis in Scotland and are engaged in ongoing work with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop a single diagnostic adult neurodevelopmental pathway for ADHD and autism and to action the recommendations in their report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, and published earlier this year. The report can be found HERE .

We have provided funding for NAIT to work with Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to assist them to develop local action plans.

Good progress continues to be made with this project. The Enhancements Delivery Plan is a Network Rail document and Network Rail will publish its update in due course in the normal manner.

The Scottish Government does not hold or collate any information relating to the future decommissioning of onshore wind turbines.

In respect of offshore wind turbines, none are due to be decommissioned in the next five years.

Zero Waste Scotland published a report in April 2021 titled ‘ The future of onshore wind decommissioning in Scotland’ . The report provides projections for the number of onshore wind turbines in Scotland that will be decommissioned up to 2050.

We have published a housing guide which provides information about applying for social housing in Scotland. This sets out how Service leavers and veterans can obtain clear information about the housing allocation policy for the area where they want to live and their level of priority for social housing.

We have also revised the social housing allocations practice guidance Social housing allocations in Scotland: practice guide - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) to include a specific section on Armed Forces and veterans to help landlords consider the needs of this group in their allocation policies and respond appropriately.

Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the entire length of the battery supply chain, from chemicals to end of life. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland. This research suggests that by 2030 there could be up to 16000 tonnes of vehicle batteries available in Scotland for second life purposes.

Due to the novelty of batteries being used in their second life the market opportunities and business models for their use or disposal are not currently certain. Current UK Extended Producer Responsibility legislation dictates that the battery manufacturer remains responsible for the collection, recycling and disposal of the battery, meaning that it will be at the manufacturer’s discretion whether they use a domestic reprocessing facility located in Scotland or the UK

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collect information for all UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and will have taken the decision as the information collected could not adequately reflect the interlinked, complex reasons for students ending their studies.

As part of the new HESA Data Futures Collection, the Reason for Engagement Ending has been adapted to focus on whether a student has achieved any qualifications or credits when they withdraw. This will provide more robust and meaningful data.

Further information on the new variable is available from the HESA website here:

codingmanual.hesa.ac.uk/22056/Leaver/field/RSNENGEND

Urban mining” is not a term that is in use by the Scottish Government, but we understand it to refer to the recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

The WEEE Regulations 2013, which are the regulations underpinning WEEE recycling in the UK, do not require information on recovery of critical minerals to be reported and so the Scottish Government does not hold this information. Along with the other UK governments, we intend to consult later this year on a suite of reforms to the WEEE Regulations; we are considering as part of that measures to increase the recovery of critical raw materials.

Nature Scot collect data for bird strikes at onshore wind farms via their online reporting tool. The reporting is voluntary, meaning it is likely they only receive reports on a proportion of strikes. Where possible the data is supplemented with information they receive from general correspondence.

Two offshore wind farm projects have commissioned studies to detect bird strikes. Kincardine offshore wind farm have eight cameras installed on each of their wind turbines. The first study from April 2020 to October 2021 detected one strike. The second study began in January 2022 and will complete in January 2024 and has so far detected two strikes.

Aberdeen offshore wind farm has a radar monitoring system deployed on one turbine. This monitored seabird flight activity during the breeding season and post-breeding season from April to October 2020 and 2021. No strikes were recorded during monitoring.

While the Scottish Government holds some information in relation to the decommissioning of wind turbines it does not hold or collate an overall dataset for onshore turbines. We are aware that one offshore turbine has been decommissioned at Robin Rigg wind farm.

It may be helpful to know, according to the UK Government’s Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) there are two Scottish onshore wind sites in the database recorded as decommissioned and no offshore wind sites. However, the caveat to this data is that the whole site needs to be decommissioned for the development status to change to ‘decommissioned’ in the database.

National Investment Bank sets out in detail its approach to assessing its impact, and its impact to date, in its annual Impact Report. That sets out how the Bank works across its portfolio to assess emissions generated, to support emissions mitigation and to support circular economy initiatives where possible.

In particular, the member may wish to be aware that the Bank has committed to adopt the Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations as its climate risk and reporting framework. It has further committed that from financial year 2023/24 all investments will involve a commitment to develop a Carbon Management or Net Zero plan, thereby ensuring that all the Bank’s capital supports Scotland’s transition to net zero. The Bank is also working with current investees to support them in the development of such plans and strategies. The Bank then reports on emissions associated with its investment activity through its annual Impact report.

The Bank’s Impact Report 2023 is available at: https://www.thebank.scot/impact-report .