Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to make progress on drafting the refreshed Tobacco Action Plan and this is due to be published in Autumn 2023.

The Plan will renew our focus on meeting our ambitious target of a Tobacco-Free Scotland by 2034. We are considering a range of evidence, including the latest international evidence, and are working closely with stakeholders, including Smoking Cessation Co-ordinators, ASH Scotland, the Poverty Alliance, Trading Standards and PHS to deliver actions that will further reduce the smoking rates.

An underlying principle of the new National Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland will be equitable and timely access to general and specialist palliative care as needed by each person of any age, living with any illnesses, in all places.

As part of this work we are reviewing the information and evidence we have, and need, to develop the strategy. This includes gathering data on current and projected needs for palliative care at a population level, mapping services and support across Scotland, and building on our understanding of people’s experiences of palliative and end of life care.

The outputs of this work will give us a clearer picture of the delivery and accessibility of palliative care across Scotland, including in remote rural and island communities, and will allow us to develop evidence-based actions to ensure that people have equitable access to general and specialist palliative care if and when they need it, regardless of where they live.

Information on the number of enrolments, student headcount and full-time equivalent places (FTE) over the last decade in Scottish colleges is published by the Scottish Funding Council in their annual college statistics release which is published here:

College Statistics 2021-22 (sfc.ac.uk)

Data prior to this can be found in older releases here:

Statistical publication schedule (sfc.ac.uk)

The increase in college withdrawal rates from 2020-21 to 2021-22 highlights the challenges faced by our colleges and their learners with the ongoing disruption to delivery caused by COVID, and the emergence of the cost-of-living crisis.

College learners faced repeated interruptions to normal delivery in 2021-22, particularly with the emergence of the Omicron variant; while some learners chose to enter employment due to the buoyant labour market and the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis.

We recognise that for many students, leaving college courses early for employment is a positive choice, despite its negative classification as a withdrawal within the Scottish Funding Council’s statistics. The SFC are currently working with the sector to better identify those who leave college to take up work opportunities.

Attainment is a complex area with many contributing factors. Our colleges provide education and training for a wide group of learners with different backgrounds, experience and levels of prior attainment.

Raising attainment is a shared priority across the education portfolio and we will continue to work with the sector to help students overcome barriers to learning to ensure they can reach their full potential.

There is no recommended minimum distance between onshore wind turbines and residential properties. Policy 11 of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) makes clear that potential impacts on communities, nature and other receptors will be important considerations in the decision-making process. Additionally, the policy requires that project design and mitigation will demonstrate how impacts on communities and individual dwellings, including residential amenity, visual impact, noise and shadow flicker will be addressed. All applications are subject to site-specific assessments.

The proposal currently with COPFS officials was developed by Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) not the Scottish Government

Police Scotland have been involved in discussions about the establishment of a safer drug consumption facilities (SDCF) for a number of years, since Glasgow HSCP first proposed establishing one.

The Lord Advocate, in a statement to the Justice Committee in November 2021, was clear that any new proposal for an SDCF would, before it could be brought to the Lord Advocate, need to be, amongst other things, supported by those who would be responsible for policing such a facility, and by Police Scotland Official Report (parliament.scot) .

The initial proposal that was submitted to COPFS officials in June 2022 included a paper from Police Scotland. Scottish Government officials understand that COPFS and Police Scotland officials have had further discussions since then.

Public Health Scotland were not involved in discussions around the current proposal for an SDCF.

The Medicines Act 1986 is governed by the UK Parliament. This means that any legislative changes in relation to the act are fully reserved to the UK Government and its ministers.

However, continuing the work done to make naloxone more widely available during the COVID-19 pandemic, Scottish Government officials are engaged with both COPFS and colleagues in the UK Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to ensure that those changes remain in place in Scotland. Following the 2021 consultation carried out by the UK Government into expanding the access to naloxone, Scottish Government officials are working with UK Government colleagues to push for amendments in current legislation at a UK level to ensure those changes introduced in Scotland are made permanent.

The current legal framework for Drug Checking facilities comes under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and an amendment to the act in relation to ‘Controlled Drugs’ which provides authorisation via the use of a license. The license can be applied for through the UK Home Office.

Scottish Government Officials will continue to work with Home Office colleagues as license applications from the proposed pilot cities progress. Police Scotland have also been involved in this work, alongside Crown Office.