Chamber and committees

Since May 2021, the Scottish Government has not held any Ministerial meetings with Sky UK Limited.

Within this period, Scottish Government culture officials have also not met with Sky UK Limited on either a formal or informal basis.

Since May 2021, the Scottish Government has had 5 Ministerial meetings with the BBC.

As outcomes there is a shared their commitment to working positively and constructively to help deliver programming and skills training that benefits Scotland culturally and economically.

The judicial review was brought against Circularity Scotland, which is a private, non-profit entity, created by industry to act as the scheme administrator for DRS. The Scottish Government was not involved in the proceedings.

The court has found that CSL wrongly applied one aspect of the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 in setting the reasonable handling fee for retailers operating return points. The court did not find that the DRS Regulations are unlawful, nor did it find that the Scottish Government acted unlawfully in setting up DRS or in making the DRS Regulations. The Scottish Government will consider the decision in this case as well as any implications for the Deposit Return Scheme as we work towards launch of the scheme in October 2025 at the earliest.

We constantly review the operations of our international offices to ensure their work to promote Scotland remains measurable, transparent and provides value for money.

To help with this review process, each Scottish Government international office submits a monitoring and evaluation report every financial year which measures performance; monitors effectiveness and ensures they are achieving their strategic objectives.

Additionally, from December 2023 onwards, we will publish an Annual Report explaining how our international offices work to promote our values, objectives and priorities across the globe.

Whilst we intend to open a new office in Warsaw during this Parliamentary Term, there are currently no plans to open any further Scottish Government international offices during this time.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards in Scotland to consider the recommendations in the Scottish Health Technologies Group report, published on 23 March 2023, and take steps to ensure that women who require access to placental growth factor (PlGF) based tests as part of their maternity care can do so.

The Scottish Government has recently written to all NHS Boards for an update on progress towards implementation of PlGF testing. We will be able to give an update on this in due course.

The remaining elements of How To Save a Life media campaign, totalling to £360,012, not asked about in previous parliamentary questions included:

• TV adverts– £216,349
• Bus advertising - £78,140
• Glasgow Naloxone Taxi Livery– £3,240
• Project development costs - £22,315
• Independent Evaluation carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University – £39,968

The location and movement of firefighters is an operational matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and this information is not held by Scottish Government.

The recruitment and retention allowance is payable to individual General Dental Practitioners, and pays £25,000 to GDPs joining the dental list for the first time or returning after a period of five years and practising in an eligible area.

The Scottish Government has expanded the scheme to include vocational trainees, who would be eligible for an additional £12,500 should they decide to train in an eligible area.

The Scottish Government in partnership with NHS Boards reviews the list of areas that attract the recruitment and retention allowance on a regular basis.

Further information, including details of eligible areas, can be found at http://www.scottishdental.org/ .

The Scottish Government recognises that it will be necessary to undertake detailed analysis, including costing and cost-benefit analysis of this wide-ranging report before it is possible to make definitive statements about individual recommendations. A team is being recruited to undertake this work.

Deer management covers a range of work, including culling deer and other damage mitigation actions such as deer fencing which can have an effect on deer movement and impacts.

The estimated cost to public agencies for all deer management actions in 2022-23, including culling, provision of fencing, deer larders and other equipment was £8,838,400. The total number of deer culled by public agencies in 2022-23 was recorded as 38,242.