Chamber and committees

Provisions related to Anne's Law are included within the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 requires the regional marine plans state policies for and in connection with the sustainable development of the area to which the plan relates. Regional marine plans must also set economic, social and marine ecosystem objectives and relating to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. All regional marine plans must be developed in accordance with any adopted National Marine Plan ("NMP"), and are subject to the agreement of Scottish Ministers.

Responsibility for regional marine planning is devolved to marine planning partnerships (“MPPs”). The current NMP provides guidance to support the development of regional marine plans, but specifies that the precise approach and coverage of the regional plan, including the level to which certain activities are spatially represented, will be for MPPs to determine based on local priorities and taking account of existing partnerships, methodologies and alignment with other local plans.

We will work with MPPs during the development of our second NMP (NMP2), to ensure policies and objectives within NMP2 provide necessary support and guidance for regional marine planning

In relation to question S6W-11868, the reference to bioenergy from sustainable sources refers to the sustainability of the biomass feedstock. The technology itself does not indicate sustainability but rather it is the feedstock which needs to meet sustainability criteria. The Scottish Government wishes to continue to align with EU standards and sustainability criteria as set out in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). Any biomass used for energy should meet both the land and greenhouse gas criteria as a minimum to be considered as sustainable.

Scottish Government officials have formed a Bioenergy Policy Working Group which is considering how to ensure our bioenergy policy continues to be compatible with wider sustainable land use policy including the delivery of environmental goals and recognising public attitudes to land use change.

The national roll out of the Police Scotland Naloxone Programme has been delivered in 2 stages. The first stage was a test of change (pilot), covering the period 01-03-2021 to 31-10-2021. The second stage covers the period from the completion of pilot up to the point where the most recent data is available, 02-12-2022. The number of administrations per month, in each stage of the roll out, is provided below.

Test of Change period (01-03-2021 – 31-10-2021) – Total of 51 administrations

March – 2

April - 5

May - 5

June – 10

July - 8

August - 7

September - 6

October – 8

Start of roll-out (01-11-2021 – 02-12-2022) – Total of 44 administrations

November - 3

December - 2

January - 5

February - 4

March - 1

April - 3

May - 2

June - 4

July - 5

August - 2

September - 4

October - 3

November - 4

December – 2 (up till 2-12-2022)

Casualties at each incident are sign posted to drug and addiction services within their area by officers on scene. The details are recorded on the Vulnerable Persons Database, the details of which can be shared with partner agencies to assist the individual.

The Ukraine Longer Term Housing Resettlement Fund guidance and application form for Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords was published on the Scottish Government website on 30 September 2022, following the launch of the fund on 22 September 2022. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-longer-term-resettlement-fund/

A letter was issued to Council Leaders and the Scottish Federation of Housing (copied to Council Chief Executives) on 4 October 2022 to notify them of the Fund and encourage applications.

We are prioritising applications which deliver completed homes by 31 March 2023. Projects with homes completed in 2023/24 will be considered by exception.

The Scottish Government understands that 13,000 new recruits are needed every year to fill digital technology roles, including roles in e-commerce. That is why we have invested over £4 million since 2020, via Skills Development Scotland, to broaden the digital talent pool. This has included the delivery of reskilling programmes such as the Digital Start Fund, a programme which supports people on benefits or low incomes, and the Digital Skills Pipeline, a modular set of courses running from beginner level all the way through to advanced coding. By giving grant funding to Code Your Future, another training organisation, we have also helped vulnerable people, including refugees, with the skills and networks necessary to progress in education and employment. Going forward, a new Digital Economy Skills Action Plan for Scotland, which is being developed in partnership with industry and stakeholders, will identify the activity that will best support the needs of the digital economy going forward, aligning with the recommendations from Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) and National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).

The main source of insight into e-commerce in Scotland is the Digital Economy Business Survey (DEBS), which has been conducted approximately every three years since 2014. We are currently considering the scope and frequency of future surveys, which will provide important data for our understanding of progress of key elements of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a review of the operation of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in Scotland with the aim of ensuring the effect of the PSED is improved so that it becomes a key contributor to improved lives of people with protected characteristics. The results of a public consultation, which ran between December 2021 and April 2022 on a series of detailed and ambitious proposals for changes to the PSED regime, was published 30 November 2022.

The Scottish Government has not consulted on introducing a duty under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 on preventing sexual harassment, including a requirement to develop a standalone policy on sexual harassment.

Sex is one of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 places a general duty (known as the Public Sector Equality Duty, or PSED) on public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and promote good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The pandemic has changed drinking behaviour, particularly for those who were drinking heavily before the pandemic. There is more work to be done to better understand the continuing impact of the pandemic on alcohol harms.

We are working on a range of actions to make alcohol treatment services more accessible to those who need them to support individuals reduce their alcohol consumption.

Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) was introduced to reduce the consumption of alcohol by individuals whose consumption is hazardous or harmful as well as reducing the overall population level of consumption. We are evaluating MUP over the first five years of operation and will report to parliament in summer 2023.

We are currently in the process of evaluating minimum unit pricing (MUP) as a whole over its first five years of operation. Public Health Scotland will be producing a final report on MUP in 2023, which will inform our evaluation report which will be laid in Parliament and published in 2023.

We will review the final evaluation report from Public Health Scotland before drawing overall conclusions on whether the policy has achieved its aims.