Chamber and committees

Circularity Scotland Ltd, announced the return handling fees for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme earlier this year. Any decision to update this information will be for them to take after consultation with industry.

The Scottish Government is not considering the introduction of special measures for community pharmacies that are struggling to meet required standards. Community pharmacies, along with other primary care contractors, are wholly independent private entities providing NHS services on behalf the Health Board. Any challenges faced by community pharmacy contractors in delivering existing pharmaceutical care services should be discussed with the Health Boards who will be able to consider actions to support service provision.

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme is an industry-led initiative, consistent with the vast majority of similar schemes across Europe. It is the responsibility of all affected businesses to ensure that they are prepared for the scheme’s launch on 16 August 2023. This includes online takeback requirements, which will ensure that those who rely on online deliveries because of personal circumstances can still redeem the deposit.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of fixed penalties issued for the offence of flytipping, nor information on how many of these have been paid.

This detailed information can be obtained by contacting individual issuing authorities. Authorised officers from Local Authorities, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Police Scotland and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park can issue penalties for the offence of flytipping.

Dental nursing is not a controlled subject and so the Scottish Government, via the Scottish Funding Council does not specify any intake targets for dental nursing. The Scottish Government has no oversight or control of the dental nursing workforce. Rather, we make arrangements with independent contractor dentists to provide NHS dental services and they then employ dental nurses as required.

Colleges operate independently of Government, and it is for them to decide on the shape of their curriculum, taking into account the needs of the region and communities they serve. Colleges plan their course provision in line with the economic needs of their regions, and through working closely with employers, are able to respond flexibly to the skills demands of their region.

While pharmacy closures can occur, this on the whole represents a small proportion of the network and is often limited to a small proportion of the required model hours. The Scottish Government continue to work with all Health Boards and community pharmacy representatives who are responsible for the provision of local pharmaceutical care services to ensure that any challenges faced by community pharmacies in providing the safe and effective dispensing of treatments are discussed with the local Health Board to minimise impact and risk to patients. Health boards can take a range of actions in response to any breach of terms by a pharmacy contractor.

The Scottish Government does not hold all the data requested. However for 2020-21 (and 2021-2022 for modern apprenticeships), the number of students studying towards a dental nursing qualification was:

Modern Apprenticeships;

• In 2020-21, there were 312 starts on the dental nursing framework.
• In 2021-22, there were 343 starts on the dental nursing framework.

Colleges;

• In 2020-21, there were 420 enrolments on dental services courses at Scottish colleges.

Universities;

• In 2020-21, there were 25 enrolments on dental nursing courses at Scottish universities.

2021-2022 figures for colleges and universities will not be available until January 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10380 on 20 September 2022. 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

The Scottish Government recently consulted on proposals for our new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including measures to strengthen enforcement measures.

We will publish the final National Litter and Flytipping Strategy later this year, which will set out effective system-wide action to prevent and address flytipping.

Enforcement is one of the Strategy’s key themes.

As DRS Scheme Administrator, it is for Circularity Scotland Ltd to determine when to publish such information.