Chamber and committees

Stakeholder mapping carried out in June 2021 on behalf of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency identified approximately 4,400 retailers selling drinks on the Scottish market. Of these, 2.6% were identified as selling exclusively online. Analysis was not carried out to determine what proportion of retailers operate both online and bricks-and-mortar retail.

Capital and resource funding for SEPA’s programme to plan, track, and deliver the regulator function for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), including development and delivery of a digital producer registration service, is agreed between SEPA and the Scottish Government as part of the annual Budget process.

Once DRS goes live, the annual registration fee paid by producers with a turnover of greater than £85,000 per year will cover the cost of ongoing maintenance of the registration service and regulation of the scheme.

The Scottish Government is acutely aware of reports of excessively high pricing in the accommodation sector in Glasgow during the COP26 summit and there are existing policies in place designed to address this issue.

Responsibility for consumer protection policy is reserved to the UK Government. Consumer protection enforcement lies with Local Authority Trading Standards Services (LATS) unless it is a market-wide issue which would be considered by the Competition and Market Authority. If people see potential price gouging issues they should contact Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) a national service funded by Scottish Government which is available to all citizens of Scotland. They are available at https://www.consumeradvice.scot/ and also on 0808 164 6000 . ADS will in turn notify LATS and the national team, Trading Standards Scotland (TSS), for further examination.

Although we recognise that this is ultimately a situation of market supply and demand, it is important to note that actions like this are likely to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour in the future. Businesses offering good quality accommodation at a fair price will continue to uphold Scotland’s reputation as a welcoming country, encouraging visitors to return.

The M80 northbound Junction 4a Low Wood off slip spur to Cumbernauld Town Centre has been closed alongside lane restrictions passing over the motorway overbridges on the A8011 to allow structure inspections and investigation works to be carried out. This stage of the works is expected to be completed by the end of November.

Up-until 2020 100% of sheep flocks selected for inspection had to have a full head count.

For 2020 in order to minimise Covid-19 related risks for farmers/crofters and Scottish Government inspectors the requirement to undertake a full head count at every inspection was removed.

For 2021 a partial head count was reinstated but only for sheep maintained on a farmer/crofter's main holding and sheep maintained on other land within a 5 mile radius of the main holding.

For 2020 and 2021, for farmer/crofters primarily with small flocks or where significant errors are found, some of the inspection controls have the same effect as undertaking a full head count.

The percentage of full flock head counts undertaken in each of the last five years which relate to inspections carried out in Shetland are set out in the following table. Figures for the current year aren't available as inspections are ongoing.

We are engaging HM Treasury and HMRC to ensure that VAT is not applied to deposits charged under Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Any cost associated with VAT would be part of the operating costs of DRS, and would be borne by drinks producers in line with the principle of producer responsibility.

We are committed to ensuring that people with chronic pain are involved in decisions about the services they use. We have established a Patient Reference Group for Chronic Pain, convened and run by the Health and Social Care ALLIANCE, to ensure that the views of those with lived experience are included in Government policy development and service improvement work.

Representatives from the Group are members of the National Advisory Committee for Chronic Pain and have been equal contributors (alongside third-sector groups, researchers, NHS decision-makers and those on the frontline delivering pain management services) in developing a new Framework for Pain Management in Scotland.

Any claims of bullying and intimidation of patient representatives on the Committee by officials are untrue. All members of the National Advisory Committee are free to make whatever contribution they wish to discussions. However, all committee members must abide by the behaviours set out in the Terms of Reference, including the values of respect and mutual collaboration. The National Advisory Committee last met in May 2021 and since then we have communicated with members by correspondence, including reminding them of the behaviours set out in the Terms of Reference.

We will be reviewing how we can best engage the chronic pain community in order to help inform implementation of the Framework to ensure we improve services, support and outcomes for people with chronic pain.

Ministers are not responsible for individual staffing decisions. However, I am confident that the officials involved in supporting our policy development for chronic pain are suitably trained and equipped to do so as set out in my response to question S6W-02871 on 21 September 2021. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03808 on‎ 8 November 2021. 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 following table below shows the number of directly employed staff on Fixed-Term appointment contracts at 30 June 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, broken down by Directorate. 30 June has been selected for consistency with PQ S6W-03819 on 8 November 2021 which contains 30 June 2021 data.

The following table shows the number of directly employed staff on Fixed-Term appointment contracts at 30 June 2021, broken down by Directorate. These are our most recently published data.