Chamber and committees

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is developing guidance for businesses to help them meet their obligations under The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020. This will include an online toolkit and example scenarios to support producers and retailers to develop takeback services for online sales.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04001 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

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.

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.

Information on the area of new woodland creation and the approximate number of trees planted in Scotland, in each year since 2016, broken down by Scottish Local Authority can be found at the following link: Publications (forestry.gov.scot)

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.

For Bands A-C (junior to middle management grades) the Scottish Government does not use external recruitment agencies to fill temporary or permanent posts where the worker is employed by SG directly. At senor civil service level recruitment agencies are sometimes used to identify potential candidates for such roles.

The table provides this information for temporary and permanent employed roles in the senior civil service from 2018 onwards broken down by recruitment agency.

We want to ensure that wherever women seek menopause support, they get the care that they need. Menopause care is provided in different settings and in a variety of ways, in both primary and secondary care. We do not currently have the data to be able to accurately describe the variety of sources of menopause care in Scotland.

A key aim of the Women’s Health Plan is to ensure that when required women will have timely access to menopause support and services, be that though primary or specialist care.

To help achieve this we will provide access in each primary care team to a healthcare professional who has a special interest in menopause. We will also provide a specialist menopause services in every NHS Board – including a buddy system where sub specialisation is impractical.

We will be working closely with NHS Boards in order to progress these actions which will also enable us to build a comprehensive picture of the delivery of menopause care in Scotland.

Data on the number of people who have attended for menopause care in NHSScotland are not routinely available.