Part (a) The Scottish Government does not hold data on missed GP appointments. Individual GP practices are responsible for their own appointment arrangements.

Part (b) Information on consultant led new outpatient appointments where the patient did not attend is published within Public Health Scotland’s annual acute hospital activity and NHS beds publication. Information can be found in ‘Table 1 – outpatient activity (consultant led).xlsx’ which presents data by NHS Board of Treatment for 2012/13 to 2021/22 (available under the ‘Data files’ heading on this Public Health Scotland web page: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/ ).

In addition, monthly trend information from May 2015 to September 2022 on the number of planned operations typically carried out within an inpatient or day case setting in NHS Scotland, that were cancelled the day before or the day of treatment by NHS Board of treatment (including cancellation reason, cancelled by patient). This information is published within Public Health Scotland’s monthly cancelled planned operations publication (available under the ‘Data files’ heading on this Public Health Scotland web page:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-30-september-2022/ ).

The next Public Health Scotland’s monthly cancelled planned operations publication covering October 2022 is due to be published on 6 December.

Zero Waste Scotland sourced this information from SEPA’s waste data tool ( Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk) , to which their researchers applied a compositional analysis to provide the detail found in the table.

In line with the principle of industry responsibility for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), it is for retailers (in consultation with the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd) to decide how to comply with the obligation to provide a takeback service for scheme articles sold online. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published guidance to support retailers in complying with their obligations:

https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/deposit-return-scheme/retailers/online-retailers/

However, as set out in the answer to S6W-12236 on 1 December 2022, we are considering measures to reduce the burden this obligation places on industry, and are working closely with SEPA to ensure that the guidance is updated if necessary as a result of this work.

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 Island Communities Impact Assessment for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, published on 16 March 2020 and available here: Islands Communities Impact Assessment - Deposit return scheme for Scotland: islands communities impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , considered the impact of online takeback on island communities and concluded that this aspect of the scheme would be vital to ensure access to the scheme for consumers in island areas who were unable to access a physical return point. These considerations also apply to rural areas in terms of ensuring equality of access to DRS.

The following tables show the percentage of pupils by school condition for each local authority from 2018 to 2022 as reported in the School Estate Statistics.

In response to how many ministerial regulated appointments that declared a political affiliation over the five years, a total of 37 individuals have noted political activity where a party was specified. The breakdown is as follows:

(a) Public Bodies a total of 19

We do not hold this information.

As I stated in my response to S6W-12237 on 1 December 2022, it is for retailers (in consultation with the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd) to decide how to comply with the obligation to provide a takeback service for scheme articles sold online. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published guidance to support retailers in complying with their obligations: https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/deposit-return-scheme/retailers/online-retailers/

The Scottish Government has engaged with both SEPA and the Royal Environment Health Institute of Scotland regarding the food safety and hygiene aspects of the online takeback element of DRS. Waste materials and fresh food could be carried in the same vehicle as long as there is sufficient separation and a barrier to prevent contamination (both of the waste and the food). We are confident that, with reasonable steps, a retailer will be able to manage this risk.

Furthermore, retailers are permitted to contract third party businesses, such as registered waste carriers, to carry out collections on their behalf.

Further information and guidance on registering as a waste carrier is available from SEPA.

https://www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/waste/waste-carriers-and-brokers/

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 DRS Regulations allow return points to refuse returns where the number of containers is disproportionately greater than the number of containers that retailer would sell in an average single transaction. This will allow food delivery drivers to refuse such requests from customers.

We are considering measures to address concerns that have been raised by industry, including representatives of the food delivery industry, regarding the obligation to provide a takeback service for scheme articles sold online under Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

As part of this work, the Scottish Government has engaged with a range of stakeholders, including representatives of Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats on 20 October 2022. The same organisations previously met with the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity on 6 October 2022. Representatives of the food delivery industry also attended an online takeback workshop hosted by the Scottish Government on 17 February 2022.