Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomes this report and the decision of the UK Government to reschedule cannabis-derived medicinal products under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The Scottish Government will now work with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations to develop clinical guidelines that support doctors in making sure that products prescribed to patients are safe.

Scottish Government officials regularly meet with representatives of the UK Government and other devolved administrations on a wide range of medicine policy issues including those around cannabis-derived products for medicinal purposes. Officials will continue to work closely with their counterparts further to the UK Government’s decision to reschedule these products within the terms of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

As the previous answer S5W-17267 refers, there have been a number of meetings with representatives of both Western Ferries and Pentland Ferries since 2011. These have been both formal and informal and covered a variety of different issues. For example, the nature of contact with Western Ferries includes frequent phone calls received from Mr Ross and also informal meetings at a variety of shipping industry related events. Therefore, it is not possible to ascertain with any accuracy the exact number of meetings held with each operator.

Bicycles are normally conveyed on the Caledonian Sleeper trains. In periods of exceptional demand, bicycles which exceed the storage capacity on the train are conveyed by road for free. The new Caledonian Sleeper trains will have significantly enhanced capacity for bicycles. The Scottish Government is currently considering with the operator of the Caledonian Sleeper whether, once the new trains are in service, it will still be appropriate for Caledonian Sleeper to convey by road bicycles that cannot be accommodated within the new trains. In making its decision, the Scottish Government will take into account the environmental costs of providing the current road-based service.

NHS Boards are required to adhere to equality and disability standards for general public facilities, which currently include:

• Scottish Building Regulations – Non Domestic Technical Standards 2017 - Section 4
• BS 8300-1_2018 Code of Practice: accessible and inclusive EXTERNAL design
• BS 8300-2_2018 Code of Practice: accessible and inclusive BUILDING design

In addition, there is specific NHSScotland guidance, which includes:

• Health Building Note (HBN 00-01): General design guidance for healthcare buildings
• HBN 00-02: Sanitary spaces
• HBN 08-02: Dementia-friendly Health and Social Care Environments

Scottish Building Regulations detail the statutory requirements for accessible toilet facilities and note that it is important that sanitary facilities address the needs of occupants and visitors, both in terms of availability and accessibility, and stipulate that facilities should be located where they can be reached easily. In addition, HBN 00-02 provides evidence-based best practice guidance on the design and layout of sanitary spaces for use in healthcare settings.

HBN 00-01 provides guidance on seating within healthcare premises, including evidence based research and associated design guidance on the provision of seating in a variety of spaces and including waiting areas, long corridors and consulting areas. In addition, HBN 08-02 provides more specific guidance for designing and specifying seating for building users with dementia.

While standards are not generally applied retrospectively, under the Equality Act 2010, Health Boards have a duty to make reasonable adjustments, where necessary to ensure accessibility, which could include adjustments to facilities/premises or to services. For new premises or major upgrades to premises, the NHSScotland Design Assessment Process assesses compliance with statutory (including equality) and other mandatory requirements.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) provides a range of guidance documents regarding the handling of plans or projects which might affect protected areas in Scotland. This material is provided on SNH’s website ( www.nature.scot ).

As the Council is minded to grant consent for the Coul Links application, and there is an objection from Scottish Natural Heritage, the case has been notified to Ministers. Notification gives Ministers the opportunity to decide whether there are national interests at stake which would merit Ministers calling in the application for their own determination. The Minister for Local Government and Housing will consider the details of this case and decide whether Ministers should call in the application for their determination, or clear it back to The Highland Council.

All Ramsar sites in Scotland are also Natura 2000 sites and / or Sites of Special Scientific Interest and are protected under the associated statutory regimes for which guidance and advice is provided by Scottish Natural Heritage. Further, it is Scottish Government policy to apply the same level of protection for Ramsar sites as is applied for Special Protection Areas classified under the EU Birds Directive.

Where a planning authority is minded to grant planning permission, they are required to notify Ministers in relation to development which has the potential to affect:

(a) a Site of Special Scientific Interest where the site has been notified to the planning authority by Scottish Natural Heritage or its predecessors under section 23 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 or section 3 and section 5 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004;

(b) a European site as defined in regulation 10 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994;

(c) a site which has been announced by the Scottish Ministers as a proposed Special Protection Area or proposed Special Area of Conservation, or

(d) an area designated by the Scottish Ministers (or a previous Secretary of State) as a wetland of international importance in accordance with the 1971 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as a waterfowl habitat (The Ramsar Convention);

Where Scottish Natural Heritage, on being consulted by the planning authority has indicated that the development may adversely affect such a site and has advised against granting planning permission, or has recommended conditions which the planning authority does not propose to attach to the planning permission.

This allows Ministers the opportunity to decide whether to call in an application for their own determination or to return it to the Council to issue the decision

For any planning application, it is for the decision maker to consider the development plan position and other material considerations. Any matters of national interest which may be raised will be assessed on a case by case basis.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-17306 on 11 July 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx