Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29074 on 3 September 2024. 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 is aware of the recent reported detection of Hepatitis A in North Lanarkshire.

This is being managed locally by the NHS Lanarkshire health protection team with support from Public Health Scotland and other partners. Although the Scottish Government has had no direct discussions with NHS Lanarkshire or North Lanarkshire, we are in regular contact with Public Health Scotland and will take appropriate action should the situation escalate.

A series of public health measures has already been implemented, including provision of vaccination and information to identified contacts who may be at risk.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water has advised that a major repair has been required under challenging conditions following a pipe bridge collapse. Following the incident, Scottish Water installed a temporary system while the design for a new bridge was being developed to ensure that there was no detriment to the environment.

The design work for the permanent solution is now complete and on-site work started on 19th August 2024. Scottish Water is aiming to complete this work by the end of December 2024. Scottish Water has advised that it is continuing to monitor the temporary system and it remains in communication with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Information on the number of P6 & P7 pupils who are in registered for free school meals is published annually, and can be found in table 2.22 of our pupil census 2023 supplementary statistics: Pupil census supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The Scottish Government is committed to free school meal expansion and continues to work with partners in local government.

Officials last met with COSLA to discuss the free school meal expansion programme in July 2024.

The new National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2) will set out an updated planning framework to support sustainable management of our seas and is being developed with representatives from marine sectors and local communities. NMP2 will consider the requirement for any specific planning policies regarding seabed mining activities in Scotland’s seas and the need for any associated implementation guidance. The UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Scotland) (Continuity) Act 2021 ('the Continuity Act') established the five guiding principles on the environment in law; this includes the precautionary principle. These will be considered as part of the development of NMP2 planning policies. All policies in the draft NMP2 will be subject to statutory assessments to determine the potential impacts on marine sectors, communities and the marine environment and identify any mitigation measures required.

Deep sea mining refers to the exploration for - or extraction of - minerals from the seabed at depths greater than 200 metres. Most of Scotland’s waters of this depth or greater fall within existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Existing Conservation and Management Advice for the West of Scotland MPA from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee: West of Scotland MPA | JNCC - Adviser to Government on Nature Conservation (JNCC), which covers the majority or our deep waters and seamounts, advises against seabed mining in such waters. The Scottish Government is working closely with the JNCC on the West of Scotland MPA, this includes projects such as the Managing Impacts of Deep Sea Resource Exploitation or MIDAS Project: Library | MIDAS (eu-midas.net) Any licence applications would be considered on the best available evidence.

Cabinet minutes provide a full account of actions but are not a verbatim record. As such, it is not possible to determine with certainty when or how many times a particular topic has been discussed at Cabinet. The Cabinet discusses policies which relate to education and to child poverty on a regular basis.

The results from the most recent seabird census show that many of Scotland’s internationally important seabird populations are suffering from a range of pressures, including climate change, and more recently highly pathogenic avian influenza.

We take these declines extremely seriously, which is why the Scottish Government, supported by NatureScot, is developing a Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy in partnership with stakeholders, which will drive forward and prioritise action aimed at improving the conservation status of Scotland’s seabirds and increase their resilience to climate change. Work on the strategy is moving at pace with public consultation planned for later this year.

Alongside the strategy, NatureScot is working with partners to investigate the underlying causes of these declines. These include continuing to undertake monitoring and research so that we can better understand the trends in seabird populations, the threats they face and how these can best be managed; work on biosecurity and invasive non-native species to address the risks posed by predators to breeding seabirds; and continuing to contribute to the response to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza through sampling and surveillance of wild birds.

NatureScot also continues to support Scottish Government in taking forward action to meet its commitment to achieve and maintain Good Environmental Status for seabirds. This includes delivering action to minimise, and where possible eliminate, bycatch of sensitive marine species, including seabirds, to ensure the sustainability of our fisheries, as well as supporting ongoing work to ensure the coherence of our marine protected areas network.

Much of this work is supported by funding streams, including the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund and Scottish Government's Nature Restoration Fund which is managed by NatureScot.

Scottish Government officials have attended two Four Nations meetings regarding the ban on single-use vapes within this time period, during which implementation was discussed - on 14 August and 24 July. We have corresponded with the UK Government regarding the implementation of a ban on 9 August, 26 July, 18 July, 16 July, 15 July and 11 July. These discussions have focused on our respective legislative timelines, and on preparing guidance for Business.