Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to keeping The Promise and improving the outcomes of care experienced children and young people in education. To achieve this we continue to work with partners, including Education Scotland, COSLA and ADES.

Our national guidance, Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2 , is clear that exclusion should be used as a measure of last resort. The guidance includes particular considerations regarding the exclusion of care experienced young people.

Engagement activity includes with the Scottish Advisory Group for Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS), to consider exclusion in the context of promoting positive relationships and behaviour in schools.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of the impact of NHS staff pay awards on the independent hospice sector, however, Scottish Government Ministers are meeting with representatives from the sector in March 2023 to discuss pressures that hospices are facing.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Circularity Scotland (CSL) are a private non-profit organisation and are therefore not subject to public procurement requirements. An extensive tender process was carried out by Circularity Scotland over a period of around 12 months before appointing a waste collection provider. Decisions regarding their contracts are for them – this is entirely appropriate for a scheme that has industry responsibility at its heart.

The 2025 target date for completion of the full programme represented an ambitious challenge. It was reliant on the timely and positive outcome of a range of factors such as completing public and stakeholder consultation; statutory approval processes; sufficiency of market capacity; supply chain availability and availability of funding, all of which have been significantly impacted by Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. As I confirmed to Parliament on 8 February 2023, this has made the 2025 date unachievable.

Transport Scotland is urgently considering a range of different options to provide Ministers advice on the most efficient way in which to dual the remaining sections. Work to determine the most suitable procurement options for these sections is a complex exercise which looks at a number of factors including how the project can be delivered most efficiently by the industry, whilst minimising disruption to road users and helping to support economic recovery post-COVID. This work is expected to conclude in Autumn 2023 and I will provide an update on a new timescale for completion to the Scottish Parliament at that time.

Time charter crew are employed by the vessel owner and therefore the onus is on them to ensure Compliance with the Fair Work action plan. CalMac Ferries Limited would only be responsible if the charter is on a bareboat basis or the vessel is owned by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd. Consequently, both companies do insist that all crew are paid the real Living Wage on time charters, and if this is not provided by their employers they would supplement to ensure they equal the Living wage.

Circularity Scotland submitted an application to Scottish Ministers for approval to become a scheme administrator. Drinks producers, wholesalers and retailers across Scotland collaborated to create Circularity Scotland and support its application to become a scheme administrator. The Scottish Government did not engage in discussions with producers or retailers with regards to Circularity Scotland’s application. While Circularity Scotland is the only approved scheme administrator, it does not have exclusive rights in relation to the collection of scheme articles. There is no limit on the number of scheme administrators that can operate within the scheme.

Circularity Scotland (CSL), as a private non-profit organisation and scheme administrator for DRS, represents and provides services to its members including Scotland’s largest drinks producers, importers, wholesalers and retailers. This is entirely appropriate for a scheme that has industry responsibility at its heart. The Scottish Government will register as a return point operator (RPO) with CSL and will be handled no differently than any other registered RPO.

Transport Scotland applied its normal risk management practices from the beginning of its work on the A9 Dualling programme to the identification and assessment of factors that could affect delivery of the programme. Individual factors were raised with Ministers as relevant to issues on which Ministers were periodically briefed.

This is a matter for independent hospices, Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. The information requested is not held centrally.