Chamber and committees

Under the Equality Act 2010, which is reserved to the UK Parliament, employers are required to make reasonable adjustments if health conditions are or are likely to be long lasting and have an impact on an employee’s daily life. This may apply in the case of thyroid disease, however this would depend on the circumstances surrounding each individual case.

The Scottish Government currently invests in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including through the NHS delivered Working Health Services Scotland and the Public Health Scotland led Healthy Working Lives resource. They provide advice and support on work related physical and mental health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work practices and workplace safety for employers.

We also recognise that improving access to flexible working is an important means to help people balance work and health conditions, without dropping out of the workplace with the loss of income, experience and skills that this entails. To that end, we have provided a total of £222,000 in 2022-23 to flexible working experts, Flexibility Works to promote flexible working and support employers across Scotland to adopt flexible and family friendly workplaces. A further £86,000 has been committed so far this financial year.

The Workforce Action Plan and Delivery Plan which support the Scottish Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy will be published in Autumn 2023.

The Scottish Government do not routinely hold data on ChargePlace Scotland charge points per square kilometre.

The latest figures from the Department For Transport show that Scottish electric vehicle drivers benefit from over 70 public charge points per one hundred thousand people, compared to 60 in England (excluding London), over 50 in Wales and 20 in Northern Ireland. Scotland has the highest rate of rapid charging provision anywhere in the UK, with 18.4 per one hundred thousand people while the UK average is 11.4.

Since the changes to SME Loan eligibility regarding Solar PV measures went live on 27 June 2023 on the Scottish Government’s SME Loan Scheme, there have been 18 rejected applications on this basis.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19387 on 24 July 2023. 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-answer.

A summary of available information on each project is provided in the following table, based on information provided by Zero Waste Scotland.

Circular Economy Business Support (CEBS) is provided by Zero Waste Scotland in order to build capacity, raise the profile of circular economy models and accelerate their adoption. Through CEBS Zero Waste Scotland provide technical support and advice to businesses, not funding, and businesses are under no obligation to report to Zero Waste Scotland. Up to date information on projects’ status is reliant on engagement from businesses, and recipients of previous support do occasionally cease contact. It is therefore not possible to provide a detailed status update for all of the referenced projects.

As this support is primarily provided to early stage or start-up businesses, any impact in terms of job creation and on the environment, including carbon reduction, is dependent on the scale and replication of the supported business model or circular innovation.

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) is part of the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS). SCTS is an independent body corporate and does not answer directly to the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government typically meets OPG once every 3 - 6 months to discuss ongoing business matters, including registration of powers of attorney. The most recent meeting was in May 2023, where the introduction of a new IT system at OPG was discussed, which is expected to reduce processing times for power of attorney applications.

We will meet again over the course of the year to discuss what progress has been made with regard to power of attorney processing times.

The Scottish Government is working to issue the Primary Care Improvement Fund allocation letter to all Health and Social Care Partnerships as soon as practicable and by end of August 2023 at the latest.

Today I am pleased to announce to Parliament the launch of our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture in Scotland.

This Vision sets out the Scottish Government’s long-term aspirations to 2045 for the finfish, shellfish and seaweed farming sectors, and the wider aquaculture supply chain, with the aim of ensuring our industry is sustainable, diverse, competitive and economically viable.

Scottish Aquaculture produces the UK’s biggest food export – Scottish farmed salmon. The sector is already a significant contributor to our economy through trade, employment and investment in infrastructure such as housing, broadband and harbour facilities. It supports a wide range of highly skilled and well-paid jobs across farming operations, supply chain businesses, research institutes and new innovative enterprises. Many of these jobs are located in some of Scotland’s most fragile rural and island communities where they help to underpin valuable economic development. Aligning with our Blue Economy Vision, our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture also sets out our aspirations for the growth of other fish, seafood and seaweed aquaculture.

We have consulted widely across the sector and with other stakeholders to develop our Vision and it includes a series of outcomes that will help drive progress in key areas such as the environment and biodiversity, consenting, community benefit, business and health and welfare.

The Scottish Government will work with all stakeholders, including industry, regulators, government, enterprise agencies, academia, NGOs and communities to deliver our positive Vision for a thriving aquaculture sector in Scotland that is globally recognised as innovative, productive, successful and sustainable.

Further measures to tackle waste crime in Scotland include those being developed through the Circular Economy Bill, the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and the Integrated Authorisation Framework (IAF).

The Circular Economy Bill includes specific provisions in respect of litter and flytipping including a new penalty regime to address littering from vehicles, providing powers to SEPA and local authorities enabling them to stop and seize vehicles suspected of being involved in waste crime, and strengthened householder duty of care responsibilities in relation to household waste to prevent flytipping.

The new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, which was published on 28 June 2023, includes a focus on ensuring a more effective enforcement model to deter and robustly tackle littering and flytipping behaviour. The Strategy sets out a range of initial commitments, including raising fixed penalty notices for flytipping to £500 and exploring the possibility of raising these to £1000.

Through the IAF, which will update the waste management licensing regime in Scotland, we propose to introduce measures and provide more effective enforcement tools to tackle waste crime. Measures being considered include a broader Fit and Proper Person test, and a strengthened approach to licensing waste carriers to uphold high standards across the industry. A consultation on proposed measures will be published in due course.