Chamber and committees

As committed to in Programme for Government 2021-22, work is underway to develop a new earlier cancer diagnosis vision for Scotland which will form part of the new cancer strategy, due to publish Spring 2023. This will outline the future direction of our Detect Cancer Early (DCE) Programme which we continue to invest in.

The Scottish Cancer Coalition, and its Early Diagnosis & Screening Sub-Group, which is Chaired by Pancreatic Cancer UK, have been consulted on the new vision and DCE awareness campaign that’s under development.

DCE’s website and social media channels continue to raise awareness of possible signs and symptoms and empower people to present early – this includes the development of an interactive symptom-checker tool.

An interim report published by the University of Strathclyde on 21 November 2022 shows that one of the most common types of cancer being diagnosed in our first Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) are hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) cancer. We are committed to rolling out RCDS's across NHS Scotland.

A clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer was completed in 2018 with revised clinical guidance published January 2019. The guidelines support primary care clinicians in ensuring those with symptoms suspicious of cancer are put on the right pathway at the right time.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with primary care clinicians across NHS Scotland, including the Scottish Primary Care Cancer Group, to raise awareness of symptoms and best referral practice for all cancer types, including pancreatic.

The timetable process is embedded and set out in both (a) Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) and (b) Northern Isles Ferry Service (NIFS) contracts and is monitored through the management of these contracts by my officials in Transport Scotland.

Both operators should engage directly with community groups on timetable issues.

Housing statistics on new housebuilding and affordable housing supply are published quarterly on the Scottish Government website and can be accessed using the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/.

The next set of quarterly housing statistics are expected to be published in January 2023.

Data on school support staff are collected as part of the annual school staff census.

National Statistics on selected categories of school support staff (pupil support assistants, home-school link workers, behaviour support staff, educational psychologists, school nurses and library staff) can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

Management information (which are not subject to the same quality assurance procedures by Scottish Government statisticians as Official Statistics) for all other support staff roles for which data is collected centrally can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-management-information/

Statistics for all categories of support staff prior to 2017 are available as part of the Teacher Census Supplementary Data: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

The processing and quality assurance of the statistics on school support staff from 2017 onwards has been brought into line with procedures for National Statistics on pupils and teachers. This means that statistics from 2017 onwards are not directly comparable with the data on support staff from previous years.

Scottish Government officials meet regularly with their Welsh Government counterparts sharing best practice, including discussing mobility programmes and ways to maximise participation opportunities for those who need it most. In this context, wider discussion around mobility and exchange, including Taith, take place regularly to ensure both sides collaborate, are up to date and improve efficiency in developing and delivering opportunities for learning and exchange.

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

Empty drink containers (scheme packaging) are waste and, therefore, subject to regulatory control. Any business that operates a takeback service should ensure that they, or their service provider, are authorised to carry and transport waste and are registered as a waste carrier.

A business only needs to hold one waste carriers licence – there is no need for each employee to register separately unless they are self-employed individuals. 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/ .

The Scottish Government does not provide training in this regard.

A Steering Group comprising staff from NatureScot and Scottish Government is undertaking the goose management policy review.

A six-week stakeholder consultation concluded on 17 October 2022 in which stakeholders were invited to comment on the effectiveness of current national goose policy and its delivery, to identify issues and make suggestions for future national goose policy.

Invitations were extended to individual members of the National Goose Forum and Local Goose Management Groups, and NatureScot’s web pages provided open access to the questionnaire to other interested parties.

257 stakeholders submitted questionnaire responses.

The results from the questionnaire have been summarised and the key themes include concerns around greylag geese, funding and how goose management might be supported in future.

The next steps are: for the Policy Steering Group to engage with Local Goose Management Groups and other stakeholders to share the summary responses with them, to confirm they accurately reflect their views, to ask them which issues are of greatest concern to them, and how they would like their concerns to be addressed through future goose policy. These discussions are ongoing, and will be completed before Christmas.

Production of the report by NatureScot has been delayed slightly due to pressures of the additional work being generated with regard to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This delay will allow NatureScot to ensure the impacts of HPAI are taken into consideration as part of the review.

Following the completion of the review, NatureScot will produce a report for Scottish Ministers in Spring 2023.

In the meantime, the Steering Group will share a draft report with stakeholders and engage in further stakeholder discussions in February 2023.

The amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 22 December 2021, gave our assessment of the impact of DRS on online sales. The BRIA is available here; see paragraphs 215-218:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/impact-assessment/2021/12/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/documents/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria/govscot%3Adocument/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria.pdf

As stated in the response to S6W-12236 on 1 December 2022, 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 DRS.

Customers buying drinks through online sales do not have to use the takeback service provided and can return their empty containers to any return point.

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

Eligibility for non-domestic rates reliefs is set out in legislation and it is for local authorities to administer reliefs to eligible properties in accordance with that legislation. As such, the Scottish Government does not set aside allocations for individual non-domestic rates reliefs, but rather decisions on non-domestic rates reliefs, for example Reverse Vending Machine relief, are taken as part of the annual budget process, using Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) forecasts of the total revenues raised net of relief costs.