Chamber and committees

We are fully committed through our employment policies and procedures to support employees who experience pregnancy loss at any stage of pregnancy, and our current package of support measures fully reflect the spirit and intent of the Pregnancy Loss Pledge. The ongoing NHSScotland workforce policies refresh programme offers the opportunity to go further in highlighting provisions and improving guidance for managers. These refreshed policies and supporting documents relating to the Pledge will be published in Autumn 2023.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is a separately constituted statutory body, independent from the Scottish Ministers, that has primary regulatory responsibility for protecting and improving the environment. Scottish Ministers are not responsible for SEPA’s operational matters, including the exercise of its enforcement functions. It is up to SEPA to consider its enforcement position in relation to this matter.

As a non-Police specialist reporting agency, SEPA has the option to submit reports to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). Both SEPA and COPFS are clear that such enforcement action is a last resort, used for the most significant offending. SEPA is an independent regulatory agency and is not required to consult with COPFS or others when taking regulatory positions. This includes the published position concerning online takeback for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) which provides reassurance to retailers that no enforcement action will be taken by SEPA with respect to DRS takeback obligations whilst this aspect of the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 is under review.

The following table shows permitted incineration capacity figures held by SEPA to 2023.

The first report of the independent review of the role of incineration in Scotland’s waste hierarchy, made assumptions about capacity beyond 2023, although in doing so, noted that it is unlikely that all facilities in the pipeline (i.e. those not build and at various stages of planning and permitting) will be built. The first report from the independent review is available here: Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury (www.gov.scot)

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Ambassador and I met on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum in August last year during which she gave an outline of the Embassy’s work in Slovenia and provided me with an update on the political situation in the country.

The subject of Scottish independence was not an agenda item in discussions. However, Scottish ministers will always be polite enough during international meetings to answer any questions put to them about the Scottish Government's stated policies, including a legal, constitutionally sound referendum, as set out in our Programme for Government.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) producer registration service will only grant registrations that meet the requirements of The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations. All producer registrations granted to date have been registered in accordance with the Regulations. A registration is complete once it has been accepted by SEPA and the producer has been formally notified.

We are clear that any level of violence is unacceptable but believe that we already have legislation in place to tackle violent crime. By any measure, the overall trend has improved but there are still areas of concern. In 2023-24, in addition to the police budget, we will also be providing our partners with over £2m to support ongoing and innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland. To strengthen our approach, we will publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, which will set out our vision, aims and actions to prevent violence and reduce its harms.

The Contracts for Difference scheme is a UK Government mechanism.

Information about all Contracts for Difference strike prices is available in the public domain here: Contracts for Difference - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

The Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) was reformed and eligibility extended in the Scottish Budget 2023-24. In the December 2022 Economic and Fiscal Forecast report, the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast that this would reduce the cost of SBBS relief by £53 million in 2023-24, with similar annual savings of between £55 million and £60 million in subsequent years over the 5-year forecast period. This policy costing included the impact of a lower rateable value threshold for 100% relief as well other changes such as the introduction of a taper, and the extension of eligibility for properties with a rateable value up to £20,000.

Acknowledging the impact of the revaluation and of changes to SBBS, the Scottish Budget 2023-24 also included a Small Business Transitional Relief which will limit bill increases for properties that received SBBS relief on the 31st of March 2023 for the next three years. This policy is forecast to save ratepayers £40 million in 2023-24, £39 million in 2024-25 and £33 million in 2025-26.

The net savings to the Scottish Government of these measures combined is £13 million in 2023-24, £18m in 2024-25 and £24m in 2025-26.