Chamber and committees

This is an operational matter for NatureScot. I have asked their Chief Executive to write with the relevant information.

As set out in our refreshed social security programme business case, published on 7 February 2023, the Scottish Government plans to introduce Pension Age Disability Payment with a pilot and phased approach in Autumn 2024 and national launch in early 2025.

A key principle at the heart of our second Benefit Take-Up Strategy, published in October 2021, is communicating and engaging effectively. Evidence-based communication and engagement strategies are developed for each of our benefits and paid-for tailored marketing campaigns for different payments are targeted at eligible audiences at relevant times throughout the year to make sure we are reaching the right people at the right time.

Social Security Scotland is currently running a national marketing campaign to encourage disabled people and people with long-term health conditions to check if they’re eligible for Child or Adult Disability Payments. Other recent Social Security Scotland marketing campaigns have focused on Scottish Child Payment’s extension to under 16 year olds, Young Carer Grant and Funeral Support Payment.

On 27 April 2023 the National Incident Management Team (NIMT) met to discuss the latest position on COVID-19 in Scotland. In the light of their latest assessment the NIMT has proposed, and the Chief Medical Officer has agreed, that they will no longer meet. As the WHO has made clear, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over but our view is that it does now appear to be in the calmer phase of the pandemic which was discussed in COVID-19 Scotland’s Strategic Framework Update published in February 2022. Scotland no longer produces a separate threat level for COVID, and the UK no longer produces an alert level. Public Health Scotland now reports on COVID-19 alongside its surveillance of other respiratory disease pathogens. Other countries have also recently moved away from emergency responses standing apart from normal measures to protect public health.

COVID-19 has not gone away, and we continue to encourage the Scottish population to take sensible precautions, including taking up the offer of vaccination when invited, to protect themselves and others. As part of our enhanced surveillance system we continue to monitor, assess and be ready to respond to COVID-19 and other threats to the health of the population of Scotland.

As with the development of all new trade arrangements, the Scottish Government has sought to engage with the UK Government at Ministerial and official level throughout the negotiation process for accession to the CPTPP to ensure that Scottish interests are identified and taken into account. Most recently, I wrote to the UK Government Minister of State for International Trade, Nigel Huddleston MP, following his confirmation that the UK Government had secured Agreement in Principle to accede to CPTPP. In this correspondence I raised a number of concerns including those around Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

The Scottish Government’s position, as set out in the Vision for Trade, is that no future Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system should prevent Scotland (and the rest of the UK) from making laws on health, social, environmental and economic matters. Any future ISDS system should be transparent, based on judicial procedures, and permit meaningful representations by all parties with a potential stake in the matter.

We will continue to call on the UK Government to recognise widespread concerns around ISDS, actively consider alternative models of dispute resolution, and to contribute to the development of international best practice.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to endorse the Plant Based Treaty. We are keen to explore ways to both encourage a healthy diet and reduce the environmental impact of our food system. We continue to work with Public Health Scotland, Food Standards Scotland and others to evaluate the evidence base on diet, health and climate impacts.

NHS Boards are responsible for providing support to GP practices by providing Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) and Pharmacotherapy services and regulations were amended in 2022 to reflect this change. On account of the variation in the extent of implementation of these services, the Scottish Government is currently taking forward an exercise to collect and analyse data on the recurring workforce requirements, to ensure the financial and legal framework is fair and sustainable.

Local areas should continue to work in collaboration with all partners to ensure that services meet local needs. This may also include flexibility for local transitionary arrangements with practices to be funded as an interim and time-limited measure from within the existing Primary Care Improvement Fund funding envelope.

I welcome this report and the valuable insight it has given us. The report highlighted that pension taxation was the main driver for Consultant’s seeking early retirement, which is why we continued to press the UK Government to resolve this issue. I am pleased they listened and brought forward changes at the UK Budget on 15 March to the annual and life time allowances that resolve this issue for the vast majority of Senior Doctors, ensuring they have an alternative choice to retiring early and leaving the service.

The report gives NHS Employers a clear understanding of the issues facing our highly valued Consultant staff. It will allow us to work in partnership with BMA Scotland and NHS Boards through our established structures to address the issues raised in this report, ensuring that NHS Scotland is able to attract and retain doctors at all stages in their career.

We have already established the Improving Medical Retention Advisory Group who have made recommendations to improve the retention of senior doctors and are continuing to implement these actions.

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, which Boards use to best meet the healthcare needs of their resident population. Funding is not ring-fenced for cancer services. It is not therefore possible to provide this proportion of the budget since 2007-08.

We continue to engage with retailers of all sizes regarding Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, and have set up a new operational group with retailers to resolve any outstanding issues to allow the scheme to launch successfully on 1 March 2024.

This obligation is not new and has been in place since 2020. We have, however, published regulations that will remove the obligation to take back containers bought online from the vast majority of retailers. Only the very largest supermarkets are being asked to provide this service, which will benefit those who are physically less able to access a return point. While we recognise this creates a challenge for large retailers, we consider it to be fair, proportionate, and important as it will mean that everyone has access to Scotland’s deposit return scheme.

Retailers still have the flexibility to provide their own takeback service or have a third party deliver it for their customers, and we have been clear that we will continue to work with them to explore the possibility of a centralised takeback service.

The UK government, who are developing their own plans for Deposit Return Scheme, have also made it clear that online takeback will be required from the start of the scheme, particularly for large retailers.