- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) volume and (b) percentage of Scottish waste was exported to other parts of the UK in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answer
That information is not available for the years requested.
Due to the cyber attack suffered by SEPA in 2020, data for that year is unavailable. The 2021 data is expected to be available from 28 March 2023, following publication of official statistics on Waste from All Sources. SEPA does not yet have a complete dataset for 2022, as returns are still being processed.
SEPA’s Waste from All Sources Discover Tool is available here: Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk)
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) volume and (b) percentage of Scottish plastic waste was exported to non-UK countries in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022, broken down by that which was exported (A) directly from Scotland and (B) via other sites in the UK.
Answer
Details of transfrontier shipments of waste are not published or held by Scottish Government, but are held by SEPA.
Information on exports to other UK countries is not available for the years requested.
Due to the cyber attack suffered by SEPA in 2020, data for that year is unavailable. The 2021 data is expected to be available from 28 March 2023, following publication of official statistics on Waste from All Sources. SEPA does not yet have a complete dataset for 2022, as returns are still being processed.
SEPA’s Waste from All Sources Discover Tool is available here: Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk)
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government to which countries, including other parts of the UK, Scottish plastic waste was exported in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022, broken down by the percentage exported to each.
Answer
Details of transfrontier shipments of waste are not published or held by Scottish Government, but are held by SEPA.
Information on exports to other UK countries is not available for the years requested.
Due to the cyber attack suffered by SEPA in 2020, data for that year is unavailable. The 2021 data is expected to be available from 28 March 2023, following publication of official statistics on Waste from All Sources. SEPA does not yet have a complete dataset for 2022, as returns are still being processed.
SEPA’s Waste from All Sources Discover Tool is available here: Waste (from all sources) (sepa.org.uk)
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on whether any members of the Executive Team of Circularity Scotland have had any direct experience of running a deposit return scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme, whether it has made an application for an exemption under the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, and, if not, what plans it has to submit any such application.
Answer
The Scottish Government has been following the process for excluding the deposit return scheme regulations from the Internal Market Act 2020 and we expect a decision from the UK Government as soon as possible.
I recently met with ministers and senior officials from each UK administration at the inter-ministerial group on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to again ask for urgent clarity from the UK Government on this matter, and by the end of March at the latest.
- Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether pharmacy provision is keeping up with demand.
Answer
Ensuring sufficient community pharmacy provision is the responsibility of NHS Health Boards in their local areas. Arrangements are set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and decisions regarding pharmacy provision are made through a Board’s Pharmacy Practices Committee (PPC). The process is independent of Scottish Ministers and Government.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether the long-term solution for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful will begin during the current parliamentary session.
Answer
Delivery of a permanent and resilient solution to the landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful is a priority and we continue to seek ways to achieve that as quickly as possible, noting that all of the options require complex civil engineering.
Transport Scotland continues to take forward the necessary design and assessment work at pace with a view to announcing a preferred route option this Spring. Following this further detailed design and assessment work on the preferred option, including an Environmental Impact Assessment, is required before we can complete the necessary statutory planning process to allow any land to be acquired and the project constructed.
Delivery of the long-term solution can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory planning process and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set. We will continue to progress the necessary design work as a priority with a view to commencing work on the ground during the current parliamentary term subject to timely completion of the statutory process.
We are dutybound to properly follow the correct statutory planning process which rightly includes consultation with communities, landowners and others with a direct interest in the scheme. However, Transport Scotland continues to explore methods to reduce the timescales of each stage of the project, where possible, and progress work at pace on this essential project.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is (a) in the Highlands and Islands and (b) nationally for rheumatology patients to receive treatment by homecare medicines services.
Answer
The average time to onboard a patient to a homecare service varies by homecare provider. Within the Service Level Agreements with the homecare providers, a minimum of 5 business days is required between the provider receiving the registration documents and prescription for the patient and first delivery. Delivery may take slightly longer to areas of the Highlands and Islands due to the remoteness of the locations, although this varies by homecare provider. If treatment is required to be started more urgently than the homecare provider can deliver, then initial supplies can be made locally to patients through hospital pharmacies before the homecare service is set up.
- Asked by: Russell Findlay, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many transgender women are currently held within the female estate of the Scottish Prison Service; what crime, or crimes, each individual was convicted of and, in the case of any prisoners being held on remand, what crime they are accused of.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
On 10 March 2023, there were 7 transgender women located within the female estate in the care of the SPS. Out of those 7; 4 individuals were sentenced, and 3 were held on remand.
The 4 sentenced individuals all had an index offence in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group. The remanded individuals are alleged to have committed index offences in the Non-sexual crimes of violence group and the Crimes against society group.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 13 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what improvements have been made to health services for prisoners in relation to the recommendations of the Health and Sport Committee's 5th Report, 2017 (Session 5), Healthcare in Prisons (SP Paper 135).
Answer
In response to the report, the Scottish Government established a Health and Social Care in Prisons Programme to address structural barriers to better health and social care in prisons across a number of areas. The Programme was unavoidably disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic but nevertheless managed to make a range of improvements including refreshing the National Prison Care Network. This Network has established strong links with healthcare staff in prisons and is delivering improvements around a number of priority areas such as mental health, substance use, and workforce. Other key achievements from the Programme include:
- publishing a suite of externally commissioned prison population health and social care needs assessments;
- developing a prisons health information dashboard through Public Health Scotland;
- completing a review of clinical IT in prisons; and
- carrying out six tests of change which modelled ways of delivering integrated health and social care in prisons.
Much of this work continues to inform ongoing improvements to health and social care in prisons.
