Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not provided funding to local authorities in the last six months to provide free bus passes or rail cards to people seeking asylum and does not hold information on whether local authorities have received funding from elsewhere.

However, Refugee Survival Trust and partners have been provided with funding from the Paths for All Smarter Choices Smarter Places Open Fund. This has enabled them to begin a pilot scheme to provide free bus travel to people seeking asylum living in Glasgow through the provision of three month bus passes, along with information and digital support to access and use the pass.

The Pilot will run until summer 2023 and will help inform options on how to deliver our Programme for Government commitment to consider how best to provide free bus travel to people seeking asylum across Scotland.

On 28 September 2022 the Scottish Government published the report from our consultation on proposals to make regulations under sections 17 to 19 of the 2016 Act, which would introduce restrictions on the following:

• advertising
• brand-sharing in products and services
• free distribution and nominal pricing
• sponsorship of an activity, event or person

The responses, together with the analysis report will inform and shape the final vaping restrictions which we aim to bring forward in 2023.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Women’s Health Plan aims to ensure that women can access abortions up to 24 weeks’ within Scotland regardless of the reason for the termination.

The Scottish Government is pleased to see progress being made on this issue, with all mainland Health Boards now providing abortion services up to at least 20 weeks’ gestation. However further progress is needed to allow women to access services between 20 – 24 weeks’ gestation as locally as possible.

The Scottish Government is working closely with Health Boards, and has commissioned NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to draft a specification for a national or regional service. This will ensure the service created takes into account the complexities involved with offering abortions at a later stage, and addresses the needs of women in Scotland. NSS will then invite one or more Health Boards to agree to deliver the service in line with the specification.

SEPA is the scheme regulator but cannot prosecute retailers as this responsibility rests with Police Scotland and their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. As such, they have not been allocated funding for this purpose.

Circularity Scotland set out the requirement to use a GS1 compliant barcode in 2021 and this has not changed – it is an international standard. The ability to use a UK-wide EAN barcode within Scotland’s DRS was confirmed by SEPA in summer 2022. Guidance on the use of barcode stickers, to support smaller producers who don’t currently use them on their products, will be published shortly by the Scheme Administrator.

The Scottish Government expects local authorities to exercise their statutory responsibilities and deliver a safe environment for all school users.

Generally, local authorities in Scotland will offer schools basic litter picking equipment such as litter pickers and safety gloves. We are also aware that some schools may hold their own litter picking equipment that may have been provided by a variety of sources, for example from a local business or other donor.

Schools can also access litter picking equipment through charity initiatives such as Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Community Clean Up Hubs, which are located across Scotland. Guidance on organising and undertaking a safe litter pick can be found on the organisation’s website.

The following figures are correct as at December 2022, when the last Recycling Improvement Fund Board was convened.

The following figures are correct as at December 2022, when the last Recycling Improvement Fund Board was convened.

The amendment to Section 9 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 provided for offences of 'upskirting' to be prosecuted under subsections (4A) and (4B). The Scottish Government does not hold information on investigations (question (a)). The answer to questions (b) and (c) is provided in the following table.

Please note that the latest available data is for the financial year 2020-21. Data for 2021-22 are expected in Summer 2023 following publication of the 'Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2021-22' statistical bulletin.

Table 1. People prosecuted and convicted in Scottish courts under Section 9(4A) and (4B) of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009, where main charge, 2011-12 to 2020-21.