Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s public consultation on potential restrictions to alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland was approved by the Minister for Public Health.

A commitment to consult on such restrictions was agreed by Cabinet in August 2021 as part of the Programme for Government 2021-22. The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation approved the publication of this consultation paper in November 2022.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office operates open competitive funding schemes for applied health research projects and fellowships across the wide range of NHS and health challenges in Scotland. These schemes are open to consideration of applications addressing research directed into Cancer. Applications to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.

The Scottish Government takes a whole population approach to tackling alcohol-related harms, in line with the World Health Organization’s focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol.

We published our first consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion in November 2023. The consultation has now closed and will be independently analysed before any potential proposals are put forward for consultation.

Minimum unit price (MUP) is a policy which aims to tackle the consumption of alcohol at a population level by setting a floor price at which alcohol can be sold, this is currently 50 pence per unit of alcohol. A recent report from Public Health Scotland (PHS) found that MUP had been successful in creating a 3% net reduction in total alcohol sales in the first three years of implementation. PHS will be producing a final report on the evaluation of MUP in summer this year and we should wait until this has been published before drawing any overall conclusions.

We are working closely with the dental sector to ensure it has the support necessary to offer continuity of NHS care to patients. This includes Scottish Government providing Scottish Dental Access Initiative Grants and Recruitment and Retention Allowances to dentists and dental practices.

Scottish Dental Access Initiative Grants support pays out a potential £100,000 for the first surgery, and £25,000 per additional surgery to practices setting up a new NHS practice, or extending an existing NHS practice. The Recruitment and Retention Allowance provides up to £37,500 across three years to eligible NHS dentists in qualifying areas.

It is crucial that the voices of children and young people are at the heart of developing our next steps on alcohol policy.

Our recent consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion directly references the recommendations of the Young Scot Health Panel. It contains questions on potential restrictions on alcohol sponsorship of events as well as potential restrictions on alcohol-branded merchandise.

The consultation closed on 9 March. An independent contractor will comprehensively analyse the responses and publish a report. We will then further consider possible restrictions.

The Crown does not grant immunity from prosecution but makes prosecutorial decisions based on criteria set out in the Scottish Prosecution Code. Decisions on prosecution are taken independently and are matters for professional prosecutors within the system for which the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General are responsible. It is therefore not appropriate for any other minister, or for Scottish Government officials or special advisers to be consulted in relation to any prosecutorial decisions.

I have confirmed to Mr Marshall’s family that some aspects of the investigation fell short of what they were entitled to expect. The previous decision not to prosecute individual prison officers cannot be reversed. I have instructed Police Scotland to investigate possible corporate responsibility by the Scottish Prison Service.

The way in which custody death cases are handled by COPFS has been reviewed and transformed. I am confident that new structures and processes in place will ensure such cases are undertaken rigorously, respectfully and compassionately.

Part 4, section 122 (4) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, gives Scottish Ministers a power to approve a tenancy deposit scheme and obliges Ministers to review each scheme from time to time and gives them power, once they have done so, to ensure that any scheme is revised.

A review of the tenancy deposit schemes was undertaken at the end of 2018. The review examined whether the introduction of the tenancy deposit scheme (TDS) resolved the issues it was intended to and considered whether the TDS worked well for both tenants and landlords. It also assessed whether the current regulations were fair and fit for purpose. It was clear from the findings that the current regulations continued to provide a robust regulatory and operational framework.

Following the review a number of revisions to the operating procedures were made under The Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2019 and the scheme submitted revised procedures in October 2019 which were reapproved in November 2019.

The Scottish Government regularly monitors the operation of the schemes, but there are no current plans to undertake a full review of approved schemes at present.

Regular monitoring of the schemes highlighted the previously unforeseen issue of unclaimed deposits. As part of A New Deal for Tenants - draft strategy: consultation Ministers sought views on reinvesting unclaimed deposits in the private rented sector after a period of 5 years has elapsed and where all other reasonable efforts to reunite the tenant with their deposit has been exhausted.

We published the independent analysis of the consultation responses on 23 August and we are currently considering those views as we take forward this important work.

As our recent consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion set out, there is evidence that those who drink heavily have increased susceptibility to alcohol marketing and that this can translate into drinking behaviours. For those in recovery, alcohol marketing can be a trigger which threatens their recovery and can be responsible for relapse.

The consultation closed on 9 March. An independent contractor will comprehensively analyse the responses and publish a report. We will then further consider possible restrictions.

Any consumer that returns a scheme article is eligible for the deposit to be refunded.

This means that the deposit forms part of the consideration for a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) article donated to charity.

It is for the donor to consider whether they wish to charge for the deposit or include as part of the donation.

We are engaging with industry and third sector organisations where there are questions on the flow of deposits. Scotland's DRS is based on similar deposit return schemes which operate in 44 other states or territories worldwide.

The Scottish Government has been following the agreed process for excluding the deposit return scheme regulations from the Internal Market Act.

We first raised the issue with the UK Government in 2021, and on 28 February 2023 we published correspondence and a timeline setting out the steps that have been undertaken to secure an exclusion. Internal Market Act: correspondence - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

On 6 March I met with Ministers and Senior Officials from each UK administration at the inter-ministerial group on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ask for an urgent decision from the UK Government for securing an exclusion from the Internal Market Act.

I will keep Parliament updated on further developments.