Chamber and committees

Circularity Scotland (CSL), as a private non-profit organisation and scheme administrator for DRS, represents and provides services to its members including Scotland’s largest drinks producers, importers, wholesalers and retailers. This is entirely appropriate for a scheme that has industry responsibility at its heart. The Scottish Government will register as a return point operator (RPO) with CSL and will be handled no differently than any other registered RPO.

This is a matter for independent hospices, Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. The information requested is not held centrally.

Transport Scotland applied its normal risk management practices from the beginning of its work on the A9 Dualling programme to the identification and assessment of factors that could affect delivery of the programme. Individual factors were raised with Ministers as relevant to issues on which Ministers were periodically briefed.

I recognise that apprenticeships are vital to ensuring that the electrical sector has the skills it requires.

SDS is responsible for managing the apprenticeship programme in response to industry demand and in line with Ministerial expectations. They will continue to ensure that apprenticeships can support the sectors we need to grow our economy and deliver our just transition to net zero.

It is standard practice for SDS to review changing demand for apprenticeship starts in-year, and they adjust the number of starts allocated to respond as appropriate within their budget.

‎SDS undertook a reallocation process for MA starts in December 2022 and were able to allocate several hundred starts to training providers, with an extra 116 places allocated to the Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust (SECTT). They then allocated a further 87 places in February 2023, bringing the total number of places allocated to SECTT during 2022-23 to 865.

Police Scotland hold management information on recorded incidents of abandoned vehicles. Not all abandoned vehicles will relate to cars and an incident may relate to more than one abandoned vehicle. Figures are available at a Scotland level from 2019, which was the first calendar year where information was recorded consistently across all police divisions. The 2023 figure relates to a partial year (from 1st January to 10th March).

Through the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, the Scottish Government has committed to “establish a values-led, high-integrity market for responsible private investment in natural capital, supported by a national project pipeline for nature-based solutions”. This work is underpinned by our Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital, which can be found at the following link - https://www.gov.scot/publications/interim-principles-for-responsible-investment-in-natural-capital/ . These ensure investments deliver genuine benefits to the environment, support local communities and conform with the principles of a just transition.

NatureScot’s agreement with Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier and Palladium, announced on 1 March 2023, will help to deliver these commitments by creating new jobs, working with local communities and businesses, and bringing about landscape-scale restoration of natural capital. Neither NatureScot nor the Scottish Government are currently working on any other similar agreements. The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS), launched in February this year, will also support the establishment of a values-led, high-integrity market by helping organisations that seek to develop projects that use responsible private investment and market-based mechanisms to restore Scotland’s natural environment.

In our Scottish Government procurement: annual report 2021 to 2022 we reported that 94% of our contractors are committed to paying the real Living Wage, an increase of 2% points over the previous year. The Scottish Government considers Fair Work criteria on a case-by-case basis and requires suppliers to pay the real Living Wage to workers involved in the delivery of our contracts where it is relevant to the contract, non-discriminatory and proportionate to do so. We do not hold information about the specific number of contractor staff who benefit from this commitment.

As we work towards the introduction of the Education (Scotland) Bill prior to the summer recess and the creation of the new Qualifications Body, visionary and resilient leadership is essential for the SQA and its successor organisation. This will guide it through the process of transition and embed the required reforms set out in the findings of the Muir report and on which the Government is determined to deliver. I am therefore announcing an appointment round for the position of Chair of the SQA, with the successful candidate taking up post in September 2023.

It is my intention that the new Chair of the SQA will transfer to the new body and will become the Chair of the new Qualification Body. Provisions to allow this transfer to happen will be included in the upcoming Bill and will be subject to Parliamentary approval.

This approach will support the crucial transition period allowing the new Qualifications Body to take full advantage of the changes in leadership, culture and governance necessitated by the Government’s Reform Programme. This will also be shaped by the National Discussion, the findings of the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment, the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape.

Information relating to the design of the water systems for both The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre was submitted to Scottish Water in December 2022 and notification was received on 28th February 2023, confirming that the application complied with the guidelines in the current edition of Water for Scotland. The design of the water systems is in line with the principles of relevant guidance, including Scottish Health Technical Memorandum (SHTM) 04-01 Water Safety for Healthcare Premises (Part A relates to design, installation and testing). The design also meets requirements set out in the Scottish Water Byelaws; Water Supply Regulations; HSE Approved Code of Practice (L8) and relevant British Standards.

The design of the water system was also subject to an interim design review by NHS Scotland Assure and a series of observations were made by the review team which were addressed by the design team as part of the close out process for the interim review.

Furthermore, no new health facility in Scotland can open until NHS Scotland Assure have indicated that they are satisfied with the facility; this includes checking the safety of drinking water. The Baird Family Hospital and The ANCHOR Centre will be subject to this extensive process of review, prior to it opening to patients.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of encouraging pupils to pursue a career in healthcare. We have commissioned the Centre for Workforce Supply to develop an NHS Scotland marketing strategy to promote the NHS as an attractive employer.

We remain committed to supporting youth recruitment utilising our Developing the Young Workforce Strategy and the Young Person’s Guarantee.

We also support any initiative which encourages school pupils to consider a career in medicine. For example, Aberdeen University’s ‘Health Studies in Education’ programme which places medical students in local schools for a period of 6 weeks has been successful in establishing long term relationships between schools and the University, as well as providing a platform to introduce further activities including mentoring.