Chamber and committees

The COVID-19 statistical report which is published weekly includes a section for COVID-19 vaccinations by Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority group, including first, second, and third/booster doses for frontline social care workers. This cohort is made up of registered Scottish Social Services Council staff and does not include those without professional registration.

This data can be found at. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20580.

The Gateway Review into Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which was published on 14 December 2021, gives a preparedness estimate of 12-24 months for individual stakeholders including retailers. This informed their judgement that a full implementation date of July-September 2023 was possible albeit with significant risk.

The Gateway Review does not give a breakdown of preparedness estimates for individual businesses. Businesses interviewed separately by SG typically gave ranges of preparedness estimates, which broadly aligned with the findings of the Gateway Review, rather than an exact time.

The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Gregor Smith, wrote to health boards on 15 December regarding the COVID-19 vaccination programme and the de-prioritisation of the flu vaccination programme.

To summarise, on the basis that data from Public Health Scotland (PHS) suggests that the vast majority of those in high risk groups have already been offered the flu vaccine, and that uptake rates were already higher than the entirety of last years’ programme, health boards should cease co-administration of the flu vaccine alongside the COVID-19 vaccine programme within community COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

Health boards continue to offer the flu vaccine to those at risk who were routinely offered it prior to the pandemic. Flu vaccinations for these individuals should be offered through community pharmacies, midwives, GP practices as appropriate and opportunistically through domiciliary care and/or care home settings as appropriate.

The full contents of the letter can be viewed at: CMO(2021)37 - COVID-19 vaccination programme: supporting further acceleration of the booster programme (scot.nhs.uk) .

We are unable to provide the specific information requested. Published information regarding flu cases and flu vaccinations is available in the weekly Public Health Scotland statistical report: Show all releases - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

Incidents of hate crime on public transport will be recorded by either Police Scotland or, if they occur on the railways (on trains or at stations), the British Transport Police.

Table 1 presents information provided by the British Transport Police on hate crime offences recorded in Scotland, by type of hate category, since 2017-18. The 2021-22 reporting year is partially complete as it will run up to the end of March 2022. The total number of crimes recorded each year is less than the summation of the separate hate categories, as some crimes include more than one type of prejudice.

Information is not held centrally on the number of hate crimes recorded in other public transport settings. Some analysis is available from a study into the characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime , published by the Scottish Government in February 2021. This report was based on a review of just over one-third of all hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland in 2018-19, and findings were presented separately depending on whether the victim was a police officer in the line of duty. For those cases that didn’t involve a police officer as the victim (estimated to be 4,620), table 2 below shows the percentage that occurred on public transport (both on the mode of transport and at stations/stops). This information is also available in Table 11 of the report, which breaks down hate crimes by types of location. The equivalent data on public transport-based hate crimes with police officers as victims cannot be estimated due to the very low number found within the study.

A second study into the characteristics of hate crime recorded by Police Scotland is due to be published later this year. This will provide the same type of disaggregated data and information for the year 2020-21.

Table 1: The number of hate crime offences recorded on railway Network in Scotland by crime, 2017-18 to 2021-22 a

It is for local authorities to exercise their statutory responsibilities and deliver a safe environment for all school users. It is also for local authorities to determine what remedial action is required in their schools, in line with guidance.

The recently announced funding of up to £5 million is in addition to previous funding of £10 million to address issues around ventilation and CO2 monitoring, and on top of £90m of COVID-19 logistics funding.

NatureScot’s budget allocation for 2022-23 is £49.561 million. This year’s budget settlement represents the best possible outcome against the backdrop of significant pressures on public finances and the level of resources required to deliver statutory functions and agreed Ministerial environmental priorities across 2022-23. The Scottish Government are in dialogue with NatureScot on the specific priorities to be reflected in their forthcoming 2022-23 Operational Plan and next 5 year Corporate Plan. Both these documents are expected to be published in the first quarter of 2022.

The Core Scottish Government has 18 owned buildings. Solar panels are installed at 4 buildings; Victoria Quay Edinburgh, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) Edinburgh, St Andrews House Edinburgh and Cameron House Oban. 22% of owned buildings have solar panels.

It has not been possible to install solar panels on all owned buildings due to the availability of useable roof space, roof orientation and shading, roof structure and other technical constraints.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributed to the waste sector in the Climate Change Plan (CCP) include emissions arising from landfill sites, waste water treatment, composting and other waste treatments, including incineration of sewage sludges and clinical wastes (without energy recovery). This is consistent with the international reporting requirements determined by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).

The biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) landfill ban, which comes into effect in December 2025, will direct BMW to alternative treatment options, including anaerobic digestion (AD), mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) and Energy from Waste (EfW) plants or future Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facilities.

The resulting reduction in biodegradable waste sent to landfill will lead to a decline in GHG emissions, principally methane, from landfill sites; these changes are currently accounted for in the CCP waste sector emissions estimates.

Diversion of BMW from landfill will lead to a rise in GHG emissions from other treatment options, including AD, MBT and EfW plants. Changes in emissions arising from waste treatments without energy recovery (e.g. AD, MBT) are attributed to the waste sector, whilst waste treatment options with energy recovery are attributed to the energy supply sector (e.g. EfW). Overall, there is a net decline in GHG emissions when diverting waste from landfill to other treatment options, principally as a result of the conversion of potential methane release (a highly potent greenhouse gas) to carbon dioxide, which has a lower global warming potential. For example, Zero Waste Scotland estimates that on a per tonne of waste basis the carbon impacts of EfW are on average 27% lower than landfilling waste ( The climate change impacts of burning municipal waste in Scotland ) .

A table has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib Number 63096) that provides CalMac staffing details for the mid-summer and mid-winter timetables from 2011.