Chamber and committees

Myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity have not met formally with Open Seas whilst the fishing industry were present as part of the discussion, since we were appointed to our roles in May 2024.

Myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity have not met formally with Friends of the Earth Scotland whilst the fishing industry were present as part of the discussion, since we were appointed to our roles in May 2024.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting Mark Ruskell MSP to progress his Member’s Bill to reconsideration as soon as practical. Given our experience of the reconsideration process with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, we have agreed with Mr Ruskell that the Scottish Government will draft, lodge and speak to the amendment provisions we consider necessary to address the legislative competence issues raised in the UK Supreme Court judgement.

We wish to preserve as much of the Bill as possible however, we are clear that this must be balanced against the need to minimise a second referral to the Supreme Court. Scottish Government lawyers continue to engage with the UK Government regarding the Bill. We will provide an update to Mr Ruskell MSP and Parliament as soon as we are in a position to share any further information.

The following table shows the breakdown of this winter’s COVID-19 and flu vaccination uptake that was achieved as of 1 December 2024, broken down by Health Board. The table also shows the uptake as a percentage for the whole for Scotland.

This data is publicly accessible via the Public Health Scotland (PHS) Open Source website: Flu & COVID vaccinations - Datasets - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data

Uptake as of 1 December 2024:

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme publishes data on heart disease mortality including information on deaths under 65. Data is available at: Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme report 2023/2024 - Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme (SCAP) - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

Scotland’s DRS was due to launch in March 2024 and we would have been enjoying the benefits of a DRS now if the previous UK Government had agreed a full Internal Market Act exclusion to our scheme.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with businesses regarding Scotland’s Circular Economy and the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, including the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

In 2023, following a significant amount of engagement with businesses, including small-scale drinks producers, we amended DRS Regulations so that any product with fewer than 5,000 units on the market may be registered as a low volume product. As part of the development of the 3 nations scheme our officials shared the experience of developing the Scottish Scheme and due to this low volume products will be exempt from most of the requirements of the deposit return schemes across the UK.

Draft regulations recently notified to the WTO confirmed that glass will no longer be included in Scotland’s scheme. Because spirits are normally packaged in glass bottles, this means that the majority of distillers and small-scale spirits producers will be out of scope of DRS when it launches in October 2027.

The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 set out requirements for the marketing and labelling of whisky alongside the Food Labelling (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1989 and The Spirit Drinks Regulations 2008. This is enforced by the relevant food authority in the UK or port health authority. The protection Scotch Whisky has under the GI scheme and associated legislation is certified and enforced by HMRC. The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 also sets out additional regulations on the display and promotion of alcohol, which are enforced by the relevant local authority.

Furthermore, retained EU Regulation 110/2008, amended by the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 as well as Regulation 2019/787, amended by the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/1637) and the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 continue to apply to the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of GIs for spirit drinks.

Myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity have not met formally with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland whilst the fishing industry were present as part of the discussion, since we were appointed to our roles in May 2024.

Myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity have not met formally with the Marine Conservation Society whilst the fishing industry were present as part of the discussion, since we were appointed to our roles in May 2024.

Ministers and officials have met 26 times with the SWA since 24 January 2024. Officials have a close and collaborative working relationship across the SWA and have regular informal engagement on areas of mutual interest.