Chamber and committees

Since the Drug Deaths Taskforce was established in July 2019, there have been 20 meetings of the core Taskforce, with the next meeting taking place on 13 April. There have also been a significant number of working groups, sub-group and deep dive sessions.

The remit of the Taskforce is to provide evidence based advice, and a link to the remit and the terms of reference can be located here - Taskforce Mission and Terms of Reference | Drug Deaths Taskforce

The key outcomes of the Taskforce meetings are the recommendations which they make to Government and other partners. The recommendations the Taskforce has made to date can be found here - DDTF - Recommendations | Drug Deaths Taskforce . The Taskforce will be producing their final recommendations by July 2022.

An update on the progress towards each recommendation was recently provided to the joint committee of the Criminal Justice, Health Social Care and Sport and Social Justice and Social Security Committees on 2 February 2022, this evidence can be found here - CJS6225 | Scottish Parliament Website . Further updates will be made to Parliament in due course.

In January 2021, the First Minister announced an additional investment of £250 million to tackle drug deaths, £100 million of which was allocated to develop residential rehabilitation services and associated aftercare over the next five years. Alongside this, the Scottish Government provided Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) with a £13.5 million uplift per year, over the next five years, £5 million of which has been allocated to support additional residential rehabilitation capacity across Scotland. However, this uplift did not start until the 2021-2022 financial year.

The distribution from the ADP uplift within the Highlands and Islands region in 2021-22, from the £5 million allocated for residential rehabilitation, is as follows:

Argyll and Bute: £95,095

Highland: £234,516

Shetland: £24,422

Orkney: £25,066

Western Isles: £33,425.

This brings the total amount of funding allocated so far to ADPs within the Highlands and Islands region to £412,524.

We have kept the wholesale sector closely involved in discussions relating to the development and implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), in particular through engagement with the Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA).

As table 1, page 12, paragraph 46 of the amended Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for DRS makes clear, the SWA was consulted as part of the policy-development process that led to the amended BRIA.

Our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is complementary to extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, which we are working with the other UK administrations to introduce. Both DRS and packaging EPR will drive higher recycling rates for glass, creating a significant opportunity for the Scottish glass reprocessing industry.

There are no costs or benefits associated with the wholesale sector in the economic model underpinning the final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment.

After intensive engagement with the wholesale sector we concluded that industry has options to minimise any costs of DRS for the supply chain.

Applications for development and capital funding are open. More information can be found on the Local Energy Scotland website here www.localenergyscot.org . Loan and grant capital funding is currently available to communities developing renewable energy, heat decarbonisation, and local energy system projects through the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).

Funding is dependent on project needs and type. The CARES team work with projects from inception to completion and continue to offer a flexible package of support to a wide range of renewable energy projects and will also soon offer support through a framework of specialised technical consultants to make it quicker and easier for communities to explore options. More information on this will be published shortly on the Local Energy Scotland website.

From April 2022 CARES will also give greater focus to the decarbonisation of heat in buildings in line with the ambitions set out in our Heat in Buildings Strategy.

I have not had any meetings with British Glass regarding Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). We engaged frequently with British Glass during the policy-development process for DRS, and the former Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change, and Land Reform met them on 8 January 2020 in advance of laying the regulations to establish the scheme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07100 on 18 March 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Protecting Scotland’s marine environment is of paramount importance to the Scottish Government. I am aware of the recent trials conducted by the Danish Navy into the deflagration method of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) disposal, and look forward to the data analysis.

The Scottish Government has recently signed a joint interim position statement together with other regulators and statutory nature conservation bodies. This statement sets out the Scottish Government's support for the use of lower noise alternatives to UXO disposal, and the expectation that licensees applying for a marine licence and European Protected Species Licence should prioritise low noise alternatives.

The collection of high quality data, including that from the trials conducted by the Danish Navy, will enable the Scottish Government, with support from NatureScot, to make evidence based decisions and recommendations around the use of alternative technologies.

We are aiming for a non-commercially sensitive contract to be available for publication by Summer 2022, once the necessary administrative work has been completed.