Chamber and committees

Data on the number of heat pumps in Scotland can be found on page 27 of the ‘Renewable Heat in Scotland, 2019’ report, which was published in October 2020: Renewable-Heat-in-Scotland-2019_new.pdf (energysavingtrust.org.uk) . The report states that there are, as of 2019, 17,140 heat pumps in Scotland. The next report is due to be released in October 2021.

The legislative changes recommended by the review are being introduced via the Integrated Authorisation Framework regulations, however the progression of the regulations was paused due to Covid-19. We have now recommenced taking this work forward and a consultation process will take place in the coming months.

The study report on the impacts of sewage sludge on the environment and human health is scheduled to be published later this year.

SEPA maintains a robust programme structure to plan, track, and deliver the regulator function for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Capital and resource funding for this programme are agreed between SEPA and the Scottish Government as part of the annual Budget process.

Once DRS goes live, the costs of registering producers with SEPA and regulating producers and the scheme administrator in respect of their obligations under DRS will be recovered through the annual registration fee of £360. This fee is to be paid to SEPA by producers with a turnover of greater than £85,000 per year.

The impact assessments for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) published on 16 March 2020 recognised that a single scheme administrator would likely be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the scheme, in line with the Scottish Government’s preferred scheme design. We therefore have no plans to update any of these impact assessments in light of the approval of Circularity Scotland Ltd as scheme administrator of DRS.

While the regulation of consumer protection is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government supports this right for consumers in relation to faulty goods. It provides clarity to businesses about their obligations to their consumers and helps businesses to ensure that any complaints are handled quickly and easily. The UK Government published an Impact Assessment in January 2014 which estimated the net annual cost to UK businesses at £2.78m. No separate impact assessment was carried out for Scotland.

Ear wax removal services are available through the NHS.

How to treat ear wax is a clinical decision; ear syringing is not the current preferred procedure and is no longer routinely provided by clinicians.

The NHS has continued to provide services to patients throughout the pandemic. However, due to the pressures of the pandemic some routine condition management has needed to be paused but only in those instances where it is safe to do so.

The Scottish Government does not hold data centrally on how many people have been referred by their GP to mental health services.

Public Health Scotland have provided the following table information showing the number of mental health inpatients referred by their GP for the calendar years 2016 to 2020, broken down by year of admission and NHS board of treatment. This information will not show referrals to non-statutory mental health services which routinely are not recorded. Patients will be counted multiple times if they have been admitted within the same board in different years, or different boards in the same year, or both. Complete figures for 2021 cannot yet be provided.

The Scottish Government has committed to undertake a review of the Welfare Fund, including examination of its funding, administration, promotion, take-up and accessibility. The detailed scope, delivery and timescales of the review will be determined in due course. We intend to commence it during the first year of the new parliament.

At 31st March 2021 there were 7816 directly employed staff within the core Scottish Government and 52 operated offices, however all staff continued to work from home where possible during this time.

Headcount and number of offices split by local authority are provided in the following table. Please note that staff may work from locations other than Scottish Government offices.