Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers have statutory processes they must adhere to in developing and implementing fisheries management measures. As outlined previously in PQ S6W-29794, developing evidence-based and effective fisheries management measures for more than 160 sites and areas within the inshore region is a complicated and challenging process.

Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging is a four nations policy. The Scottish Government has worked closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the other UK nations to jointly develop and implement the extended producer responsibility for packaging scheme.

Once established Scottish Ministers and Government senior officials will hold seats on governance boards which will make up the governance for PackUK (the scheme administrator). This includes a Four Nation Ministerial Steering Board and an Executive Committee.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) has exemptions to avoid unnecessarily burden on small producers. Producers with an annual turnover less than £2m and 50 tonnes of packaging supplied are exempt from pEPR payments, but are required to report packaging data. This exempts approximately 70% of the UK's smaller producers from paying scheme fees. The four UK nations will keep these thresholds under review.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36501 on 23 April 2025. 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.

Under the Verity House Agreement, local government funding in Scotland will not be ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so. However, the extended producer responsibility for packaging funding purpose - to pay for the cost of managing household packaging waste - is clearly set out in legislation.

Under the Verity House Agreement, local government funding in Scotland is not ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so.

It is estimated that the Single Scottish Estate (SSE) Programme generated savings of £9.274m over the 2024-25 financial year. A total of £41m of savings and benefits has been secured by the SSE Programme overall.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging ensures that producers take full responsibility for the environmental impacts of the packaging they place on the market. Existing costs for the management of packaging waste are transferred from taxpayers to producers.

The Scottish Government has considered the impact on businesses through the publication of a Full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)

We are very aware of the significant opportunity which AI presents in relation to the delivery of better and more efficient public services, and work in this area has been on-going since the launch of Scotland’s AI Strategy in 2021.

We also have a long standing commitment to listen to the people of Scotland and through our recent CivTech challenge process, focused on delivering innovative technical solutions to real world public service challenges, we have looked for technology to help us better reach and learn from citizens.

As a result, Comhairle is a new digital platform being developed by Scottish based technology company, CrownShy. Comhairle connects existing open-source civic technologies into a unified interface that will allow the Scottish Government to scale the number, scope and quality of its public dialogues, and guide users towards best public engagement practice.

We have been working closely with colleagues in the UK Government to help to trial and improve their AI driven Consult tool. Making use of Large Language Models (LLMs) Consult can expedite the identification and collation of consultation responses, facilitating a faster and more insightful response when dealing with large response volumes.

As well as being trialled by policy teams, our social research teams have offered their statistical and research expertise to help develop and improve the products output quality. Working as part of the pilot team for this product has allowed the Scottish Government to help contribute to the development of a tool which we hope will be able to be used across the public sector.

We are also making use of externally supplied AI driven consultation tools to help transcribe lengthy interviews and then to aid with the faster analysis of their out puts. By investing in these products we are able to free up staff time to focus more effort on developing our responses and actions rather than the administrative side.

All of these tools are being delivered with a strong focus on openness about situations where AI is being used, and an infrastructure which offers the strongest possible security and protection for our citizen’s data.

The Scottish Government recognise that people in rural areas, particularly those who are vulnerable, can experience particular challenges in relation to their mental health, wellbeing and social care support.

Decisions around the provision of mental health services are a local responsibility and are delivered through a mixture of NHS, local authority and third sector organisations. Mental Health services will vary depending the local population needs and will be guided by clinical decision making.

While we expect service decisions to be taken locally, we have invested £66 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults since 2021. The Fund has a strong focus on prevention and early intervention and prioritises a range of ‘at risk’ groups including those people disadvantaged by geographical location (particularly remote and rural areas) with over 900 awards being made to community projects supporting people disadvantaged by geographical location (including rural areas) since its inception.

Social care funding has been increased by this government to ensure quality care is delivered in Scotland. We expect all partners involved to work together for the benefit of people supported in care across Scotland and ensure the continuity of care for all those who need it.

While we are investing almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration we do recognise that there are particular challenges faced in rural areas such as the Highlands and despite substantial funding increases, significant these challenge remains – prevention, early intervention and reform remain critical to delivering an effective, efficient and sustainable health and social care system.