- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to mandate that data on sex be collected by default in all research and data collection that it or its non-departmental public bodies commission.
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data (for operational, statistical and research purposes) that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to undertake quantitative research to assess what the general public considers to be the meaning of key words in relation to sex reassignment that may be used in data collection, including "transgender man", "trans man", "transgender", "trans", "transsexual" and "gender reassignment".
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach which aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.
Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. This work will include user engagement and question testing with stakeholders and the general public, which will help to determine how users would interpret different questions and phrases. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to improve the early detection and prevention of liver disease.
Answer
The Scottish Government is supporting the development of UK-wide clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment which will be published this year, and is also committed to publishing a service specification for alcohol treatment and recovery. The clinical guidelines and service specification will set out the need for early detection and prevention of alcohol-related liver disease. Implementation of early detection will build on existing pilot initiatives and services already commissioned in local areas.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review its guidance for public bodies on the collection and publication of data regarding sex, gender identity and trans status to take into account the recommendations of the UK Government review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender (the Sullivan Review).
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach that aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.
Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what tools, including enforcement mechanisms, it has to ensure that the ban on single-use plastics, which commenced on 1 June 2022 under the Single-use Plastic Products (Scotland) Regulations 2021, is fully implemented; whether it has carried out a review of the effectiveness of the ban and if, (a) so, whether it will publish the findings and (b) not, what plans it has to do so.
Answer
Enforcement of the ban on single-use plastics is undertaken by local authority enforcement officers. Enforcement officers are authorised by local authorities to exercise powers in the Regulations in order to determine whether an offence is being committed. This includes the power to enter premises to investigate. The full powers are contained in Regulation 15.
Enforcement officers report cases to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, who are responsible for prosecuting the offences in the Regulations.
The Environmental Protection (Injurious Articles) (Fixed Penalty Notices and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 also make provision for a fixed penalty notice procedure in relation to offences under the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021.
Research into the implementation of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 is nearing completion and will be published in the near future.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-35438 by Gillian Martin on 20 March 2025, whether it has adapted the approach of the UN report and, if so, how it arrived at the specific target of "seeking [a] reduction of Scotland's extraction of raw materials by one third", in light of the country's specific circumstances.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the findings of the UN report and the need to promote sustainable resource use.
As well as the recent UN report noted in S6W-35438, Zero Waste Scotland was also influenced by recent Circularity Gap Reports in setting its Corporate Plan target. These highlighted the importance of cutting material consumption by one third:
https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023#download
https://www.circularity-gap.world/2024#download
The Circular Economy and Waste Route Map sets out the Scottish Government’s intention to set its own circular economy targets by 2027.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-circular-economy-waste-route-map-2030/
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow Southside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it supports calls for global debt cancellation to be a key pillar of the UN Loss and Damage Fund, ensuring that climate-vulnerable nations are not required to take on more debt to recover from climate disasters.
Answer
Scotland remains committed to being a leader and bridge builder on climate justice. This includes by convening and influencing at international events, to champion climate justice and amplify Global South voices.
We have previously incorporated debt justice within our climate justice advocacy positions: advocating prior to, during and after COP29 for a proportion of the UNFCCC Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage to be ringfenced so as to make finance directly available to communities in the form of grants, not loans. As a government we are currently scoping opportunities to increase the strength and reach of our advocacy on the issue of the global climate debt crisis, including at key upcoming international events.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow Southside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support calls for debt justice for any countries that are required to take on debt to recover from climate disasters and climate-related loss and damage.
Answer
Scotland remains committed to being a leader and bridge builder on climate justice. This includes by convening and influencing at international events, to champion climate justice and amplify Global South voices.
We have previously incorporated debt justice within our climate justice advocacy positions: advocating prior to, during and after COP29 for a proportion of the UNFCCC Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage to be ringfenced so as to make finance directly available to communities in the form of grants, not loans. As a government we are currently scoping opportunities to increase the strength and reach of our advocacy on the issue of the global climate debt crisis, including at key upcoming international events.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow Southside, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to use its role as a climate leader to advocate for debt cancellation as part of climate justice in the run-up to COP30.
Answer
Scotland remains committed to being a leader and bridge builder on climate justice. This includes by convening and influencing at international events, to champion climate justice and amplify Global South voices.
We have previously incorporated debt justice within our climate justice advocacy positions: advocating prior to, during and after COP29 for a proportion of the UNFCCC Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage to be ringfenced so as to make finance directly available to communities in the form of grants, not loans. As a government we are currently scoping opportunities to increase the strength and reach of our advocacy on the issue of the global climate debt crisis, including at key upcoming international events.
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how the hospice care sector will be factored into the structural processes around the Agenda for Change and medical pay awards agreed in its Budget for 2025-26 to ensure that they can achieve ongoing pay parity with NHS levels.
Answer
Officials are undertaking work with the chair of the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group and Hospice UK to fully understand the requirements to provide pay parity to those delivering frontline services in line with NHS Agenda for Change levels. Officials are also continuing to explore the mechanisms for providing this funding, while respecting local commissioning arrangements.
This funding does not bring hospice staff under AfC terms and conditions and is only intended to provide pay parity with NHS Agenda for Change levels. Independent hospices will have their own terms and conditions for the staff they employ.
