Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not made specific assessments of fly-tipping levels in South Lanarkshire or Glasgow. Responsibility for dealing with fly-tipping depends on the location and nature of the incident. Under the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, local authorities are responsible for the clearance of fly-tipping from relevant public land, while private landowners are responsible for waste on their own land. SEPA may also have a role in regulating and enforcing against illegal waste activity, depending on the circumstance.

At the national level, the Scottish Government published a Fly-tipping Baseline Report in 2024 (National litter and flytipping strategy: baseline report - gov.scot), which provides an overview of the scale and nature of fly-tipping across Scotland, including some local authority data.

Local authorities are responsible for addressing litter and fly-tipping on public land and other land for which they have responsibility, in line with the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse. Communities should contact their local council in the first instance to report concerns or request action. The Scottish Government continues to work with councils and delivery partners to drive national action through the National Litter and Fly-tipping Strategy.

Communities in South Lanarkshire can also access support from the Scottish Government’s delivery partner, Keep Scotland Beautiful. Through its Community Litter Hub, local groups can access practical resources, guidance and campaign materials to organise litter picks, promote behaviour change and take action to tackle litter. As part of the Strategy’s Year 3 action plan, the Hub is being expanded to include practical information and guidance on tackling fly-tipping.

Since the Parliament’s agreement to the Financial Resolution for the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill, there has been contact at official level between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency about the level of resources that would be needed should the Bill be enacted. There has been no contact on this issue with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service during this period.

There have been official level discussions with the UK Government on the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill. The Scottish Government considers that the Bill, if appropriately amended at Stage 2, would not have raised issues under section 35 or section 40 of the Scotland Act 1998.

The expert Review carried out by Professional Education Advisor Janie McManus’ said that clearer expectations, stronger pathways to support across education, health and social care, and early interventions should underpin the next steps in delivering Additional Support Needs (ASN) provision in schools.

I welcomed publication of the review and accepted the six recommendations made.

Whilst work on delivering against these recommendations will require sustained partnership across government, local authorities and national bodies, it will be for the incoming government to consider how to take forward the specific approach.

The Scottish Government has not committed to a formal review of the offence at section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. The information that we hold shows that there have been no successful prosecutions under the section 40 offence of causing significant environmental harm. There are many possible explanations for this lack of prosecutions, including regulatory agencies and prosecutors using other, more specific offences in response to environmental crimes.

The expert Review carried out by Professional Education Advisor Janie McManus’ said that clearer expectations, stronger pathways to support across education, health and social care, and early interventions should underpin the next steps in delivering Additional Support Needs (ASN) provision in schools.

I welcomed publication of the review and accepted the six recommendations made.

Whilst work on delivering against these recommendations will require sustained partnership across government, local authorities and national bodies, it will be for the incoming government to consider how to take forward the specific approach.

The Scottish Government is continuing to consider the EU Environmental Crime Directive (2024/1203) against our alignment policy. We consider that the existing offence of causing significant environmental harm at section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 is reasonably closely aligned with the Directive’s introduction of “qualified offences” for more serious environmental damage.

The impact of deprivation on attainment is well understood and addressed through the Strategic Attainment Challenge Programme. The Scottish Government implements a range of policies, including Free School Meals, to mitigate the impact of poverty on pupils, support readiness to learn and contribute to the aims of the Scottish Attainment Challenge to close the poverty-related attainment gap. Taken together, these measures form part of our wider approach to equity in education and support our ongoing work to close the poverty-related- attainment gap. A summative evaluation report on the Scottish Attainment Challenge was published on 17 March, highlighting significant system-wide progress in embedding a culture of equity in Scotland’s education system and can be accessed on gov.scot.

While the Scottish Government does not evaluate the impact of Free School Meals on attainment, it does collect annual data on the number of registrations and uptake of meals, which are published on gov.scot. This helps inform decisions on future expansion of the programme.

Councils have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads and footways in their area; and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic and people using their roads and footways.

Councils are entirely separate entities from the Scottish Government. Their powers are set out in statute and, it is up to each local authority to manage its own day to day business, including the maintenance of pavements. If pavements are of an unacceptable condition, complaints should be made directly to the council in question. Thereafter, if the matter remains unresolved, the complaint may be able to be referred to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the cost to each NHS board of treating injuries, such as hip fractures, resulting from falls on poorly maintained or untreated public footways. Individual health boards/ambulance services may hold this data but, likely only in relation to the types of injuries treated and not the reasons for them.