Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government strongly condemns hoax calls to our emergency services. We continue to fully support the action taken by the Scottish Ambulance Service to report malicious or nuisance callers, when appropriate, to the police who will investigate and act accordingly.

A co-ordinated approach is needed from all services including local councils, support services and the statutory emergency services to work to reduce these calls.

(a) Data provided by National Records of Scotland confirms that there have been three deaths in Scotland since 2010 where the underlying cause of death is being ‘bitten or struck by dog’.

(b) The information requested on the number of non-fatal dog attacks on humans is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. However the following table provided by Public Health Scotland shows the number of inpatient and day case admissions to hospital where a diagnosis of dog attack (bite or strike) was recorded, from 2010 to 2022, in Scotland.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is responsible for protecting Scotland’s water environment.

On Monday 11 September, SEPA responded to reports it received of large dead fish along a section of the River Spey. SEPA has conducted a range of additional water quality and ecology monitoring of the River Spey along with investigating local regulated activities. However, no water quality issues have been identified, no impact on other aquatic species and smaller fish has been observed, and the cause of the incident has not yet been identified. This would not be expected from a major pollution incident where there would be mortalities in all aquatic species and fish populations.

A multi-agency group has met in response to the incident to consider all potential causes of the incident. SEPA is continuing to work closely with partners, including the Fish Health Inspectorate who lead on fish mortalities. The group is assessing all reports in an effort to identify any possible factors responsible for the fish mortalities.

NHS Grampian and Moray Council are also part of the group providing support on human health aspects. Members of the public who feel acutely unwell after being in contact with the river are being advised to seek medical advice.

We take reports of this kind very seriously and encourage anyone who finds dead fish on or near any watercourse to contact SEPA via our Pollution Hotline 0800 80 70 60 or online at www.sepa.org.uk/report .

The Scottish Government recognises that being physically active is one of the very best things we can do for our physical and mental wellbeing.

It is an effective treatment in the management and prevention of many long-term conditions and reduces the risk of overall mortality. Strong evidence shows that even small increases in activity can have benefits to our health. Evidence also shows that well-informed conversations with healthcare professionals can help to encourage people to be more active. Referral by a health care professional to opportunities to participate in physical activity and sport is a recognised structured approach to health improvement and is an important strand in our overall approach.

Our funding for sport is founded on a recognition of the important role which participation plays in supporting our health and wellbeing. The Golf on Prescription initiative is one amongst a wide range of such referral programmes across the country which involve different sports as well as activities such as walking, jogging, dance and many others. We encourage sports governing bodies as well as local leisure service providers to engage with Health Boards to explore the potential for referral programmes and we are aware of many successful initiatives.

Public Health Scotland published new Physical Activity Referral Standards in February 2022 to provide guidance which aims to reduce variability, enhance the quality of services and build further evidence of what works in relation to such initiatives. This includes the need for a focus on engaging with and delivering services to excluded, marginalised, or otherwise vulnerable population groups. Services therefore must be flexible to ensure that they are able to accommodate issues relating to equality and diversity in local populations which might otherwise act as barriers to participation.

Private Healthcare Information Network figures for the first quarter of 2023 show Scotland has a lower rate of take up of private healthcare compared to England and Wales. The rate of people self-funding for private inpatient/day-case care is 16% higher in England, 51% higher in Wales and 40% higher Northern Ireland than in Scotland. When people who fund private healthcare through insurance is included, the rate per head in England is 76% higher than Scotland. In Wales it is 15% higher and in Northern Ireland 31% higher than in Scotland.

Scotland has a world-class National Health Service we can all be proud of but people have the choice to pay privately for care if they choose. It is important that all healthcare is safe, effective and person-centred and Healthcare Improvement Scotland have stringent regulation of private healthcare, including private hospitals, to ensure that’s the case.

The Scottish Government wants to see Scotland’s sea connections to Europe enhanced. We work closely with Scotland’s main ports across a range of issues including the potential for new freight and passenger ferry services. Commercial stakeholders are fundamental to any new service being realised. The former Minister for Business and officials met shipping and freight forwarding companies, port operators and hauliers to explore how Scottish exporters chose their routes to market, and current Ministers and officials continue to meet port operators and haulage and shipping associations to understand future market demand.

The Scottish Government remains confident that the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) is delivering a reduction in harmful emissions and look forward to receiving confirmed statutory air quality reports from Glasgow City Council in due course. Air quality is generally good in Scotland with all our automatic air quality monitoring stations reported to be meeting the air quality objectives in 2022. However there are localised areas within Glasgow’s city centre where poor air quality remains an issue. The enforcement of Glasgow’s LEZ only began on 1 June 2023. It is therefore too early to determine the impact of the LEZ on annual air quality targets for Glasgow.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone who is eligible to vote can do so and is working with partners to look at potential new ways to increase registration levels amongst under-represented groups including young people and foreign nationals.

The Scottish Government is considering responses to our recent consultation on electoral reform, including on how to improve registration levels, and I intend to meet with the Head of the Electoral Commission in Scotland to discuss the report and its recommendations in greater detail.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21303 on 27 September 2023. 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

Information is not presented in the way requested due to the information being received from numerous stakeholder systems.

From August 2022, when the new legislation came into effect:

Management information received from Police Scotland internal systems on 26 September 2023.

Offences recorded under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnics Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 by Police Scotland.

• Legislation went live 6 October 2022:

Section 21 - Proxy Purchase - 2 Crime Reports raised – enquiries ongoing.

• Legislation went live 6 June 2023:

Section 35 – Pyrotechnic in a public place – 4 Crime Reports raised – 2 arrested and report submitted to COPFS, 2 reported to COPFS.

o Section 36 – Pyrotechnic designated sporting/music event. 9 Crime reports raised – 6 reported to COPFS (2 disposed through Early and Effective Intervention), 3 undetected (incidents captured on CCTV – no suspect identified).

Management information received from Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) on 14 September 23.

• A total of seven charges, across five cases, have been reported to COPFS under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022.
• Of those seven charges, four (across two cases) are currently pending and awaiting a decision on how to proceed. All of those four charges are for contraventions of S.21(1) (the proxy purchasing charge).
• The remaining three charges, across three cases, were prosecuted in court, with two (both contraventions of S.35(1) – possession of a pyrotechnic article in a public place) still ongoing.
• The third one (a contravention of article 36(1) – possession of a pyrotechnic article in a designated venue or at a designated event) plead guilty to the common law charge of culpably and recklessly igniting a pyrotechnic article within a football stadium, and the accused’s plea of not guilty was accepted to the statutory charge under S.36(1) on that basis.
• Sixty one charges have been reported to COPFS with the statutory aggravation under S.44 for emergency workers.

Management information received from Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) administrative database (COPII).

• The management information received from SCTS (and published by the Scottish Government quarterly being the latest update January 2023-March 2023) indicates that there are no convictions recorded for accused prosecuted for charges under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022.

Source: Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) administrative database (COPII).