Chamber and committees

Since 25 January 2019 until 13 October 2021, the period covered by S6W-03688 on 29 October 2021 and S6W-04853 on 14 December 2021, there have been 19 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) unpaid prior to referral to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, compared to 93 paid. This makes a payment rate over the period of 83%.

The breakdown is as follows:

(a) 8 of the 19 cases were referred to the COPFS for consideration of prosecution; 2 of the 8 cases resulted in the original FPNs being paid after agreement with the Procurator Fiscal, ultimately resulting in 17 unpaid FPNs in total and;

(b) 4 of the 8 cases resulted in convictions and fines with the breakdown as follows:

The Scottish Government are working to address the stigma that people affected by substance use issues face when accessing treatment, which can be particularly acute for women.

We made a combined £13.5 million available to Phoenix Futures and Aberlour Childcare Trust to develop three new rehabilitation services specifically designed to support women and their families through recovery from both alcohol and drug use.

We have also convened an expert working group to develop a good practice guide to improve the support and care that women and their infants receive during the perinatal period, which will reach across drugs and alcohol, social work and maternity and wider health services.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. Our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 was published in June 2023.

We know that there is a clear relationship between alcohol consumption and increased risk of developing certain cancers, including breast cancer. Successful implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies targeted at harmful health behaviours could prevent approximately 40% of cancers.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems in partnership with Scottish Government shared information with primary care providers on the link between alcohol and some cancers in 2022-23, and maintains guidance on this on its website.

The Scottish Government has also increased the minimum unit price of alcohol to 65 pence per unit from 30 September 2024, and commissioned Public Health Scotland to carry out a review of the evidence for potential restrictions on alcohol marketing. If the evidence supports it, the Scottish Government will consult on focused proposals at a future date.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as it relates to an operational matter for the children’s hearings system.

The member should contact the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, one of the statutory bodies of the hearings system, for this information.

Scotland has a long-established and functioning register of tobacco and nicotine vapour product retailers. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, if passed, will expand Scotland’s existing registration scheme to include retailers selling herbal smoking products and nicotine products.

The Scottish Government’s view is that introducing a licensing system at this time would put undue pressure on local authorities and the retail sector. In line with our Tobacco and Vaping Framework, the technical infrastructure of the register is being improved, which has been welcomed by stakeholders.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, if passed, will ban the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of vapes including non-nicotine vapes and nicotine products that are currently not captured in a similar way to existing restrictions on the advertisement of tobacco products. The Bill, if passed, will also ban the free distribution, nominal pricing and substantial discounting of vapes to anyone of any age. This will ensure that retailers do not use this as an alternative way to promote their products.

The Bill, if passed, will also provide a number of powers to Scottish Ministers to regulate the display of vaping products and their prices, as well as the display of empty retail packaging or anything that represents the products, in retailers in Scotland. Further consultation will be undertaken before making regulations under this power.

Additionally the Bill, if passed, also provides powers for the Secretary of State to make regulations about the quality, safety and product standards to be met for production, sale or importation of vaping products, as well as their packaging, the features, and their flavours. These powers can only be exercised to make regulations containing devolved provision if the Secretary of State obtains the consent of the Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government remains committed to progressing work on protecting children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing. It was clear from our earlier public consultation that there was a wide range of views on alcohol marketing proposals, including uncertainty about the existing evidence base for many proposals.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) are being commissioned to carry out a review of the evidence for the range of options that are available to the Scottish Government under devolved powers. This will ensure that our work is evidence based and will deliver clear public health outcomes. We will consider PHS’ findings, and consider where the evidence supports further action or consultation on alcohol marketing restrictions.

If the evidence supports it, the Scottish Government will return with a further consultation on a range of targeted proposals. No decisions have been taken yet on what these areas may be.

The Scottish Government are working to implement specific recommendations from the Drug Deaths Taskforce relating to the stigma that women very often face when accessing drug and alcohol treatment.

We are working to ensure that a gender-sensitive approach is taken across all new and developing initiatives in the National Drugs Mission, and are taking specific steps to address the particular stigma faced by women who have children.

This includes convening an expert working group to develop a good practice guide to improve the support and care that women and their infants receive during the perinatal period, which will reach across drugs and alcohol, social work and maternity and wider health services.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS)’s Healthcare Staffing Programme monitors NHS Boards’ compliance with the Common Staffing Method. The HIS Healthcare Staffing Operational Framework sets out HIS’s methodology for monitoring compliance. The HIS Healthcare Staffing Programme forms part of the HIS Safe Delivery of Care (SDoC) inspections, both in terms of pre-inspection activity and as part of the onsite inspection team. The SDoC inspection methodology is used for the current acute hospital inspection programme and will therefore also be applied to the maternity inspection programme when it commences from January 2025.

The Scottish Government has made a combined £13.5 million available to Phoenix Futures and Aberlour Childcare Trust to support the creation of three new rehabilitation services specifically designed to support women through recovery from both alcohol and drug use.

Against a challenging economic and financial context, the Scottish Government continues to increase funding for health and social care services.

Providing over £1.9 billion additional investment in frontline health spend since 2021-22 - ahead of trajectory to meet the £2.5 billion target by 2026-27.

Supporting a 20% increase in Primary Care investment over the same time frame – ensuring we remain on track to deliver our commitment to reach 25% by 2026-27.

Mental health remains a priority, with overall increases in spend and total investment now standing at over £1.3 billion across the Scottish Government and NHS Boards - enabling record numbers of staff in providing more varied support and services to a larger number of people than ever before.

We remain committed to making an additional £250 million available for the National Mission on Drugs over the course of the parliament, and we will continue to publish a financial breakdown in the National Mission Annual Reports.