Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working with the other UK governments to legislate to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging. Among other benefits, this will create a strong incentive for producers to reduce their use of packaging and drive more sustainable design choices.

The main legislation for packaging EPR will be a Westminster SI, with supporting legislation in Scotland where required. The draft text of this SI was made available for public consultation from 28 July 2023 to 9 October 2023 and is available online at the following link: Draft producer responsibility obligations (packaging and packaging waste) regulations - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk

The Scottish Government has not provided any funding directly to Counselling and Family Mediation Western Isles since 2019.

Relationships Scotland have received Scottish Government core funding since 2016 which will continue until March 2025 via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning & Empowering Communities fund (CYPFEI & ALEC). Relationships Scotland operate a network of 21 Member Services across Scotland and Counselling and Family Mediation Western Isles is part of that network.

The following table provides the answer to :

1. age of each vessel was at the start of 2024

2. total length of service of each vessel has been with the CalMac fleet and any previous operators.

The following tables set out how many Beaver licences were issued in the last five years; broken down by the (a) year issued, (b) category of the licence and (c) duration of the licence:

The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is committed to working collaboratively with partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to reduce the significant harm caused by the illicit drugs trade to communities across Scotland.

We are also rolling out the Medication Assisted Treatment standards, which is a key component of our National Mission to reduce drug deaths and harm. These set out what people should expect from services, improvements to accessing services, choices of treatment options and wrap-around support for the people most at risk from drug harm and drug-related death.

Patient safety is of paramount concern and the Health Board has been clear that the interim ICU plans, first announced in February 2023, are to ensure adequate consultant medical cover; thereby maintaining the safety and sustainability of local critical care services.

The Scottish Government is committed to growing and diversifying Scotland's visitor economy, and also to ensuring places across the country can develop, manage and benefit from tourism effectively and responsibly.

In August 2023, I met with SkyeConnect to discuss a range of issues related to the local visitor economy. SkyeConnect have received public sector financial support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) for a range of destination development activities, including the development of a post-Covid recovery plan. HIE continue to offer practical support through their existing wide-range of client products and programmes.

In addition, the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill would give councils the power to introduce a visitor levy in all or part of their area to raise funding for local tourism facilities and services. Before a visitor levy could be introduced a local authority will be required to consult with local businesses, communities and tourism organisations.

The Scottish Government would welcome any local tourism management plan that is in line with Scotland Outlook 2030, the national tourism strategy.

As announced on 22 January, an Expert Group will be established to lead on scoping work to consider and provide recommendations on how Scotland will work towards reaching the targets set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to eliminate Cervical Cancer.

We are in the process of writing to individuals and organisations to invite them to become members of the Expert Group. Membership is expected to come from Scottish Government policy officials, clinicians, Public Health Scotland (PHS), National Services Division Screening team and Third Sector organisations such as Jo’s Trust. We are also seeking membership from individuals with lived experience.

The Scottish Government continues to explore all possible avenues, including HPV self-sampling, which may improve uptake of cervical screening towards the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of 70%. However, introduction of self-sampling is dependent on a recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), the expert advisory group that advises all four UK nations on screening.

The research commissioned by Transport Scotland on equitable options for car demand management, referred to in the answer to PQ S6W-24666 on 6 February 2023, will be published in the coming months.

In addition, as outlined in the draft route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km by 2030, published in January 2022, the Scottish Government intends to publish a demand management framework by 2025. This will set out our approach to transport demand management options, drawing on all available evidence from Scottish Government commissioned research and external sources, as noted in response to question S6W-23907.

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 .