Chamber and committees

Scottish Government is clear that children and young people should not be using vapes as these are an age-restricted product. Our ‘Take Hold’ marketing campaign educated parents, carers and children about the dangers of vaping and increased the awareness of the harms and risks of nicotine addiction.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on vaping in schools. As the responsible body, education authorities are best placed to provide this level of information.

Classification of packaging waste as household or non household waste under extended producer responsibility for packaging is set out by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. Classification is based on several criteria and producers are encouraged to consult the regulations or contact SEPA for specific queries. Glass drinks containers that are not in scope of DRS, will be captured under packaging EPR data reporting and fee obligations. Drinks containers which will be obligated under DRS when in force, such as aluminum, will be exempt from pEPR fee obligations. The use of reusable/refillable packaging such as beer kegs or reusable bottles is also encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at the end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36508 on 23 April 2025. 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.

Packaging EPR policy is intended to transfer the cost of managing household packaging, once it becomes waste, from local authorities to the producers supplying that packaging. However, some packaging can be discarded by both consumers and businesses and is captured by the household packaging definition, particularly when supplied to a wholesaler or sold in hospitality settings.

The four nations recognise the concerns raised by some businesses and have worked to address concerns around the current definition of household packaging. There is currently no established method or international precedent that meets the expectation of UK businesses. We will continue to engage with sectors on a way forward for future years and will share more information soon.

PackUK is the scheme administrator for extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR), operating on behalf of the four nations. PackUK is responsible for calculating and distributing local authority payments.

The requirements that PackUK must consider when assessing funding to local authorities are set out in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.

In November 2024 indicative payments were shared with local authorities, along with guidance to help local authorities understand how payments have been calculated and allocated. PackUK has also engaged with local authorities through online forums and gathering stakeholder feedback to ensure accuracy of payments. Scottish Local Authorities have been indicatively allocated a total of £160m in 2025-26, out of a total of £1.4bn in pEPR funding across the UK.

Scottish Government officials have continued to work closely with COSLA throughout the development and implementation of pEPR.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) has exemptions to avoid unnecessarily burden on small producers. Producers with an annual turnover less than £2m and 50 tonnes of packaging supplied are exempt from pEPR payments, but are required to report packaging data. This exempts approximately 70% of the UK's smaller producers from paying scheme fees. The four UK nations will keep these thresholds under review.

Social Security Scotland holds information at an individual level on clients who have been granted an indefinite award of Adult Disability Payment, but does not currently collate this information into a total figure.

Social Security Scotland will continue to review and prioritise any new statistics produced and will take account of users’ needs when developing future publications, in line with Code of Practice for Statistics.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes statistics on all benefits, including Adult Disability Payment. The latest Adult Disability Payment official statistics publications can be found at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide vital assistance to enable older people to heat their homes, to help disabled people live independent lives and will keep thousands of children out of poverty. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s December 2024 forecasts show that our investment in Social Security over and above the money we get from the UK Government is projected to be less than 3.5% of the total Scottish Government Resource Budget by 2029-30.

Scottish Government uses the Microsoft 365 product suite to support shared services across 21,000 users in 55 government sector organisations. Within that suite, Microsoft Teams is the component used for videoconferencing, but also supports an array of uses such as file sharing, messaging, telephony, calendar management, and mass corporate notification. As such, the costs provided here are for the total costs of Microsoft product tools as the components are not priced individually.

Streamlining product purchase and usage in this way has enabled Scottish Government to reduce or eliminate spend in other areas. The tool is highly resilient and supports Scottish Government in continuing to operate during disruptive events. It has also cut travel significantly during routine operating.

The following table shows the total amounts spent on Microsoft subscriptions over the past five years. There is a charge for Skype in 2020-2021, as we were transitioning from this service to Microsoft Teams.

Overall, the move to Microsoft cloud services has been driven by a focus on delivering value for money while building business resiliency. Any Microsoft procurement is managed through a government framework in order to ensure the best deal possible and safeguard the public purse.

All applications are determined on their individual merits and are subject to site specific assessments. Our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) ensures that impacts on communities and nature, including cumulative impacts, are important considerations in the decision-making process. This includes through NPF4 Policy 11 (energy) which requires that wind energy project design and mitigation will demonstrate how impacts on communities and individual dwellings, including through visual impact, noise and shadow flicker, are addressed.