The Scottish Government has worked with Zero Waste Scotland to update relevant impact assessments at each point the Regulations have been updated, most recently for the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2023 laid in Parliament on 30 June 2023. This updated Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment was shared with Parliament on 11 September 2023 - Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme | Scottish Parliament Website. We plan to update all DRS Impact Assessments again once Defra have confirmed the final design of their scheme

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children across Scotland can access high quality play opportunities in a range of settings to support their growth, development and wellbeing.

We will build on Scotland’s world-leading 2013 Play Strategy, and the 2019 Play Scotland progress report, to develop a vision statement and action plan for play in 2024. We will do this by listening to the views of children and young people and working in collaboration with our stakeholders.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23760 on 9 January 2024. 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 .

We continue to work towards delivery of the commitment that at least 1% of frontline health spending will be dedicated to mental health services for children and young people by the end of this parliamentary session.

The NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 Annual Progress Update published in December 2023 confirmed that NHS expenditure on Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services rose from £88m in 2020-21 to £97.6m in 2021-22, an increase of £9.3m or 10.6% - representing 0.66% of total NHS expenditure.

The Scottish Government is taking a systematic approach to gathering information on transport demand management options. This includes reviewing relevant reports and evidence, tracking developments across the UK and abroad, and commissioning our own research where key gaps exist. Transport Scotland commissioned research on equitable options for car demand management, referred to in S6W-15653 on 21 March 2023. More recently, Transport Scotland commissioned an evidence review on ‘ Reducing Car Use through Parking Policies’ . Collectively, all available evidence from Scottish Government commissioned research and external sources will help inform options and proposals, which, working with local and regional partners, we intend to set out in a Demand Management Framework by 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/questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23892 on14 December 2024. 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 .

One of our Strategic Change Objectives outlined in the SPCB Strategic Plan is ‘Adapting for a sustainable future’. This focuses on reducing our carbon emissions and embedding Sustainable Development thinking across the parliament.  

Our Sustainable Development Plan includes work under two key pillars - Climate Change, and Enhancing Scrutiny. Work in these areas is supported by a third pilar on engagement and embedding sustainable development thinking.

We are systematically using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to help us identify priorities in our sustainability work, and use this to help evolve our related training and engagement. This includes a course related to the SDGs and the role of Parliaments – developed by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which is available to MSPs, MSP staff and SPCB staff regarding the SDG and the role of Parliaments. 

Within the SPCB we are mapping Parliament’s strategic goals to the SDGs identifying the top priorities and the leadership required to embed them into the organisation. The outcome of this work will help us to shape the Session 7 Strategic Plan. We are publicly committed to being Net Zero Ready by 2038 at the latest and we have created a related Climate Change Adaptation risk assessment and action plan.  

As part of the Scrutiny pillar, we are delivering the Conveners Group Session 6 strategic priority on climate change and net zero. There are seven areas of work to strengthen scrutiny of climate change across the Scottish Parliament. These include reviewing parliamentary processes and procedures, commissioning research to illustrate how climate change impacts on policy areas across subject committees and further rolling out of the Sustainable Development Impact Assessment tool. This is part of the work to develop a model for parliamentary scrutiny of climate change. This wider work includes enhancing engagement with diverse research evidence and expertise, embedding public participation, strengthening connections with strategic partners and sharing good practice. SPICe is publishing an updated blog on this work in January 2024.  

Our Sustainable Development Performance Manager and Senior Analyst (Climate Change Scrutiny) would be delighted to meet with you to discuss more fully our work on Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

There are a range of strongly-held views on wildlife management in Scotland. The Scottish Government takes the view that field sports are an important component of the rural economy. We accept that control of predators is sometimes necessary for the management of field sports businesses, as it is for other land management purposes. Our aim is to ensure that all legal predator control is carried out in a way that is consistent with best practice in animal welfare standards.

There are strict regulations governing the setting of traps in Scotland which must be undertaken in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Spring Traps Approval (Scotland) Order 2011. We are strengthening this legal framework through the wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill, which includes provisions for mandatory training and licensing for trap operators. We also intend to bring proposals forward for a complete ban on the use of snares in Scotland during Stage 2 of the Bill, as we believe the use of these devices poses an unacceptable welfare risk to wildlife and domestic pets.

We also increased the penalties for illegal use of traps and snares alongside other wildlife offences in the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020.

I refer the member to the response to question S6W-23824 on 9 January 2024. Improvement action has also been progressed in other areas of Scotland.

Any arrangements for NHS patients to be treated at an Independent Sector hospital would need to be made between the patient, NHS Board and their clinical team.

While a patient has the right, at any time, to exercise choice and seek private treatment, there can never be the expectation that the NHS will pay for it. The reimbursement of any costs incurred when a patient opts for private treatment is a matter for consideration by the local Health Board.

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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23817 on 8 January 2024. 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