Chamber and committees

The deposit return scheme is a major undertaking for businesses, bringing very significant environmental and economic benefits. Accordingly, we have regularly consulted with a wide range of businesses, trade associations, the scheme administrator, and other organisations as part of the decision making process.

The suite of impact assessments has been updated to reflect the draft regulations laid in May 2023, and as part of this, the Scottish Government has produced a supplementary analysis to the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment. This document includes the economic impacts of the amendments to the scheme announced in April. We will publish updated impact assessments in due course.

The Office of the Chief Statistician and Data Officer engaged directly with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in December 2022, setting out the steps that have been taken to ensure the statistic is not used further, and provided an update on the analytical work that is underway to produce a replacement statistic.

Ministers are not aware of any meetings, discussions or consultations made by the OSR that the Scottish Government has not been able to attend or convene.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS anticipates publication of the policy review in Autumn this year. This will include the revised policy, guidance, Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment (EHRIA) and the evidence which underpins the policy position.

As a result of intensive work by Health Boards the target has been exceeded and an additional 800 staff from overseas have been recruited of which 293 are already in posts across the country to date, and a further 507 in train due to arrive, with the majority taking up posts in the first quarter of this financial year. This builds on the previous year where 200 staff were recruited from overseas, meaning an additional 1,000 staff have been recruited in the last 18 months, bolstering our existing workforce.

The Scottish Government, in its Scottish Connections Framework, committed to establishing an external advisory group drawing on the knowledge and experience of our international diaspora and from expertise in Scotland and beyond. Officials are currently developing the proposals on the advisory group which will be provided to Ministers for decision. As per the framework the Scottish Connections advisory group will be established in 2023 with exact date to be confirmed. The group will be appointed by the Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs on recommendation from officials, in consultation with relevant policy areas and partner agencies to ensure a broad geographical coverage, and diversity of backgrounds and expertise.

The group’s responsibilities, including whether or not it will be asked to report to the Scottish Government, will be determined by its mandate which is currently being developed. The frequency of the meetings will be agreed by ministers and confirmed at the first group meeting but we anticipate the group to meet at least twice yearly.

There are over 70 HRT products available in the UK and supply issues are affecting only a small number of them.

The Scottish Government are aware that there have been continuing shortages across the UK due to a number of factors. The supply of medicines, including HRT products and the associated legislation, is a reserved matter for the UK Government. We continue to engage with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to seek a lasting solution.

A series of UK-wide Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) have been issued by DHSC, after consultation with the Scottish Government and other UK administrations, allowing community pharmacists to supply specific alternatives without needing to seek agreement from the prescribing doctor. An SSP is an additional tool to manage and mitigate medication shortages. This gives individuals the option to receive substitute products in a safe and effective way to ensure medication continues to be available to all.

The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 specifies that before NatureScot can apply to Scottish Ministers for a Land Management Order, they must first have sought to agree a Management Agreement with the respective land manager. It is for this reason that Land Management Orders are only used as a last resort. Since 2019, 58 Management Agreements have been put in place to restore natural features on protected areas and no Land Management Orders have been used.

My officials in Scottish Enterprise continue to remain in regular contact with the Joint Administrators, Interpath Advisory and continue to work with them to consider all viable options for the Stoneywood site in Aberdeen.

The administration process continues to progress, and I understand the Stoneywood site continues to be marketed by the Joint Administrators.

We cannot specify the precise number of victim observations which took place at any one given time during the development of the independent review of the Victim Notification Scheme because the number of requests will have varied throughout the drafting process.

The Parole Board for Scotland has provided the following information on the number of victim requests to observe parole hearings to 30 May 2023 – both approved and denied. It should be noted the first period coincides with the Board’s wish to consider and protect the safety of all parole hearing participants as they emerged from Covid restrictions, therefore no applications were approved during this time.

The City Centre Recovery Taskforce was established in 2021 to identify actions to support city centre recovery from the effects of the COVID pandemic. It was wound up following publication of its report in March 2022 and the Scottish Government is now working with the Scottish Cities Alliance and city leaders to deliver on the report’s recommendations.