Chamber and committees

The purpose of the desktop review was to assess which properties should be investigated for the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

In response to part (a), the desktop review identified that 254 buildings have two or more characteristics which are consistent with the presence of RAAC and that these should be further investigated to determine whether RAAC is actually present.

NHS Scotland Assure is leading on the national RAAC survey programme for NHS Scotland and has prepared options on how to proceed with discovery surveys of these properties, which are under consideration by the Scottish Government.

In response to part (b), a list of the Health Board properties which have been assessed as requiring further investigation has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 64387).

Completion of the discovery surveys will provide an accurate assessment of how many, and which, of these properties contain RAAC.

As part of deposit return scheme governance, the Scottish Government meets regularly with businesses stakeholder across the producer, wholesaler, retailer and hospitality sectors. Many of these businesses have told us that, because of the 11th hour decision by the UK Government to impose vague and unworkable conditions which undermined our deposit return scheme and made progress impossible, their businesses have been impacted - both operationally and financially.

The imposition of unworkable conditions, including the removal of glass, at the 11th hour by the UK government meant that we had no choice but to delay Scotland’s Deposit Return scheme.

Administrators (Interpath) were appointed on 21 June, and are currently working through the details of the administration process for CSL. The administration process includes the ability for creditors to submit claims for any monies owed to them from CSL.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the delivery of a successful DRS and some investments made to date can be utilised in the future. We will continue to engage with and support industry, and stakeholders to work together, to ensure the scheme is a success when launched.

No. As a result of the UK Government’s actions and intervention at the 11th hour, we have been left with no other option than to reset the timescale of DRS and delay the launch until October 2025 at the earliest, when the UK Government aims to launch its own scheme. This means that the Action Plan that was developed and which was shared with the Net Zero Energy and Transport Committee on 28 June is now obsolete and therefore an Assurance of Action plan is unnecessary.

Relevant Scottish local authorities have been able to request additional powers since the introduction of The Additional Powers Request (Scotland) Regulations 2019. Whilst no requests for additional powers have been submitted under the 2019 Regulations to date, Orkney Islands and Western Isles Councils submitted separate proposals for Single Island Authority models through the joint Local Governance Review process with COSLA.

The budget figures provided in answer S6W-18435 on 14 June 2023, further clarified in response to question S6W-19249, relate to the Scottish Government’s budget for its Zero Waste programmes which, in addition to Deposit Return, supports major circular economy delivery programmes including implementation of Circular Economy Bill and Waste Route Map, Extended Producer Responsibility, incineration research, landfill remediation, recycling, single-use plastics, litter and flytipping, and funding for Zero Waste Scotland to support delivery of Scottish Government objectives.

As per Table 9.12: Environmental Services Spending Plans (Level 3) in the published budgets documents, the Zero Waste budget was £ 40.2m in 2021-22, £43.4m in 2022-23 and £ 47.4m in 2023-24. These figures are inclusive of Scottish Government corporate running costs (CRCs); the amount of CRC has not been revised since the data was published. Annex G of the Scottish Government Budget 2019-20 provides a full explanation of CRCs as this was the first year they were introduced.

Scottish Government provided Zero Waste Scotland with grant awards of £29.6m in 2021-22, £35.6m in 2022-23 and to date, £34.3m, in 2023/24 from the Zero Waste budget.

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

The Scottish Government does not have any information on Hong Kong BN(O) visa holders because the Scottish Government is not responsible for the subject. Immigration and asylum matters are reserved to the UK Government. The Home Office are responsible for the UK immigration and asylum systems, and they publish statistics on the operation of these systems.

The Scottish Government believes that effective and appropriate use of digital technologies, such as mobile phones, can improve educational outcomes.

We encourage local authorities and schools to think carefully about how to incorporate the safe and responsible use of smart and mobile phones into learning and teaching. However, it is a matter for authorities to make their own decisions about the use of mobile phones in their schools, including imposing a ban if they so choose.

The Scottish Government published ‘A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland’ in 2016. The strategy will help ensure that schools can deploy digital technologies appropriately and effectively and deliver educational improvements.

The invitation to host an Investment Zones was not subject to a bidding or application process, so no expressions of interest were solicited by the UK or Scottish Governments.

Electricity network policy and regulation is reserved to the UK Government with the Electricity System Operator responsible for strategic planning of the network. We are therefore continuing to engage with the UK Government, the Electricity System Operator and Ofgem to ensure that the network will be ready to support the delivery of our renewables potential.