Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government consulted on a Circular Economy Bill and Waste Route Map in summer 2022, setting out proposed actions that must be taken to meet Scotland's waste targets and deliver a circular economy in Scotland. This included a proposal to strengthen the approach to household recycling collection services through new co-designed statutory guidance to provide a clear strategic direction for recycling in Scotland, improve consistency of services for households, and accelerate improvements to both the quality and quantity of recycling collected to help meet our waste and climate change targets .

The analysis of consultation responses to the Bill was published in November 2022. Programme for Government states that the Circular Economy Bill will be introduced in this parliamentary year.

There has been no new assessment into the possibility of material switching in light of the recently published producer fees.

Advertising for Winter Heating Payment was initially planned for January 2023 to allow for the associated regulations to have completed the parliamentary process. Due to the low temperatures experienced across Scotland during the early part of December 2022, some of the planned advertising for Winter Heating Payment was brought forward to raise awareness of the changes and to allow people to plan accordingly.

This included:

• National radio campaign - total cost including VAT £10,456.98.
• National print advertising campaign - total cost including VAT £8,743.30.

Information was also shared through a media release and through Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland social media channels including Twitter and Facebook and with stakeholders.

The priority for this recently paid for advertising push, was reaching digitally excluded prospective clients that we are not able to reach through messages shared through Social Security Scotland, Scottish Government and stakeholder social media channels.

Further advertising is planned for this year and Social Security Scotland will select channels based on insight, taking advice from its media buying agency.

There have been no compulsory purchases of a building or land under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 since 2003.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 originally contained two rights to buy.

The Community Right to Buy (Part 2) which is a right for a compliant community body to register an interest in land. If granted, this right means that if and when an owner of such land should decide to sell, then the community body is given the first option to buy at market value. This is not a compulsory purchase power.

The Crofting Community Right to Buy (Part 3) is a right that applies only to crofting areas and which, if granted, gives a compliant crofting community body the right to force the compulsory sale of the crofting land identified in their application. Only two Part 3 applications have ever been approved, but these were not taken forward as the owners in both cases agreed to a negotiated transfer.

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) 2015 inserted a third right to buy to the 2003 Act. This third right was the Community Right to Buy Abandoned, Neglected or Detrimental Land. This right, if granted, gives a compliant community body the right to force a compulsory sale of land which is either abandoned, neglected or detrimental to the wellbeing of the community. To date, there have been three applications under this part of the Act and none of these have been approved by Scottish Ministers.

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

We will continue to support SFRS in its partnership work with the Fire Brigades Union and Professor Anna Stec to build on the existing work of their dedicated Contaminants Group.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider any related proposals from the FBU or SFRS as a result of this important research.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) provide funding for Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) each financial year. There were 3,231 MA starts within the Construction & Related occupational grouping up to the end of quarter 2 in 2022-23, with MA year-end statistics for 2022-23 expected to be published in May 2023.

SDS recently undertook a reallocation process for MA starts as part of their usual contract management processes and several hundred starts have now been allocated to providers who requested additional starts and met the eligibility criteria, a proportion of which have gone to construction.

It is standard practice for SDS to review changing demand for apprenticeship starts in-year and adjust the number of starts allocated to respond as appropriate within budgets available. SDS will continue to follow this process and keep under review whether any additional starts can be allocated to providers within this financial year.

The current Health and Social Care Standards were implemented on 1 April 2018 and are published on the Scottish Government website.

The Care Inspectorate is the independent scrutiny body and regulator for care services in Scotland. Since April 2018, the Health and Social Care standards have underpinned inspections and quality assurance functions carried out by the Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and other scrutiny bodies.

Two new standards were published in March 2022 and have a strong emphasis on helping care home residents and their families stay connected. We have provided additional support and resource to the Care Inspectorate (£276,000 over the next two years) to enhance their role in supporting visiting rights through the ‘Anne's Law and Connection for People in Care Homes project’. This additional resource will enable the Care Inspectorate to proactively champion the implementation of the new standards and rigorously monitor its progress.

The Scottish Government has worked closely with the Care Inspectorate and other public bodies as they have raised awareness and understanding of the Standards. “Real stories” videos and animations raising the profile of the standards are available through the Care Inspectorate’s YouTube channel. A one-day Holyrood event took place to help organisations understand how they can be used in delivering quality care and the Standards were promoted at a number of conferences and events, including targeted events for NHS staff. A dedicated website and a Scottish Government Twitter page were created and used to promote the launch of the Standards, and a bespoke booklet for unpaid carers was launched in partnership with the Carers Trust.

Death registration data collated by National Records of Scotland contains information on the occupation of the deceased. Public Health Scotland (PHS) include this information in the Scottish Suicide Information Database.

In 2021, PHS published a thematic analysis of probable suicides by occupation group, which includes students. This can be accessed here: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/8047/2021-scotsid-report.pdf

Modern Apprenticeship (MA) statistics are publicly available on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website at Modern Apprenticeships | Skills Development Scotland .

Registered starts by year are detailed in the table below . Figures for 2022-23 are available until the end of Quarter 2, with year-end statistics expected to be published in May 2023.

While broadcasting is reserved, the Scottish Government wholeheartedly supports public service broadcasting and Channel 4’s important and distinctive role in that system. Channel 4 continues to deliver high quality outcomes for people in Scotland and we are committed to ensuring its ongoing sustainability.

I welcomed the recent announcement that the UK Government has reversed its unnecessary and ill-conceived proposals to privatise Channel 4. I will write to the Secretary of State to request further detail on the UK Government’s plans for Channel 4, and to press the importance of Channel 4’s place in the sector, delivering programmes in the public interest and driving creative innovation in Scotland. We will continue to closely monitor and argue for the strengthening and long-term sustainability of Channel 4’s operations in Scotland.

The Scottish Government supported the creation of a Channel 4 creative hub in Glasgow, bringing network commissioning responsibility to Scotland. We will continue to do everything we can, including through our engagement with the UK Government and Ofcom, to support an increasing presence of Channel 4 commissioners in Scotland, and to maintain and enhance Channel 4’s nations quotas to help improve local representation, develop our creative industries, and grow new Scottish talent.