Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of the impact of NHS staff pay awards on the independent hospice sector, however, Scottish Government Ministers are meeting with representatives from the sector in March 2023 to discuss pressures that hospices are facing.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

Circularity Scotland (CSL), as a private non-profit organisation and scheme administrator for DRS, represents and provides services to its members including Scotland’s largest drinks producers, importers, wholesalers and retailers. This is entirely appropriate for a scheme that has industry responsibility at its heart. The Scottish Government will register as a return point operator (RPO) with CSL and will be handled no differently than any other registered RPO.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland does publish statistics on the number of children registered with a dentist but data on the accommodation status of patients is not collected. Registration statistics can be viewed at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/dental-statistics-registration-and-participation/dental-statistics-nhs-registration-and-participation-24-january-2023/ .

Circularity Scotland (CSL) is a private non-profit organisation and as such is not subject to the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

The Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee (SRAC) has identified pulmonary rehabilitation as one of the initial priorities for the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.

To take forward this key priority, a sub-group has been established comprised of clinical specialists and services managers from across Scotland, as well as third sector representatives. The group have completed a scoping exercise to determine areas of good practice and areas that require improvement. The aim of this group will be to develop ‘best practice guidelines’ for the delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation services across Scotland. This work is also being supported by the respiratory programmes managed by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery.

The necessary pause to face to face pulmonary rehab groups during the pandemic has inevitably led to a build-up of people waiting for treatment, and services continue to experience significant pressure as a result of this.

Our NHS Recovery Plan, published in August 2021, backed by over £1 billion of funding, sets out our vision for health and social care over the next 5 years, and will support the increase in access to services such as pulmonary rehabilitation.

SEPA and partners, such as local authorities and Police Scotland, regularly use social media to publicise how members of the public can report any suspicious activity in relation to environmental or waste crime. Targeted campaigns are used when there is a new type of waste crime activity or mode of operation, to encourage both reporting but also raising awareness to allow proactive prevention. For example, to landowners making them aware of potential flytipping on unsecured vacant land or warehouse.

SEPA has also recently targeted a specific area of Renfrewshire where it is tackling an illegal site, which has involved encouraging members of the public to report any information they may have in relation to the site and waste operations in and around the area. This has included social media, local press coverage and a local household leaflet drop.

Our consultation on a new National Litter & Flytipping Strategy included proposals to review and improve mechanisms for citizen reporting of flytipping in Scotland. The final strategy will be published in 2023.

The Scottish Government’s National Rail Conversation is focussed on the publicly owned railway, therefore concerns the provision of services by ScotRail. The National Rail Conversation will engage the views of rail users, regional transport partnerships, rail unions, local authorities, equalities groups, businesses, emergency services and rail industry organisations – as well as non-rail users – for their input in to the vision for rail services in Scotland. The Conversation will listen to feedback from passengers and stakeholders and shape a vision for ScotRail which best meets the needs of the people of Scotland.

Charter train operators such as West Coast Railways will be invited to provide input and insight as part of the wider stakeholder engagement process but are not within the scope of the Conversation itself.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have confirmed that for the period 2018-19 to 2021-22:- there have been 8 charges reported. Of these charges, 2 were convictions and 2 marked no further action. 1 charge was marked for a Direct Measure (Warning) and 3 marked for No Action.

Together with Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Government is developing a consensus statement on substance use prevention for young people. This will provide an agreed expert view and understanding in where our collective efforts should lie in improving practice and associated outcomes for children and young people. It will be used to support planning and delivery at a national and local level, and will include consideration of the specific needs of care experienced children and young people.

The Scottish Government’s whole family approach to drug and alcohol services is supported by our annual investment of £3.5 million through Alcohol and Drug Partnerships. Additional funding, such as the £3 million Children and Families Fund administered through the Corra Foundation, is in place to improve support for children, young people and families impacted by drug use.