Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has a precautionary approach to vaping products. Vapes and other nicotine products are part of a range of cessation tools available to existing smokers to help stop tobacco use. They should not be used by non-smokers, in particular by children and young people. They should not been used or promoted as a lifestyle accessory.

Our recent vaping consultation, which closed at the end of April, sought views on tightening rules on advertising and promoting vaping products. The results of this consultation will be published soon and will inform our Tobacco Action Plan refresh.

We are working with a range of stakeholders to ensure that our Tobacco Action Plan discourages and reduces the use and visibility of vaping products by all non-smokers, including children and young people.

A number of candidates are being considered at present to take on the role of the Women’s Health Champion. The Government expects to make an announcement about an appointment soon.

Whilst work is underway to appoint a champion, we have been prioritising improving information and services for women, including launching a new women’s health platform on NHS Inform, initiating new research on endometriosis, and increasing the choices that women have to access contraception at community pharmacies.

The Scottish Government has a precautionary approach to vaping products. Vapes and other nicotine products are part of a range of cessation tools available to existing smokers to help stop tobacco use. They should not be used by non-smokers, in particular by children and young people. They should not been used or promoted as a lifestyle accessory.

Our recent vaping consultation, which closed at the end of April, sought views on tightening rules on advertising and promoting these products. The results of this consultation will be published soon and will inform our Tobacco Action Plan refresh.

We will continue to work with the UKG and other devolved administrations over issues such as the taste and smell of vaping product to help reduce their appeal to children and young people.

The Scottish Government's priority is to provide safe, comfortable accommodation and a wraparound support offer to the displaced people from Ukraine who have arrived in Scotland, and to those who may still arrive.

The MS Victoria I has a total of 305 Sea View Cabins and 434 inside cabins. Whilst on cruise ships some cabins have no windows we are working with our partners to address any additional wellbeing risks when living in this type of accommodation.

The MS Victoria I has been well received by people on board, and is ensuring we are providing accommodation that is safe and sustainable whilst we match people with suitable longer term accommodation.

Under the current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including data related to arrivals, is fully reserved to the UK Government and is dealt with by the Home Office.

The UK Government published quarterly immigration statistics here: Immigration statistics, year ending June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Scottish Government do not currently correlate the visa routes and homelessness status regarding displaced individuals from Ukraine or Afghanistan.

The following table outlines how many homes are proposed to be built as part of each successful application for the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP). The VDLIP provides funding to cover capital costs associated with remediating and unblocking long-term vacant and derelict land sites. Additional funding to support the delivery of new homes, where this is part of the project proposals, is considered as a part of the application process by the independent investment panel.

Current investment for A77 Trunk Road Maintenance is allocated on a rolling 1 and 3 year programme. Our programmes currently indicate an allocation of £7,03m for this financial year as well as a provisional maintenance spend for 2023/24 and 2024/25 of £5.4m and £5.74m respectively.

I can confirm that this legislative commitment will be delivered. From 1 August 2023, if a parent of a child that is still 4 years old on the date they are eligible to start school (i.e. children with birth dates on or between the day after the school commencement date in August – last day in February) defers their entry to school for a year, they can automatically access an additional year of funded early learning and childcare.

The number of passenger complaints received by ScotRail, through their official complaints process, is set out on the following table for the period 1 July to 31 July 2022. The complaints may involve incidents that occurred before 1 July 2022.

The figure for 1 July to 31 July 2022 is 1192. This complaints figure is likely to reflect the point in time when several services were impacted due to driver shortages and the subsequent reduction in services as a result of the temporary timetable in place from 23 May to 20 July 2022. In this period there was also a GB-wide strike by Network Rail staff on 27 July which significantly impacted services in Scotland, with ScotRail only able to run a very limited service as a result.

The temporary timetable that was in place until 20 July 2022 aimed to provide the best available service to as many passengers as possible.

Complaints from staff are not included in figures due to these being customer relation figures. However, ScotRail do have a system in place to record staff grievances within their HR team.

The responsibility for dealing with nuisance gulls on private property lies with the property owner, although local authorities can provide advice and assistance, and have powers under environmental protection legislation to tackle nuisances.

Local authorities are expected to respond to statutory nuisance complaints on council owned property, such as where the deposit of bird droppings may have an effect on public health.