Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14838 on 9 March 2023. 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 .

Women already move across NHS Board boundaries across Scotland, including from the islands to specialist centres, where this best meets the needs of women and their babies. The Scottish Government understands that, should specific improvement work be identified through the Best Start North group, this would be considered by the group.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14838 on 9 March 2023. 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 producer registration remains open for producers to register ( https://circularityscotland.com/producers/registration/ ).

Any producers who have not yet registered are encouraged to do so and can upload product details as part of the registration process.

Producers who have already completed the registration process will be able to add or amend product details using a self-service portal which will be available late Spring, well in advance of the scheme start date. This portal will remain open to allow producers to amend product details going forward.

The Scottish Government does not expect to receive Barnett consequential funding in connection with this UK Government scheme.

Scottish Government is a key partner in the Save a Life for Scotland partnership which delivers the Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy 2021 – 2026. A key aim of this strategy is to increase the percentage of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest incidents which have a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrives from 8% to 20%.

This is not only about increasing the number of defibrillators in public places but also about building the evidence base to support defibrillator guardians to make strategic decisions about the placement of their defibrillators, to encourage their registration with Scottish Ambulance Service and to increase public confidence and knowledge around defibrillation. We are working as part of the Save a Life Scotland partnership to deliver on these aims.

The Best Start North review was commissioned jointly by NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney and NHS Western Isles. NHS Tayside now also participates in this work. The Best Start North review was commissioned jointly by the original five participating NHS Boards and is led by those NHS Boards. The Scottish Government understands that the primary focus of this work is collaboration towards continuous improvement of services in the North, support for the effective implementation of the recommendations in The Best Start and to work together on midwifery workforce and education. This work sits within the existing regional planning partnership, under the sponsorship of NHS Board Chief Executives, and was both established and operates at the regional level. You may therefore wish to direct specific queries regarding the work of the Best Start North group to the Nurse Director at NHS Shetland and Chair of the Best Start North group and the Director of Midwifery at NHS Highland.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) already has a range of civil sanctions, such as fixed monetary penalties or enforcement undertakings, which it can impose as part of its enforcement of a wider range of existing environmental legislation.

Civil sanctions mean that SEPA has a flexible range of enforcement tools available to deal with any breach of environmental legislation. The Lord Advocate has issued guidance to SEPA on its use of civil sanctions which can be found at Lord Advocates guidelines to SEPA: use of enforcement measures under the regulatory reform (Scotland) act 2014.

In terms of criminal remedies, SEPA would refer such instances to Police Scotland or the relevant police service elsewhere in the UK.

There are 3 dental schools in Scotland at Aberdeen, Dundee, and Glasgow Universities. There are no plans for any new dental courses to be introduced at the current time.

Our NPF4 Delivery Programme, the first iteration of which was published by the Scottish Government in November 2022, is an important tool that sets out the approach for implementing NPF4, including delivery mechanisms, governance and funding. The Delivery Programme identifies a range of priority actions, delivery partners and anticipated timescales.  

The Delivery Programme is available at https://www.transformingplanning.scot/mdeia/3136/national-planing-framework-4-delivery-programme-for-publication-2-November-2022.pdf.

The findings presented in this report do not fully address the question of independence in Scotland. The modelling undertaken makes a range of simplifying assumptions and does not account for the many economic opportunities that would be available to an independent Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s comprehensive paper “A stronger economy with independence”, outlines the case for independence as essential to building a more stable, sustainable economy with fairness and human wellbeing at its heart. Independence will allow Scotland to re-join the EU, give Scotland the full range of economic and other policy levers to take decisions based on our own needs, allowing us to replicate the success of independent European countries comparable to Scotland that are wealthier and fairer than the UK.