Chamber and committees

The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019 fully commenced on 17 December 2021. Section 78 of the Act requires the Scottish Ministers to review the operation of the Act.

The Scottish Ministers must review the operation of the Act in general, and with a view to considering the future age of criminal responsibility. The review period (of 3 years) began on the day on which section 1 came into force (ie on 17 December 2021). The Scottish Ministers are required to prepare a report on the review, publish and lay it before the Scottish Parliament no later than 12 months after the end of the review period.

An Advisory Group comprising a range of different stakeholders has been established to support Ministers with the review.

As the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Edinburgh Filmhouse were both part of the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), any meetings and correspondence would have been with the CMI. The last meeting the First Minister had with the CMI was as part of the All Festivals Reception at Bute House on 8 August 2022. The last meeting the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture had with the CMI was as part of the Closing Gala of the EIFF 2022 on 20 August 2022. At both meetings, the 2022 EIFF programme and the value of the screen industry to Scotland were discussed.

In the last year, there has been no correspondence between the First Minister and the CMI. The CMI last wrote to the Cabinet Secretary on 26 September 2022, outlining the financial challenges it was facing. This correspondence also highlighted that the CMI had highlighted the matter to officials at the Scottish Government and with Creative Scotland and Edinburgh City Council.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the sector, stakeholders and the scientific community to explore practical ways to address interactions between salmon and seals in rivers.

In spring 2021 Scottish Government in partnership with Crown Estate Scotland published a report which reviewed measures that have been adopted globally and which could assist in developing non-lethal strategies to address seal predation on salmonids in Scottish rivers, as well as setting out a number of assessments and recommendations for use of, or further development of, specific measures - Review of non-lethal seal control options to limit seal predation on salmonids in rivers and at finfish farms | Marine Scotland Data Publications .

Building on the recommendations of the report, the Scottish Government continues to support practical work to investigate and develop non-lethal deterrent tools for use by wild salmonid fisheries. This is an ongoing work programme and, progress reports can be found on the Sea Mammal Research Unit’s Marine Mammal Scientific Support to Scottish Government | SMRU (st-andrews.ac.uk) .

As part of a suite of measures introduced on 1 February 2022, dentists now receive an enhanced examination fee for seeing patients, including a new additional child examination fee. These changes also included the extension of Childsmile fees for children and young people up to 17 years of age (before up to 5 years of age), and fluoride varnish application between 2 and 12 years of age (before between 2 and 5 years of age). Childsmile fees are weighted so that NHS dental teams receive three times the payment for children from SIMD areas 1 and 2.

The Childsmile Programme has an emphasis on prevention, rather than treatment, and has resulted in significant improvements in children's oral health through being delivered via nursery schools, primary schools, and dental practices, and includes free, daily, supervised toothbrushing, the application of fluoride varnish, and dietary and oral hygiene advice.

There are 3652 waterbodies in total in Scotland, as defined by SEPA in the third River Basin Management Plan. A waterbody can relate to whole or parts of rivers, canals, lochs, estuaries, ground or coastal waters of a particular size as defined by the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The Scottish monitoring network was designed within the framework of the WFD with EU monitoring guidance and principles laid down by the UK Technical Advisory Group (UKTAG). In order to monitor and report classification efficiently SEPA utilises modelling and risk assessment to group some surface waters and groundwaters, taking account of factors such as size, altitude and the challenges they face. One waterbody from that group is then monitored, and the classification produced is used for the other waterbodies in the group. This means over 1/3 of the total number of waterbodies have been regularly monitored for water quality.

Approximately 1/10 of all waterbodies are included in SEPA’s long term surveillance monitoring programme, which provides a representative overview of the overall state of the water environment. This is supplemented by additional targeted monitoring at higher risk sites, covering approximately 1/5 of all water bodies.

The frequency of water quality monitoring varies depending on the level of environmental risk, to ensure that resources are targeted at areas where evidence is most needed. Annual assessments at most of the monitored water bodies involves monitoring between 1 and 12 times in the year. The remainder of the water bodies are assessed on every two to six years.

SEPA has also adopted a risk-based approach to the monitoring of Water Framework Directive priority substances. This means that the extent and type of monitoring is targeted to the relevant substance in question. This monitoring is targeted at relevant sectors, where emissions of these substances to the environment occur and is focused on small numbers of waterbodies linked with the locations of these sectors. River Basin Management Planning classification is published annually and includes an assessment of priority substances, which are in general monitored on a quarterly to monthly frequency over the year.

ScotRail advises that it extended its contract with Trainline Plc as a holding position to maintain continuity of service while waiting for details of the alternative approach to ticketing which has been promised as part of the proposed Great British Railways arrangements.

You will appreciate that the UK Government has now again postponed delivery of it proposed rail reform process. Such uncertainty and delay are unhelpful.

The calculation of the average water charge in Scotland for 2022-23 was done prior to the start of the current financial year (in February 2022), and is therefore a forecast, which was based on the expected average charges for 2021-22, uprated by the 2022-23 charge increase (4.2%).

The relevant figures that were used to calculate the forecast average charges for 2022-23 were:

? water revenue - net of applicable discounts, exemptions and reductions - £442.7m arising from 2.53m household water properties giving an average water charge of £175.05 and

? wastewater revenue – net of applicable discounts, exemptions and reductions - £486.4m arising from 2.43m household wastewater customers giving an average wastewater charge of £200.40.

Each of these averages was increased by the 4.2% increase in household charges to arrive at an average charge for a household with both water and wastewater services of £391.20 in 2022-23.

The total value of household discounts, exemptions and reductions in 2021-22 was £182m.

Scottish Ministers remain committed to a Short Life Working Group specifically to consider the adoption of OCT equipment in optometry practices.

However that Group is yet to be established pending a review of policy plans following the outcome of the 2022-23 Emergency Budget Review.

Scottish Government officials have been in contact with the UK Government to ensure that North Ayrshire Council and other stakeholders have the opportunity to discuss the decision taken to locate the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production programme at a West Burton site, in North Nottinghamshire.

We understand that the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, are conducting follow up sessions with each of the unsuccessful sites, including Ardeer.

The Scottish Government remains focused on strengthening our screen sector and creating the conditions for continued growth through our support for increased studio infrastructure.

Working with Screen Scotland, the Scottish Government has facilitated the delivery of studio facilities across Scotland, including the large-scale film and high-end TV FirstStage Studio in Leith and a multi-camera studio at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. This is creating the conditions for continued growth across production, development, talent and skills.

Kelvin Hall in Glasgow’s West End, which was part-funded with £7.9m of Scottish Government funding through Screen Scotland, contains a flexible production space, as well as being developed to house a dedicated “entertainment” production facility for comedy, quiz, factual entertainment and “shiny floor” shows.

The Scottish Government also welcomes private and public sector projects to develop film studio infrastructure in Scotland. The enterprise and development agencies are continuing to offer support, with various aspects of business planning, including to secure financing, land and specialist advice, while respecting commercial confidentiality.