Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is not aware of any concerns being raised with it on how levels of recorded domestic and sexual abuse against men compare to the rest of UK. The operational recording of information on such incidents is a matter for Police Scotland, and as with any report of criminal behaviour, will be underpinned by the Scottish Crime Recording Standard (SCRS). The Standard sets out to ensure a more victim-oriented approach is taken to recording crime, and ultimate responsibility for compliance lies with the Chief Constable.

In general, it should be noted that there are significant differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK in the definitions used to collect data on domestic abuse and violence. The definition of domestic abuse used by Police Scotland focuses on partners (married, cohabiting, civil partnership or otherwise) or ex-partners, and has no age restrictions for those involved. The definition used in the rest of the UK extends beyond partners to other family members, and is limited to those aged 16 and over.

In addition, when considering crime data across the UK, recorded crime statistics are not directly comparable. The main principles for when a crime should be recorded are similar in all four nations. However, there are various differences between the respective Counting Rules, which specify each nation’s approach for counting the number of crimes that should be recorded as part of any single incident. Furthermore, differences in legislation and common law also have an impact on the comparability of recorded crime statistics between Scotland and the other UK nations.

The Scottish Government expects all employers to take a fair and flexible approach that supports workers to attend all necessary medical appointments. For this reason, we do not engage with employers specifically around policies relating to cervical screening attendance. However, through our own direct marketing campaigns and support for third sector organisations, we continually work to ensure that the benefits of cervical screening are communicated to and understood by a wide range of audiences across Scotland.

We also remain committed to continuing to understand the barriers that discourage individuals from taking up their screening invitations, and to taking targeted action to overcome them.

The Scottish Government encourages all eligible individuals between the ages of 25 and 64 to take up their cervical screening invitations.

A key priority for the Scottish Government is to reduce inequalities in access to and uptake of screening programmes, taking into account the available evidence of screening inequalities based on age as well as deprivation, ethnicity and gender.

That is why the Scottish Government is investing over £2m over 2021-22 and 2022-23 to build a programme of evidence-based, sustainable and scalable projects that tackle inequalities in a systemic way. It also recognises that the pandemic is likely to have exacerbated screening inequalities.

The Scottish Government has also awarded £456,000 to Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust in support of cervical awareness campaign work which is being used to tackle key issues around access and uptake. This work has included the Cervical Screening Awareness Week which ran in June, and for a longer-term Cervical Cancer Screening and Prevention Awareness project. The project will raise awareness of cervical cancer screening and prevention in Scotland for the period 2022-2024 through Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust expanding operations in Scotland to develop and share best practice in raising awareness of cervical cancer screening and prevention.

The Scottish Government budget and outturn for the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) in each year since 2016 is in the following table:

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as the independent regulator for pesticides receive and assess Emergency Authorisation requests. HSE then provide the Scottish Government with a full assessment and scientific advice. Where necessary they will provide additional information as requested by the Scottish Government.

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), as well as other partners, is supporting the Scottish Government to realise ambitions for a Circular Economy in Scotland which is critical to tackling the climate and nature crises. In this regard, ZWS is an important delivery partner for the Scottish Government, providing expertise on Circular Economy policy, programmes and research which help to fulfil commitments set out in the Bute House Agreement and the Programme for Government 21-22. The Scottish Government will continue to fund ZWS and other partners that are able to provide the required specialist expertise to progress the Circular Economy agenda.

On 30 May 2022 we published our consultation on Delivering Scotland’s circular economy – a Route Map to 2025 and beyond. The Route Map sets out system-wide interventions to help deliver Scotland’s transition to a zero waste and circular economy, significantly increase reuse and recycling rates, and modernise and improve waste and recycling services. The consultation is available here: Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: A Route Map to 2025 and beyond - Scottish Government - Citizen Space .

The accompanying technical annex summarises available evidence on factors driving the current national recycling performance, and the rationale for proposed Route Map actions. Key factors include infrastructure modernisation, specific geographical challenges contributing to local performance rate variation, technical or economic options for reuse or recycling of products, and the incentives and guidance in place to support recycling participation across our economy and society.

Information on operational and planned incineration facilities, including their status, is set out in Tables 1 and 2 in Stop, Sort, Burn Bury? Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland , which was published on 10 May 2022. This can be found here: Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury - incineration in the waste hierarchy: independent review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

Currently, all operational facilities in Scotland export electricity only, with the exception of the Lerwick facility, which exports heat only. All plants currently exporting electricity only are combined heat and power (CHP) ready and all new plants must be built heat and power ready.

Our £300 million Heat Network Fund, launched in February 2022, is one of a number of ways of helping local authorities and private companies make use of existing waste heat through heat networks wherever possible. We currently support heat network projects in Aberdeen and Midlothian that will use heat from Energy from Waste.

The recent independent review of the role of incineration found that while there may be a temporary under-capacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, there is a risk of long-term overcapacity beginning from 2026 or 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity in the pipeline is built.

We are working closely with local authorities to support those that do not currently have solutions to the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste in 2025. The support includes facilitating collaborative procurement and providing technical, procurement and legal support for local authorities.

The recent independent review of the role of incineration found that while there may be a temporary under-capacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, there is a risk of long-term overcapacity beginning from 2026 or 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity in the pipeline is built.

The review noted that export is a feasible short-term option for the treatment of residual waste in order to bridge the expected capacity gap. Scottish Government will continue to work with local authorities and commercial operators to ensure they have solutions in place to manage their residual waste in 2025 and beyond, taking account of the recommendations of the independent review and ongoing assessment of residual waste requirements and available capacity.