Chamber and committees

Circularity Scotland has identified preferred bidders to deliver IT, operations and logistics work and is in intensive discussions with them to finalise the contracts. We expect this to conclude shortly.

The Scottish Government does not hold any contracts with P&O Ferries, and has no plan to issue guidance to public bodies regarding bookings with P&O Ferries.

The Scottish Government is committed to working across society to deliver lasting action that secures a just transition to climate resilience and net zero for Scotland. Our Just Transition Plans, representing a large degree of our policy, will identify concrete steps to manage the economic and social impacts of the transition fairly. We have committed to co-designing our Just Transition Plans to ensure they are underpinned by diversity and inclusion and support wider objectives on furthering equality and human rights across all protected characteristics. We will be publishing details on our approach to co-design, including the involvement of deaf and disabled people, shortly.

Our guidance to local authorities on the administration of the cost of living award, available at Local government finance circulars - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , sets out that councils have discretion to choose how this support is provided to eligible households in order to ensure delivery in April 2022.

All local authorities have now confirmed that most payments are included as a credit in Council Tax Bills for 2022-23.

I can confirm that the information requested does not exist in the format requested.

Public Health Scotland’s ‘Alcohol related hospital statistics’ report includes specific figures on alcohol related liver disease, however the exact age of each patient admitted is not included. This means it is not possible to report on the mean age per annum of patients admitted to hospital with alcohol-related liver damage.

The full dataset supporting the alcohol related hospital statistics covering financial years 1997-98 to 2020-21 can be found via the following link:

Alcohol related hospital statistics - Scotland financial year 2020 to 2021 - Alcohol related hospital statistics - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to waive all visa requirements but, in the absence of this, what we now need is for the Home Office to grant people visas quickly and efficiently.

I have held several meetings with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, on the UK response and how our governments work collaboratively. I recently met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, and raised my many concerns about the significant administrative issues, complex application processes, and unacceptable delays for individuals who have been forced to flee their homeland.

Many of these challenges are a direct consequence of the decision to use the immigration and visa system rather than properly fund a humanitarian resettlement scheme. The UK Government must put people, not processes, first.

Whether the recycling system used in Wales is successful is a matter for the Welsh Government, not the Scottish Government. I would note, however, that the Welsh Government is also working to introduce a deposit return scheme (DRS), including the same materials as ours.

The Welsh Government is also, like the Scottish Government, working with the other UK administrations to bring in packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) from 2024 as a major reform to their recycling system. Packaging EPR for drinks containers was considered as an alternative to DRS in our final DRS Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, which found that DRS would deliver more economic and environmental benefits.

Chronic Pain services in Scotland are currently unable to gather electronic data on return appointments in a consistent manner and one that could support routine national data collection by Public Health Scotland (PHS).

We have published a draft Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery for public consultation in December 2021 which invited ideas and views on a proposed commitment to continue work with Public Health Scotland to increase national reporting and analysis of data to improve services for people with chronic pain.

Responses to the consultation are currently being analysed and we will publish our response to the findings, including how these views have been used to shape the final Framework and actions to improve pain management data collection and reporting, later this year.

We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to waive all visa requirements but, in the absence of this, what we now need is for the Home Office to give people visas quickly and efficiently.

I have held several meetings with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, on the UK response and how our governments work collaboratively. I recently met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, and raised my many concerns about the significant administrative issues, complex application processes, and unacceptable delays for individuals who have been forced to flee their homeland.

To alleviate confusion with the process, the UK Government should immediately implement automatic status updating for applications (on all routes) that have been outstanding for more than 5 days and an escalation process for applications that have been outstanding for more than one week.

It is vital that the supply chain for the installation and maintenance of zero emission heating systems is equipped with the necessary skills and qualifications to provide a high quality and responsive service to consumers. We estimate that the supply of skills is largely balanced at existing levels of heat pump demand, but will need to grow substantially to match the pace and scale of the heat transition.

We have partnered with Skills Development Scotland to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’ which will help us better understand the timing of workforce growth and how best to support people transitioning into key sectors, including low carbon heating. This work is at an advanced stage and we will publish the findings in due course.

We have committed to publishing our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan later this year which will detail actions and public support to aid workforce growth through a combination of reskilling, upskilling and youth employment.