Chamber and committees

We continue to support and work in partnership with Police Scotland and Local Authorities in tackling vehicle nuisance and related safety issues.

Police Scotland have a range of existing powers under road safety and antisocial behaviour legislation and common law to prevent and tackle vehicle misuse. They have also pursued educational awareness campaigns and highlighted that 442 vehicles had been seized in 2024 comprising of 327 e-bikes and 115 e-scooters.

We welcome the development of innovative tools such as the recent use of SelectaDNA tagging spray, which provides a forensic link, by officers in Hawick as part of ongoing work to combat antisocial behaviour connected with off-road bikes.

Ministers met recently with MSPs and Police Scotland about this issue and as a result of that, options are being explored including liaising with the UK Government, and on its legislative proposals, as part of a cross-party approach. We will also continue to liaise with the UK Government where there are reserved matters relating to road safety, including vehicle licencing, off-road vehicles and legal use of both e-scooters and e-bikes.

Operational decisions are rightly a matter for Police Scotland. They use a range of existing powers under road safety and antisocial behaviour legislation to take appropriate action in response to the illegal use of off-road vehicles. This includes various initiatives which take account of local need such as local engagement, increased and targeted patrols at hot spot areas, use of off-road vehicles for pursuit where it is safe to do so. We are aware that drones have been used operationally by Police Scotland and it is their decision when they are utilised.

We continue to consider ways forward in partnership with Police Scotland and Local Authorities for tackling vehicle nuisance and related safety issues.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36274 on 17 April 2025. 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 Scottish Government responded to this correspondence on the 20March 2025 and will be meeting with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), virtually, on 24 April 2025. As the response was about arranging a meeting between EHRC and the Scottish Government only, it will not be published.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36274 on 17 April 2025. 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 Scottish Law Officers are not members of the Scottish Cabinet. Consistent with long standing practice, the Lord Advocate (or, in their absence, the Solicitor General) attends Cabinet meetings whenever it is required. In practice this means when Cabinet is discussing a matter with a legal aspect, or to represent their own Ministerial interest, in particular as head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths in Scotland.

The following table sets out, for each of the previous 10 years, the number of occasions on which the Scottish Law Officers have attended meetings of the Scottish Cabinet.

CMAL has confirmed that it included two strands of community benefit commitments in its contract with Remontowa. The first provides opportunity for three Scotland-based shipbuilding apprentices per vessel, 21 in total, to attend optimisation and sea trials for training purposes when the vessels are delivered. The second is that Remontowa shipyard will match CMAL’s funding for its Corporate Social Responsibility programme over the course of the build, which supports charity initiatives across local communities in the Clyde and Hebrides region.

The Scottish Government is undertaking a wide range of actions to tackle single use plastics and plastic packaging beyond the Environmental Protection (Single Use Plastics Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging is being implemented this year on a four nations basis. It will move the full cost of dealing with packaging waste from households away from local taxpayers and councils to the producers, applying the ‘polluter-pays principle. Packaging EPR will also incentivise businesses to reduce excess packaging, to design and use packaging that is easily recyclable, and encourage use of reusable and refillable packaging.

We are also working closely with industry and the other UK governments to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme for single use PET plastic and metal drinks containers in October 2027. The introduction of the scheme will help to reduce litter, increase recycling, and will make a contribution to a more circular economy.

Scotland was the first part of the UK to introduce legislation to prohibit the sale and supply of single-use vapes. From litter on our streets, to the risk of fires in waste facilities, single-use vapes are an increasing issue, with up to 26 million disposable vapes consumed and thrown away in Scotland in 2023. The Environmental Protection (Single-Use Vapes) (Scotland) Regulations will ban these environmentally harmful products in Scotland from 1st June 2025.

The Scottish Government has also consulted on a proposal to introduce a minimum charge on single-use drinks cups to tackle the significant environmental impact of these items. Proposals were developed with input from a diverse advisory group, including business, retail, equalities groups, consumer groups, and local authorities.

Finally, we are working across the four nations to put an end to pollution caused by wet wipes containing plastic, with legislation forthcoming.

GP practices in Glasgow, and elsewhere, must meet minimum standards for their practice premises which comply with their obligations under the Equality Act. This includes taking such steps as are reasonable to provide for ease of access to the practice premises and ease of movement within the practice premises for all users of the practice premises (including wheelchair users) and to provide adequate sound and visual systems for the hearing and visually impaired.

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde is responsible for ensuring that its GP practices are meeting their contractual obligations.

Scotland is not alone in experiencing falling birth rates, which is a trend across many high-income countries. This has significant implications for the sustainability of our economies, communities and public services. We want to ensure that Scotland is the ideal place to raise a family, and while deciding to have a child or not is rightly a personal decision, we are identifying and addressing barriers to people starting or expanding families in line with their intentions, through the delivery of Scotland’s Population Strategy.

Our 2022 ‘Attitudes to Family Formation’ research highlighted a range of key factors such as housing and economic pressures driving decisions around family formation in Scotland. In mid-2023, the Ministerial Population Taskforce requested that further research be undertaken to increase the Scottish Government’s awareness of family friendly policies which had been developed and implemented in different countries, including interventions implemented in Nordic countries. A paper was discussed at the December 2024 meeting of the Taskforce which explored initial learning from this research exercise.

This early stage, exploratory research aimed to consider the broader international context and responses to trends around birth rates. As such, implications for costed implementation of interventions in Scotland have not yet been considered. The next steps for this workstream will include further research into parental leave uptake and its impact on fertility decisions. Outputs from this work will be considered accordingly by Scottish Ministers.