Chamber and committees

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission is aiming to publish its report on the welfare of cleaner fish used in the Scottish salmon industry by the summer. It had been hoped that the report would be ready by the end of 2024, but research has taken longer than originally anticipated.

The Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate routinely inspect Scottish and non-Scottish vessels based on risk. Under remote electronic monitoring for pelagic vessels, this will include analysis of catch data compared with vessel capacity. Additionally, targeted analysis will be undertaken where there is relevant intelligence. Standard enforcement procedures will be invoked where offences are detected. This may include requiring pelagic vessels to facilitate an inspection at sea or in port. On occasions, it might be a requirement to detain a pelagic vessel in port, especially when the master is non-domiciled to the UK.

The Scottish Government published its response to Dr Colin Church’s second and final report on 5 May 2023, which focused on options to decarbonise residual waste infrastructure in Scotland.

We welcomed the report’s recommendations in supporting the continued reduction of emissions associated with waste, whilst also recognising Dr Church’s observation that “properly regulated incineration has an important role to play as part of the waste hierarchy in managing Scotland’s unavoidable, unrecyclable residual waste in a sanitary manner”.

We acknowledge of course that the residual waste sector is a complex system and, in accordance with Dr Church’s Recommendation 1, our Circular Economy and Waste Route Map (published in December 2024) sets out a series of ongoing and future policy commitments to achieve Dr Church’s Recommendation 1 (i.e. “rapidly seek further reductions in the proportion of recyclable materials in the residual waste stream”).

This includes policies such as banning single use plastic items, the implementation of the packaging extended producer responsibility scheme and a new co-designed statutory Code of Practice for household waste and recycling.

In its May 2023 response, the Scottish Government accepted Recommendation 17 in principle. While the Scottish Government agrees that phasing out the incineration of plastic waste is key to decarbonisation, our approach must be balanced, as banning it outright could lead to an increase in inappropriate disposal.

Our Route Map commitments will help to deliver increased reuse and recycling in accordance with our Circular Economy goals and help drive the reduction in fossil-based plastics going to incineration.

The proposed ETS expansion is part of a whole-system approach set out in the final Circular Economy and Waste Route Map, making incineration a less attractive waste treatment method while limiting the production of plastic upstream and increasing its removal from the waste stream prior to incineration.

Supporting policies include the ban on certain Single Use Plastic Items, implementation of an Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging scheme this year and the commitment to require kerbside collection of plastic film and flexible packaging.

The Scottish Government is aware that the best way to mitigate ETS costs is to produce less waste and we will continue to work to put policies in place that reduce fossil-based waste in the residual waste stream.

That is why the primary focus of the Scottish Government continues to be on transitioning to a circular economy and preventing waste from occurring in the first place.

Zero Waste Scotland's (ZWS) Corporate Plan for 2025-2030 includes present and future targets beyond the life of this Corporate Plan.

The reference to seeking reduction of Scotland's extraction of raw materials by one third is based on a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report, which stresses the importance of high-income countries reducing their material footprint by bending the resource use curve to achieve economic growth, reduced inequality, improved quality of life and dramatically reduced environmental impacts.

During the lifetime of the current Corporate Plan, Scottish Government will continue to work with ZWS in developing data and policies required to establish a baseline and trajectory for future target setting to measure progress towards a circular economy.

The health and wellbeing of women at work is a key element of Scottish Government’s approach to Fair Work, including supporting women experiencing menopause and those who feel forced from the workforce due to their symptoms.

In the absence of powers on employment legislation the Scottish Government seeks to drive Fair Work by attaching criteria to grants, contracts and other public funding through our Fair Work First principles. Our Fair Work First Guidance provides good practice examples for supporting women and allowing them to maintain their careers, including menopause support, by directing employers to resources produced by NHS Inform and Close the Gap. Access to flexible working is also of vital benefit to workers who may need to balance work with managing health conditions. Since 2020, the Scottish Government has provided more than £1.1 million to help employers improve access to flexible working. Asking employers to offer flexible working from day one of employment has been a principle of Fair Work First since October 2021. Fair Work First criteria has been applied to over £2.6 billion worth of public sector grants between July 2023 and March 2024.

Through the Women’s Health Plan, in October 2023 NHS Scotland launched their National Menopause and Menstrual Health Workplace Policy for their workforce of around 180,000 as an example of best practice. Supporting resources, including line managers and workplace adjustment guides, are intended for use more widely across a variety of employment sectors and are available on the National Wellbeing Hub which is accessible to the public. Since the publication of the Policy, promotional activities have taken place to share the Policy across sectors.

The recently concluded Workplace Equality Fund supported four menopause-related projects, from which lessons learned and resources created will be shared widely with employers across Scotland alongside wider guidance, advice and support on all aspects of Fair Work as part of a fair work resource hub currently being developed with input from employers.

Statistics covering the period up to 31 Mar 2026 are expected to be published by Public Health Scotland on 26 May 2026 as per the usual release schedule.

The 85% funding floor is a key element of the needs-based distribution formula that is discussed and agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year.

Funding for all local authorities in Scotland is included in the calculation of the 85% Floor although the contribution of the three island councils and Argyll and Bute to the average calculation, is capped at 115%.

The capping adjustment has no effect on funding actually provided to those four authorities and it only applies for the purpose of calculating the average, in part to mitigate the risk that the Special Islands Needs Allowance (SINA) has a distortive impact on the calculation.

The capping adjustment has been in place since the 85% Floor was introduced in the 2012-13 Settlement (see Annex I of Local Government Finance Circular 11/2011).

Assumed council tax revenues are a key element of the needs-based distribution formula that is discussed and agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year.

The inclusion of Assumed Council Tax in the overall distribution calculations reflects structural differences in the housing stock across the country and ensures that local authorities with a greater proportion of houses in band A to C are not disadvantaged, relative to those with a higher proportion of their houses in band E to H.

The absence of an Assumed Council Tax adjustment in the formula would disproportionately benefit more affluent local authorities. By way of illustration, for every £1 raised on a band D council tax bill, more affluent authorities receive 50% more income than the least affluent authorities. Including Assumed Council Tax in the settlement calculations is therefore a critical element of the needs-based distribution by ensuring that the impact of those structural differences are partially redistributed.

Excluding Assumed Council Tax from the 85% floor would remove this partial redistribution and would therefore be incompatible with the concept of a needs-based distribution methodology.

Distribution involves a complex and dynamic calculation with the impact on subsequent years being influenced by prior year calculations, primarily through the operation of the main funding floor.

If Assumed Council Tax were excluded from the calculation of the 85% floor, in the past five years, a hypothetical static analysis would indicate that Aberdeen City would have additionally been below 85 per cent in 2021-22 and 2022-23, and City of Edinburgh would have additionally been below 85 per cent in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The 85% funding floor and assumed council tax revenues are key elements of the needs-based distribution formula that is discussed and agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year.

Funding for all local authorities in Scotland is included in the calculation of the 85% Floor although the contribution of the three island councils and Argyll and Bute to the average calculation, is capped at 115%.

The capping adjustment has no effect on funding actually provided to those four authorities and it only applies for the purpose of calculating the average, in part to mitigate the risk that the Special Islands Needs Allowance (SINA) has a distortive impact on the calculation.

The adjustment to a maximum of 115% effectively lowers the target Scotland average. This may sometimes reduce the number of LAs qualifying for support through the 85% floor but would also lower the level of that support guaranteed.

Distribution involves a complex and dynamic calculation with the impact on subsequent years being influenced by prior year calculations, primarily through the operation of the main funding floor.

The following table provides a hypothetical static analysis of the impact, on each of the last five settlements in isolation, if the 115% limit were not applied.