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SEPA maintains a robust programme structure to plan, track, and deliver the regulator function for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Capital and resource funding for this programme are agreed between SEPA and the Scottish Government as part of the annual Budget process.

Once DRS goes live, the costs of registering producers with SEPA and regulating producers and the scheme administrator in respect of their obligations under DRS will be recovered through the annual registration fee of £360. This fee is to be paid to SEPA by producers with a turnover of greater than £85,000 per year.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The deployment of Police Officers and Police Staff is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.

Information on the number of support staff employed by Police Scotland is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The information requested may be available on Police Scotland’s website, within the ‘Police Scotland Officers & Staff Quarterly Fact Sheet’ (link attached). The latest publication (Quarter 1 2021) provides data on staff numbers nationally and by local division.

Police Scotland Officer Numbers - Police Scotland

The welfare and wellbeing of Police Officers is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. Officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through the “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme provided by Police Scotland. Officers can seek advice and support through ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the ‘Wellbeing Hub’ and can access services such as, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM); the Employee Assistance Programme; and Occupational Health services.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to protect Police Scotland’s resource budget in real terms throughout the lifetime of this Parliament and for 2021-22 we have increased the policing budget by £75.5m, to over £1.3bn.

I refer the member the answer to question S6W-00372 on 15 June 2021.

The money we provide to NHS boards is provided to fund drug and alcohol services.

In 2018-2019 Health Boards received £53.8m to support the delivery of alcohol and drug services. In addition –

Health Boards received £17m from Programme for Government allocation.

In 2019-2020 Health Boards received £53.8m to support the delivery of alcohol and drug services. In addition -

Health Boards received £17m from Programme for Government allocation.

In 2020-2021 Health Boards received £53.8m to support the delivery of alcohol and drug services. In addition -

Health Boards received £17m from Programme for Government Allocation.

£3 million in additional funding was made available to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships to support work to reduce drug deaths in Scotland.

Additional funding information will be available on the DDTF website shortly.

We have declared that a national mission is required to tackle drug-related death and have committed additional funding of £50 million per year over the next session of parliament. This is in addition to baseline funding.

Details of funding to NHS Boards can be found here - Alcohol and Drug Partnerships: funding allocations - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Details of additional funding through Local Improvement Fund can be found here –

Local Improvement Fund: allocations - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Details of Additional funding for ADPs in 2020/2021 can be found here - Alcohol and drug partnerships: additional funding 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

This information is not centrally held.

Since September 2006, the number of Qualified Nurses & Midwives (including interns) employed by NHS Scotland has increased by 12.8%, to its current record high total of 46,259.8 WTE. Qualified Nurses and Midwives within NHS Lothian are up 16.0% or 1,014.8 WTE, during this period.

Source: NHS Education for Scotland, NHS Workforce Statistics, 1 June 2021:  https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/workforce-official-statistics/nhsscotland-workforce/publications/01-june-2021/

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00570 on‎ 21 June 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing water pollution at beaches across Scotland.

We do not know what water quality data range was used by Save on Energy, a price comparison website, to support its claim. They do not reflect the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s bathing water classifications, which use statutory methods that are used across the UK and all EU member states.

Four of the seven Scottish beaches listed with the highest E.coli and intestinal enterococci in the Save on Energy survey are classified by SEPA as having ‘sufficient’ or better bathing water quality with one of these being rated as ‘excellent’. The three other beaches are receiving significant investment from Scottish Water totalling £23M in order to improve bathing water quality.

This bathing water season Scotland has more bathing waters rated as ‘excellent’, ‘good’ or ‘sufficient’ than at any point since tighter bathing water standards first came into force in 2015.

Scientific equipment for use in lessons is purchased by schools and the amount schools spend on scientific equipment is not decided centrally by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Government's policy towards local authorities' spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of the revenue funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on Education, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Scottish Ministers, through Transport Scotland, are responsible for 2 Trunk Roads in South Ayrshire, the A77 and A78. Transport Scotland’s Operating Company for the South West Unit, Amey is allocated an overall maintenance budget for the Trunk Roads within this unit. Amey and Transport Scotland agree which areas require improvements or repairs, the urgency of any works and programming any works using the funds available. The following table shows the actual spend for these roads from 2018. These include minor improvements, bridge improvements and structural maintenance costs. It should also be noted that these figures are for the whole of the A77 and A78 routes, however not all of the routes lie within South Ayrshire. Investment in the A77 also continues with the construction of the Maybole bypass, which has a construction cost of £29 million, currently ongoing and is anticipated to be completed in winter 2021.