Seòmar agus comataidhean

Marine Scotland Science does not sample for microplastics within the water column. It does however sample for floating Microplastics between 300 microns to 5mm, that are found on or just under the water surface. Samples have been taken at a number of locations around Scotland since 2014, including within the Firth of Forth, where content has varied between 0 and 63,000 microplastic particles per square kilometre. These values are within the range observed elsewhere in the world's oceans. Samples of sub-tidal sediment in the Lothian region have been analysed and their microplastic content has been zero, or close to zero.

Children’s services, including for disabled children, are planned and commissioned at a local level.

There are a number of specialist services operating across local authorities providing play scheme provision and support for children with complex additional support needs and their families.

Local authorities manage their financial resources on the basis of agreed local needs and priorities.

Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 places a duty on each local authority and relevant health board to jointly prepare a children's services plan covering children’s services and related services over a three-year period. A range of other relevant national and local bodies, including the third sector, are expected to be either consulted with, or obliged to participate, at various stages of the development of the plan.

The Scottish Government has also funded non-statutory short breaks for carers, committing £23 million between 2010-11-2017-18, and a further £3 million for 2018-19. In particular, Better Breaks has provided grants to third sector organisations to develop and deliver short breaks projects and services for children and young people with disabilities (aged 20 and under), and their carers.

There are currently no plans to make school holiday play schemes a statutory provision.

The Scottish Government collects data on plastic ingestion by some wildlife, however this does not always indicate cause of death. Stomach contents of fish are analysed for plastic by Marine Scotland Science, and dead fulmars are collected for research into plastic consumption by sea birds. We also support the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme which performs necropsies on dead animals found in a relatively fresh condition. As part of the post-mortems, stomach contents are examined, which includes identification of plastics if present.

Microplastics in our waters are resulting from direct loss or the breakdown of macroplastics into smaller fragments. We are taking action to reduce the amount of plastics entering all of our waters, not just the Firth of Forth, with actions in our Marine Litter Strategy and prioritised work in our Programme for Government including introducing a deposit return scheme. We introduced the Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (Scotland) Regulations 2018 on 19 June 2018, banning the manufacture and sale of rinse-off personal care products containing plastic microbeads and are currently developing legislation to ban plastic-stemmed cotton buds. We are also working with the plastic industry and other stakeholders to further reduce pre-production plastic loss.

The Scottish Government does not currently regulate the emissions of pre-production plastic pellets. We support the plastic industry’s Operation Clean Sweep initiative which is designed to reduce pellet loss. We recognise that more needs to be done to reduce pre-production plastic pollution and are working with the plastics industry and relevant stakeholders to consider how this can be best achieved.

Every Child, Every Chance set out that the Scottish Government would explore how to take forward advice from the Poverty and Inequality Commission on a transitions fund. As the Plan made clear, the Scottish Government already offers or is developing support at key transitions, such as the Best Start Grant, Baby Box and Education Maintenance Allowance. Development of the action set out in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan is at an early phase and an update will be provided as this work progresses.

Costings will depend on a range of factors including how we target the income supplement and models for delivery. The Poverty and Inequality Commission did not take costings into account in their recommendations to the Scottish Government, but advised that they should be considered alongside issues such as complexity of delivery, potential take up rates, income security and potential disincentives to move into work or increase earnings, as well as likely impact. That is what we will now explore. The budget requirements of all Scottish Government portfolios, including those for the income supplement, will be considered as part of future budget processes.

The Scottish Government is committed to co-designing the social security system with people who receive benefits. We will ensure that the assessment process, including any thresholds used, is built around the needs of clients to deliver dignity and respect.

We are currently working with key stakeholders and our Experience Panels to consider the relevant criteria.