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The Scottish Government has no plans at present to conduct research into the need for incontinence bins in men's toilets in Scotland.

The Scottish Government fully appreciates the work being undertaken and the progress made through the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project to protect and expand populations. It is particularly encouraging to see the partnership approach that has been undertaken by a number of individuals, communities and landowners who have volunteered their time to make a significant contribution to help protect Scotland’s red squirrels. This project has demonstrated that a mix of voluntary and funded action can provide a sustainable long term future for this much-loved species.

NatureScot remains committed to ensuring the important work undertaken by Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels continues, and has provided funding for a two-year transition since the Developing Community Action Phase of the project ended in April 2022.

The Scottish Squirrel Group will be reconvened this autumn to begin revising the Scottish Strategy for Red Squirrel Conservation, which was last updated in 2015.

The Scottish Government recently published the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy which sets out our ambition to ensure individual, communities and organisations have greater awareness of the problems caused by litter, understand their responsibilities in preventing litter and are enabled and motivated to behave responsibly. A 2023-24 Action Plan, published with the Strategy, details specific actions and interventions that will be progressed in the first year of the Strategy, including a national community-focused education programme.

If there is a broad stakeholder support for an annual national litter day going forward, then Scottish Government would consider endorsing it as part of wider awareness raising work with stakeholders to tackle littering in line with the Strategy commitments.

We are committed to commencing the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 which will provide additional protection to those at risk of domestic abuse.

Part 1 of the 2021 Act will provide both Police Scotland and the court with new powers that will enable a person suspected of causing harm to be removed from the home they share some or all of the time with the person at risk of harm, through a scheme of domestic abuse protection notices and orders. This is with the intention of providing breathing space for up to three months so a person at risk can consider their longer term options.

Work to commence Part 1 of the 2021 Act is progressing. The purpose of the Act Implementation Board is to facilitate collaboration between key interests with a view to ensuring the legislation can be implemented effectively. Membership includes representatives from Police Scotland, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scottish Legal Aid Board and Scottish Women's Aid. An Operational Working Group has also been established which includes operational justice partners directly impacted by the legislation. Together the detail is being worked through to consider how a number of aspects of the legislation can best be implemented including how the views of children can be captured in a way that does not cause additional harm or trauma.

Part 2 of the 2021 Act will, when implemented, allow social housing landlords to apply to the court for an order which will have the effect of permitting the landlord to end a sole tenancy of a perpetrator of domestic abuse or end a perpetrators interest in a joint tenancy, enabling the victim to remain in the family home. The provisions aim to help improve the immediate and longer term housing outcomes of domestic abuse victims living in social housing who wish to continue living in the family home. They also help address the very real concern as to why victims and their families, rather than the perpetrator, should have to leave their homes, belongings and community to seek safety, with the perpetrator remaining undisturbed in the family home.

Work on the wide range of tasks necessary to commence Part 2 of the 2021 Act is progressing as a priority. This includes secondary legislation, changes to court rules and forms, model tenancy agreements and the development of statutory guidance in consultation with stakeholders. The aim is to bring Part 2 of the 2021 Act into force by early 2024, subject to the necessary rules and forms of court also being in place.

The Scottish Government considers FOI law in Scotland to be sound in its underpinning principles. However, the Scottish Government has always been clear that it is open to using the powers available to it to adjust the regime, where there is scope to improve its operation.

The Scottish Government welcomed the post-legislative scrutiny of FOISA undertaken in the last session of the Parliament. Following this the Scottish Government has consulted on Access to Information Rights in Scotland. An analysis of responses was published on 30 June and we intend to publish our substantive response to that analysis later in the year.

Data from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service show, for the period 2018-19 to 2022-23, 17 charges were reported in relation to selling a nicotine vapour product to a person under the age 18.

In total, 9 of these charges were prosecuted, of which 4 were convicted. 3 charges were marked no further action and 2 are ongoing. 3 charges were marked for a Direct Measure (Warning) and 5 marked for No Action.

A breakdown of charges for each year is shown in the following table:

The impact of climate change policies on disabled people is a key consideration in just transition planning. We are currently engaging widely on priorities for our Just Transition Plans to ensure the transition to net zero and climate resilience reflects the needs of everyone across Scotland before developing the specific policies and engaging in bilateral meetings at Cabinet Secretary level. We are currently working with several disabled people’s organisations to enable them to engage with their members on our behalf and ensure that the needs of disabled people are reflected both in the Plans, and in wider Scottish Government policy.

The Scottish Government places great importance on sport and leisure facilities, they are vital in supporting the physical and mental health of the nation. The Scottish Swimming Facilities Project will help accurately understand the current swimming pool provision, life cycle and predict the landscape in the short, medium, and long term.

The project has three phases:

1. Provide a high-level update on change since the Ticking Time Bomb report was produced in 2001. That report reviewed Scotland’s public swimming pools and the costs associated with maintenance, upgrades, and refurbishment. This new work will provide an update from the 2001 report, with a focus on the age, condition, numbers, categories, and locations of pools.

2. Provide good practice guidance on creating a more economically and environmentally sustainable swimming pool estate. This will consider energy consumption, operational costs, refurbishment, replacement, and adaptations in relation to both new and existing pools. It will also provide guidance on the development and operation of school swimming pools for community access.

3. Work with pilot local authority areas to implement the guidance developed in phase two, to demonstrate the future sustainability of the swimming estate.

In March 2023, Scottish Swimming appointed OLM Consulting to undertake this work. The work is well underway, and we expect Scottish Swimming to publish the results of phases one and two in the coming months.

Responsibility for policy on oil and gas exploration and production is a reserved matter and sits with the UK Government.

The Scottish Government continues to call for the climate compatibility checkpoint to be strengthened and to seek a four nation approach to developing climate compatibility tests, and is disappointed that the UK Government has again made announcements without consulting the devolved Governments.

The Scottish Government has made our position clear, we are committed to a just transition for Scotland's energy sector. Our focus, as outlined in the draft Strategy, must be meeting our energy security needs, reducing emissions and ensuring a just transition for our oil and gas workforce as North Sea resources decline.

We are already investing in the transition, through the Just Transition Fund and Energy Transition Fund, over half a billion pounds (£575m) to support a just transition. We will take the workers with us on our journey to net zero. We won’t do what Margaret Thatcher did to our mining and steel communities, where workers were discarded without hope.