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As one of the five main drivers of biodiversity loss, the Scottish Government has for many years taken the control of invasive non-native species seriously. While Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and other public bodies take an operational lead on supporting the control of invasive non-native plants in priority areas, the main responsibility for the management of invasive non-native species rests with landowners and developers.

In Scotland, there is a well-established approach to managing Himalayan balsam. It is listed as a species of Union concern under the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation and the Scottish Parliament has recently passed legislation putting in place penalties and enforcement measures for breach of the Regulation.

Planting non-native plants in the wild is already an offence in Scotland, under section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is also an offence to help or cause non-native plants grow in the wild. Landowners and occupiers are required to take all reasonable steps and to exercise all due diligence to prevent invasive non-native plants from spreading into the wild.

In 2020, the Tweed Forum, who work to promote the sustainable land and water management of the Tweed catchment, will be trialling the effectiveness of a type of rust fungus in controlling Himalayan balsam for the first time in Scotland. This is one of the projects being funded under the Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Challenge Fund.

We are also working with SNH to develop an approach which prioritises the control of Himalayan balsam, giant hogweed and invasive knotweeds, which we plan to consult on this winter and publish in 2020. This document will set out landowners’ responsibilities for invasive plants on their land and identify which locations are a high priority for effort to control them.

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy’s working group on invasive non-native species has identified five invasive plants on its Management Priorities List. These are invasive plants for which strategic control at landscape-scale is a cost-effective way of helping to restore degraded ecosystems and reduce the pressures on vulnerable priority species.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22838 on 14 May 2019. 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 .

Scotland’s Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) Strategy recognises the importance of Public Access Defibrillator’s (PADs) and aims to have effective arrangements in place to ensure they are mapped, maintained and accessible to the public.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) have worked in partnership to develop ‘The Circuit’ National Defibrillator Network and this is now live in Scotland.

The Circuit aims to integrate with ambulance dispatch and be able to map the location of PADs across the UK. It has integrated with the existing SAS PADs database linked to Call Handling that had already been in operation in Scotland. This enables SAS call handlers to direct a caller at the location of a cardiac arrest to a PAD when one is nearby. The SAS continues to work with partners on engagement and marketing campaigns to encourage PAD registration on The Circuit.

The Falls and Fractures Strategy has been developed with a range of stakeholders, including Transport Scotland. The consultation on the draft strategy closed on 30 September 2019 and officials are currently considering the comments received, including how and where they align with the National Transport Strategy.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting ideas that may reduce barriers to voting. Following the Electoral Reform public consultation, which took place in 2018, workshops with people with sight loss have taken place to explore how accessibility to elections can be improved. A number of ideas have emerged that are currently under active consideration.

Large print ballot papers are an option which could be taken forward. They do have the disadvantage of potentially jeopardising the secrecy of the vote but this would need to be more fully explored.

Under existing election rules, Returning Officers must equip polling stations with at least one enlarged sample copy of the ballot paper for display at the station and at least one enlarged hand-held sample copy of the ballot paper for the assistance of voters who are partially sighted. Returning Officers are also required to provide a device, the “tactile voting instrument”, which is designed to enable voters who are blind or partially-sighted to vote without any need for assistance from the presiding officer or any companion.

The Scottish Government will share plans for innovation to improve access to voting for those with sight loss once further engagement with stakeholders has taken place.

The Scottish Government conducts an annual People Survey to obtain views from staff on the experience of working in the Scottish Government. It contains questions about wellbeing and mental health, and questions that align to the Health and Safety Executive's stress management tool. Monthly conversations are an important part of the overall performance management process and line managers should cover wellbeing and resilience, both within and outwith the workplace, during these discussions. Internally Scottish Government staff can access mental health support through the Counselling and Wellbeing service, the HR Professional Advice and Wellbeing Team, the Occupational Health and Safety Team, and the Trade Unions. Flexible working and special leave policies are part of the wider support offer for staff along with access to a Mental Health staff network. External support is available via the Employee Assistance Programme, and the Charity for Civil Servants. We consider evidence from these internal surveys alongside external evidence and research.

The Scottish Government does not provide support to professional bodies seeking to carry out sector-wide staff surveys regarding mental health. However, we welcome the conducting of such surveys and note their conclusions in developing our own policy and activity.

The LLB is an undergraduate degree that sits at either Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Level 9 for an Ordinary degree, or SCQF Level 10 for an Honours degree. When postgraduate programmes are developed they are required to meet the level descriptors at SCQF 11 or above. Applicants to the accelerated LLB programme are required to hold a first degree to ensure they can demonstrate their ability to cope with the demands of an undergraduate degree condensed into two years.

The Professional and Career Development Loan (PCDL) Scheme was managed and operated by the UK Government in partnership with the Co-Operative Bank. The decision not to re-procure for new PCDL contracts was a decision solely for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government however responded to the closure of the scheme by extending the eligibility criteria of the current postgraduate support package to include Research Masters courses from academic year 2019-20. Students on Research Masters courses are eligible to apply for a tuition fee loan of up to £5,500 and a living cost loan of up to £4,500 (for full-time students) across the duration of their study.