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The National Defibrillator Network Project, “The Circuit” developed by British Heart Foundation and Microsoft, is a UK-wide registry of defibrillators. It integrates with the existing Scottish Ambulance Service defibrillator database. In an incident of cardiac arrest, Scottish Ambulance Service call handlers use the database to locate nearby devices and direct bystanders to it.

The development and implementation of The Circuit is an operational matter for Scottish Ambulance Service, the British Heart Foundation and Microsoft, rather than Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00689 on 2 July 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Written questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website .

Over £23 million has been awarded to 15 local authorities, to date, through the Recycling Improvement Fund. This marks one of the biggest investments in recycling in a generation.

These initial investments have the potential to reduce CO2e emissions by 29,746 tonnes each year.

Carbon savings information for unsuccessful projects is not available, primarily due to insufficient evidence available to produce estimates.

Where a local authority has been unsuccessful in gaining funding, they receive feedback from Zero Waste Scotland. Zero Waste Scotland also offer support to explore funding opportunities and support the development of proposals.

Zero Waste Scotland will publish the next update of the Carbon Metric for waste in March 2023.

The publication of the Carbon Metric in March 2023 will be the last time the tool, in its current format, will be used.

From 2023 a report on the carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste from a whole-life carbon perspective will be produced using the newly developed Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT). The SWEFT tool performs the same functions as the carbon metric but has the additional benefit of measuring a wider range of indicators beyond carbon.

As at 1 October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland )

The Scottish Government does not hold a global figure for the percentage of practices with dedicated mental health professionals. However, at 31 March 2022, nearly 80% of GP practices across Scotland had access to a Mental Health Worker under the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) and Action 15 alone. Further detail is set out in the latest PCIF data which was published on 21 June 2022 - ( Primary Care Improvement Plans: Summary of Implementation Progress at March 2022 ).

In total, 259.9 WTE mental health workers have been recruited under the PCIF as at March 2022. Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, an additional 356.1 WTE posts were recruited to GP practices by the end of the commitment. Further detail is available in the quarterly performance update on Action 15 implementation published on 12 July 2022 ( Mental health workers: quarterly performance reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).

There are also mental health professionals directly employed by GP practices in addition to those employed under the PCIF and Action 15. Mental health professionals employed directly by GP practices are not separately identifiable within the published GP in-hours workforce survey results . However, we expect numbers to be relatively small.

Scottish Government's Chief Scientist Office (CSO), through NHS Research Scotland, supports clinical research infrastructure that allows Health Boards, researchers, clinicians and industry to improve the quality, efficiency, coordination and impact of clinical research, supporting a broad range of clinical research studies. CSO's approach to funding does not focus on directly commissioning or funding specific research areas, instead providing broad-based support through investments in key infrastructure and wide-remit research grant and fellowship schemes.

The Scottish Carbon Metric measures the whole-life carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste, and is a vital tool in our work to address the climate emergency. The most recent data shows that in 2018 the carbon impacts of Scotland’s waste fell to the lowest on record, 30% below 2011 baseline levels.

Most recently, the metric has provided key evidence to inform the development of proposals set out in our Waste and Circular Economy Route Map consultation. The Carbon Metric, and the newly developed Scottish Waste Environmental Footprint Tool (SWEFT), will continue to play a key role to help ensure that the Scottish waste and resources sector plays its full role in tackling the global climate emergency.

The Carbon Metric reports also contribute to the evidence base for Outcome 1 (Responsible Consumption) from Zero Waste Scotland's Corporate Plan, highlighting the environmental impact of over-consumption, and allowing their activities to be targeted for maximum impact. Additionally, insights from the most recent Carbon Metric report contributed to the evidence base for developing existing Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland activities, such as supporting the Circular Textiles Fund.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00689 on 2 July 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Written questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website .

The Scottish Government has read BASC Scotland’s report on Community Integrated Deer Management in Scotland with interest. We greatly value the contribution of local deer stalkers, their skill set and those involved in the management of deer across Scotland.

We are focusing our efforts on progressing the recommendations made in the independent Deer Working Group (DWG) report, published in December 2020. The DWG report made recommendations to improve Scotland’s systems of deer management and included consideration of the points made in BASC Scotland’s report such as, training for deer managers, availability of deer larders and engagement with local communities.

A project board has been established under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Programme to progress these recommendations. As the board sets priorities and works to progress these recommendations we will be working with stakeholders, such as BASC, for their views on key issues.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has provided £80,000 via the Scotland Food & Drink Covid Recovery Fund to support development of local chills and/or primary processing (deer larders). We expect that up to three projects could be supported from the fund as part of a pilot exercise.

Near patient International Normalised Ratio (INR) testing is currently not routinely available on the NHS. However, INR testing is available through primary care settings for those who require it. Individual NHS Boards are responsible for providing services that work best with the needs of their populations.