Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is currently working with Zero Waste Scotland, COSLA and an Advisory Group, comprising local authority Waste Managers, to review the Code of Practice that accompanies the Household Recycling Charter. One of the aims of the review is to ensure that local authorities will still be able to fulfil the aims of the Charter when Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme is introduced.

No specific risk assessment has been carried out for the impact of the Household Recycling Charter on recycling rates.

The Scottish Government has committed to evaluate the Household Recycling Charter. This work has been delayed temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are working with COSLA and local authorities to take forward this evaluation.

A University of Glasgow study on lifelong health outcomes in former professional footballers, especially in relation to dementia, was published in 2019 containing evidence of possible increased risk of dementia for this group. Further work is underway to establish why footballers may be at greater risk and we will give full consideration to the report published into this subject in August 2021 led by Dr Willie Stewart.

We remain in close contact on these issues with experts at the sportscotland Institute of Sport and the Chief Medical Officer at the Scottish FA and will work with partners, including PFA Scotland, to carefully consider emerging evidence on former footballers developing dementia.

We are funding a new body, Brain Health Scotland, for five years , to embed brain health within clinical services and across public health. As part of this, we are exploring links between pilot brain health clinics from next year and the feasibility of additional national work focussing specifically on brain injury.

Last year we added an additional £1.1 million to the annual £3 million voluntary sector Short Breaks Fund and have committed a further £570,000 this year, enabling more families/carers and young carers to take a break from caring, including families of loved ones with dementia.

Recently we launched a £1.4 million holiday voucher scheme for tourism businesses to sign up to help low income families, unpaid carers and disadvantaged young people enjoy a break. The scheme will open for applications from these groups in October 2021.

The Scottish Government criminal proceedings database does not hold information on the specific type of vessel involved in charges prosecuted under Loch Lomond Byelaws.

The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service were able to manually search relevant case records and confirmed that 3 people have been prosecuted for offences involving a jet ski under Loch Lomond Byelaws 2013 B3.5(1)&3.17 - Knowingly/recklessly/negligently navigate and behaviour of vessel.

The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system has been operational since January 2014. We are taking forward the commitment to move towards the use of a mandatory system for waste monitoring as part of our work to implement an electronic waste tracking system, set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan.

A range of trials have been undertaken as part of work to develop an electronic waste tracking system, including as part of a GovTech Catalyst competition. In 2019, as part of phase 1 of the competition, 5 technology suppliers each developed proof of concept electronic waste tracking solutions. Of these, 2 were selected and developed into prototype systems to test the key elements of waste tracking in 2020. These proof of concepts and prototypes were informed and tested by a user research panel of businesses, which currently includes around 450 businesses operating across Scotland.

The development of an electronic system for hazardous waste is being taken forward through a multi-agency project which proposes to implement a mandatory electronic waste tracking system. We plan on consulting on these proposals in the Autumn. Accurate costs and staffing hours for this multi-agency project are not held centrally.

The transfrontier shipment of waste is a reserved matter. We will work with Defra to consider any changes to improve data collection on transfrontier shipment of waste.

Ministers have no current plans to use the discretionary power to align with European Union legislation provided through the UK Withdrawal from the EU (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, but will do so where appropriate to maintain and advance the high standards Scotland has enjoyed as part of the EU.

Over and above the local government finance settlement, between 2015 – 2019 the Scottish Government provided around £8 million through Zero Waste Scotland to support local authorities in aligning their services with the Household Recycling Charter Code of Practice.

In March, we launched a £70 million recycling improvement fund to support improvements in local authority recycling infrastructure. One of the objectives of the fund is to Support Local Authorities with aligning their services to the Code of Practice which accompanies the Household Recycling Charter.

Our current advice is based on the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), as set out in its 2016 report Vitamin D and Health. SACN advises all devolved nations and UK Government on nutrition related matters.

Factors such as age and sex are considered by SACN when developing dietary recommendations, alongside additional requirements for pregnancy and lactation or differences by ethnic group or body weight.

The SACN report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-vitamin-d-and-health-report

Taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause excess calcium to build up in the body, and this can weaken bones and damage the kidneys and the heart. Our advice is that:

• adults and children over 11 should avoid daily high dose vitamin D supplements containing more than 100 micrograms (4000 IU)
• children aged 1 to 10 years should avoid supplements with more than 50 micrograms (2000 IU)
• infants under 12 months should have no more than 25 micrograms a day (1000 IU).

Some people have certain medical conditions which mean they may not be able to safely take as much. They should seek advice from their clinician if they have any doubts. If a clinician has advised someone to take a different amount of vitamin D, they should follow their advice.

No specific recommendations on maximum dosages have been made by SACN based on weight.

Our advice is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/vitamin-d-advice-for-all-age-groups/

We will continue to be guided by SACN and will review our advice as necessary based on their recommendations.