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The Scottish Government is taking a range of action to ensure that we minimise the blight of litter on communities. We recently consulted on proposals for our new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including measures to strengthen enforcement measures, including raising fixed penalties, improve data collection, support private landowners and promote responsible behaviours. We will publish the final Strategy later this year, taking account of consultation responses. The Strategy is being developed in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and SEPA, and we are actively engaging with stakeholders throughout this process.

Local authorities are responsible for, and best placed to make decisions on the prioritisation of, measures to tackle litter at local level. However, the Scottish Government continues to work collaboratively with local authorities on this issue and our draft Strategy proposes measures to develop and adopt a shared approach between Scottish Government, local authorities, public agencies and the third sector, to effectively support litter prevention and behaviour change across Scotland.

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging, which will be implemented from 2024, will include requiring producers across the UK to cover the costs associated with litter-prevention communications and managing litter disposed of in bins. The Scottish Government considers that producers should also cover the cost of managing litter disposed of on the ground, and we are working with the Welsh Government to explore options to put this in place.

Poverty is the single biggest driver of poor mental health and there is a structural relationship between wider socio-economic inequality and mental health. The Scottish Government is aware that many people across Scotland will experience financial hardship as a result of the economic downturn and we know that heightened stress can be a risk factor in relation to suicide.

This is why in our mental health Transition & Recovery Plan we have committed to strengthening alignment of mental health policy with work to tackle poverty and reduce inequality and we have committed to further develop a response to those whose mental health has been affected by issues relating to debt, working closely with a range of advice organisations including Citizen’s Advice Scotland to better understand and tackle these issues.

Our Transition & Recovery Plan, is backed by our £120m Recovery and Renewal Fund, is transforming mental health services, with a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention and funding allocated since it was introduced in 2021-22 includes:

? £9m to enhance Psychological Therapies, including £5m to address waiting times.

? £15m to improve the mental health estate and physical environment for both service users and staff.

? Nearly £5m to support the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub, ensuring a 24/7 response.

? Almost £2m to roll out digital innovations, including online access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

? Funding to improve mental health care for children and young people, including £40m for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

The Scottish budget confirmed the direct programme budget for mental health in 2022-23 at over £290m – a 6% increase on the current year, and 139% more than in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government is not at this stage considering options for a national slavery museum. The remit of the independent Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums steering group is to explore the most appropriate model and mechanism of delivery of a museum. The group was asked not to explore costings or specific locations of a potential building.

The Scottish Government is unable to comment on a live investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Our priority is to support Scotland’s strategically important steel sector and the highly-skilled jobs it provides.

The Empire, Slavery and Scotland's Museums steering group is finalising its recommendations and we understand these will be published in June 2022, although the final decision on the publication date is for the group to take. The Scottish Government will then consider the recommendations and provide our response.

Further to my answer today to the Member's question S6W-08418 on 16 May 2022, the Scottish Government is not currently at the stage of considering preferred locations for a national slavery museum.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

We recognise the importance of upgrading the energy efficiency of homes in order to make them more affordable to heat. Regulation of energy efficiency in the social housing sector has already ensured that it has the most energy efficient housing stock of any tenure, and this will continue to improve as the sector works to comply with EESSH2. This requires that all social housing meets, or can be treated as meeting, EPC Band B (Energy Efficiency rating), or is as energy efficient as practically possible, by the end of December 2032, within the limits of cost, technology and necessary consent.

In addition our Social Housing Net Zero Head Fund is making at least £200 million available to registered social landlords to help install zero emission heating systems and improve energy efficiency in social housing during this parliamentary session.

We also recognise that social housing tenants are more likely to experience fuel poverty than the general population. That is why we have been working in partnership with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to ensure a proportion of our Fuel Insecurity Fund can be distributed through social landlords directly to their tenants who are struggling with their energy bills. £4.4 million has been delivered in this way since 2020-21 and we have recently allocated a further £10 million to the Fuel Insecurity Fund to allow it to continue during the current financial year.

The Scottish Government’s annual report on our Vision for Trade recognised the widespread concerns about Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in free trade agreements (FTAs). We have consistently called on the UK Government to ensure that any ISDS mechanism does not prevent Scotland and the rest of the UK from regulating on health, social, environmental and economic matters.

Any ISDS system must be transparent, based on judicial procedures, and permit meaningful representations by all parties with a potential stake in the matter. Provisions in this area have the potential to impact Scotland significantly, limit the ability of the Scottish Parliament to regulate in devolved areas and constrain action to achieve our net-zero goal.

We have made our position on the inclusion of ISDS in UK accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) clear to the UK Government, through ministerial and official contact.

The annual report on Scotland’s Vision for Trade can be accessed here: Scotland's Vision for Trade: annual report - March 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish Government Officials are in contact with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy about the current Energy Charter Treaty negotiations with a view to identifying any impact on Scotland .

The Scottish Government’s annual report on our Vision for Trade recognised the widespread concerns about Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in free trade agreements (FTAs). We have consistently called on the UK Government to ensure that any ISDS mechanism does not prevent Scotland and the rest of the UK from regulating on health, social, environmental and economic matters.

Any ISDS system must be transparent, based on judicial procedures, and permit meaningful representations by all parties with a potential stake in the matter. Provisions in this area have the potential to impact Scotland significantly, limit the ability of the Scottish Parliament to regulate in devolved areas and constrain action to achieve our net-zero goal.

The annual report on Scotland’s Vision for Trade can be accessed here: Scotland's Vision for Trade: annual report - March 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

15 of the 16 Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) Area Offices are currently open for face to face appointments. The exception is the Area Office based in Galashiels, which is currently closed due to building works. The RPID Area Offices have other customer support offers including phone calls, MS Teams calls, web chat or emails. Officials in Galashiels have also offered, in a very small number of specific of cases, to support the customer face to face in a location outwith the Galashiels Area Office.