Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has continued to engage with representatives from retailers who sell drinks online throughout both the development of the policy for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), and into the implementation phase that is presently underway. In addition, the Scottish Government and SEPA jointly held a workshop for retailers on 17 February 2022 to discuss takeback for containers sold online.

The Scottish Landlord Registration provides data on the number of private landlord registrations, for example in relation to the number of new applications, renewals made and the number of properties these relate to, on a monthly basis.

Official statistics on the sector from the Scottish Household Survey, are released as soon as they are available. In recent years, national results from the Scottish Household Survey have been published around September following the survey year, although Covid-19 has impacted on this survey, with 2020 results published in January 2022 and 2021 results scheduled for publication in December 2022.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Promise Scotland’s Oversight Board report and the continued focus and momentum across all stakeholders to Keep The Promise.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Keeping The Promise by 2030, working in partnership with Local Authorities, The Promise Scotland, third sector, health boards and importantly the care community.

On 30 March 2022 the Scottish Government published the Keeping The Promise Implementation Plan , setting out how it will Keep The Promise by 2030. The Plan contains over 80 actions which span over a range of areas including education, health, justice and child poverty.

We have published tables showing the debt advice levy funding for Scotland and the funding allocation for each year since 2019:

Debt advice levy funding: 2019 to 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

https://www.gov.scot/publications/levy-funding-allocated-by-scottish-government-for-2020-21/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/levy-funding-allocated-by-scottish-government-for-2021-22/

https://www.gov.scot/publications/levy-funding-allocated-by-scottish-government-for-2022-23/

As a result of the pandemic, local PPE Hubs were set up all over Scotland to provide free PPE to people providing social care support who need it, including unpaid carers. The Scottish Government continues to offer free PPE for unpaid carers and provision has been extended to September 2022. Unpaid or family carers who think they require PPE due to their caring role should contact their local carer’s centre and they will advise on how to access supplies locally. If their local carers’ centre is unavailable, they can call the Social Care PPE Support Centre on 0300 303 3020.

Where we have recommended symptomatic or regular asymptomatic testing to unpaid carers (and the population) this has always been provided free of charge. Our testing programme continues to be based on clinical advice and is kept under review.

We are committed to ensuring that people living in adult care homes can spend time with the people who are important to them. Open with Care guidance, which was updated on 1 June, emphasises the importance of maximising opportunities to spend time with others. Where a care home has an outbreak, residents should be supported to see one of their named visitors.

Using legal powers under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act, two new statutory care standards were introduced on 31 March to ensure people living in care homes remain connected to their loved ones in order to support their health and wellbeing. The Scottish Government will further strengthen rights by including Anne’s Law as part of the forthcoming National Care Service Bill which will be introduced to Parliament shortly.

The Scottish Land Commission recently provided advice to the Scottish Government following the conclusion of their review of land and property taxation. It is only right that we take some time to consider the Land Commission’s recommendations in detail, and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, along with the Minister for Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, will look closely at them as part of our wider approach to tax policy. While there are no immediate plans to introduce any new national taxes, the Scottish Government continue to review any evidence and assess this as part of our wider approach to tax policy.

Following the pause on all adult screening programmes in March 2020, due to COVID-19, the Scottish bowel screening programme resumed issuing home testing kits from 12 October 2020. All those who were due to be sent a bowel screening kit during the pause were sent one after the programme restarted.

Bowel screening continues to operate in line with pre-COVID performance; the same number of invitations are being issued. However, because of COVID-19, individuals have been receiving their bowel screening kits 6 months later than in previous screening rounds. This is likely to continue until the end of the year, at which point all screening kits will go back to being issued 2 yearly as in the pre-Covid period. It should be stressed that invitations for first screenings (which are issued to participants as they turn 50 and become eligible for the programme) have continued to be sent out on time since the programme restarted and have not been affected by the pause.

As test kits are posted nationally, there is no variation on delays across the programme, and therefore it is not possible to provide figures broken down by Health Board.

We continue to emphasise the importance of being aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer, and to report any concerns to a GP as soon as possible so that these can be investigated. More information on the symptoms of bowel cancer can be found on the NHS Inform website at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/cancer/cancer-types-in-adults/bowel-cancer#signs-and-symptoms-of-bowel-cancer

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication of Birthright’s report - Systemic Racism, not Broken Bodies , published on 23 May 2022 - and we are considering its findings carefully, alongside the actions and recommendations from all audit reports and the MBRRACE-UK confidential enquiries. Our expectation remains clear: that mothers and babies receive high-quality, person-centred maternity care, tailored to their needs, with quality and safety central to decision-making.

We are participating in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Race Equality Taskforce . The Scottish Government’s Senior Medical Officer for Maternity and Women’s Health is a member of the Taskforce, which will make recommendations for actions in maternity services to tackle the inequity in outcomes for pregnant women and babies from minority ethnic communities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08754 on 14 June 2022. 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
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Following approval by the UK Non-Native Species Programme Board, a four-countries collaborative group which directs action to implement the Invasive Alien Species Regulation across Great Britain, the GB Non-Native Species Secretariat which is located in APHA but provides specialist support to all four devolved nations, led the establishment of an Invasive Non-native Inspectorate as a pilot for 2021-22 across all of Great Britain. Following a successful initial year for the Inspectorate, resourcing has been continued for 2022 to extend the pilot for an additional year. During this time the Scottish Government will be reviewing whether to provide continued support for the GB Inspectorate.