Chamber and committees

Local Licensing Boards are responsible for granting and renewing personal licences to sell alcohol, and the Scottish Government does not therefore hold data on the exact number of personal licence holders who might require to renew their personal licence in 2019.

Currently there are more than 56,000 personal licences in force and we estimate that of those approximately 24,000 renewal applications could be made in 2019.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to amend the alcohol licensing regime in this way.

The Scottish Government can confirm it will not introduce this system until after 1 September 2019.

The Scottish Government has no plans to change the current £50 fee charged when applying for a personal licence for the first time.

However, there is currently no fee set in regulations for a renewal application. The Scottish Government believes that there is a strong case for introducing a fee when applying to renew a personal licence to help Licensing Boards cover the cost of administration.

For that reason the Scottish Government has issued a public consultation on introducing a fee when applying to renew a personal licence. The consultation, which closes on 15 August 2018, can be viewed at: https://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/07/1773

Any proposed legislative changes following this exercise would be subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament.

Marriages can be solemnised by civil registrars or by celebrants of authorised religious or belief bodies. Paragraph 28 of the Policy Memorandum for the Bill which became the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 discussed the option of opening up the solemnisation of marriage more widely, to celebrants without any links to religious or belief bodies: http://www.parlamaid.scot/S4_Bills/Marriage%20and%20Civil%20Partnership%20(Scotland)%20Bill/b36s4-introd-pm.pdf Paragraph 28 noted that the Government had rejected that option. This remains the position, for the reasons given in the Policy Memorandum.

The 2014 Act give Ministers the power to lay down qualifying requirements for religious or belief bodies whose celebrants solemnise marriage. This power has not been used although the Scottish Government has issued an initial discussion paper: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0045/00459045.pdf

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports two response mode grant funding schemes for applied health research in Scotland across the wide range of health conditions and public health and care challenges, which could include research on Lyme disease. Research applications received are assessed for relevance, potential impact, feasibility, and value for money through expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by CSO’s independent expert research committees. No projects on Lyme disease are being funded by CSO currently.

The Scottish Government published ‘A Healthier Future: Scotland's Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan’ on 2 July 2018. It sets out a range of actions to help achieve Scotland’s dietary goals, the Scottish Government’s ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and a significant reduction in health inequalities. They include the Scottish Government consulting in autumn 2018 on detailed plans to restrict the promotion and marketing of targeted food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt within premises where they are sold to the public.

The targeted foods are: confectionery, sweet biscuits, crisps, savoury snacks, cakes, pastries, puddings, and sugary soft drinks. Views will also be sought on whether to include ice-creams and dairy desserts.

The types of promotion and marketing that would be covered include, among other things, displays at checkouts, end-of-aisle, front of store, island/bin displays etc.

The delivery plan is at www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781787810556 .

The Scottish Government published ‘A Healthier Future: Scotland's Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan’ on 2 July 2018. It sets out a range of actions to help achieve Scotland’s dietary goals, the Scottish Government’s ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and a significant reduction in health inequalities.

Children, young people and adults with learning disabilities experience very high rates of obesity. Adults with learning disabilities aged 16-24 experience higher rates of obesity than adults over 50 who do not have learning disabilities. This increased prevalence and early onset of weight problems highlight the importance of reducing levels of obesity in people with learning disabilities.

Among the actions in the plan particularly relevant to people with learning disabilities are measures to ensure fair access to suitable, supportive and effective weight management services and to support community-led programmes.

The Scottish Government funds Community Food and Health (Scotland) to help local community food initiatives, some of have specific programmes that enable people with learning disabilities better access to affordable healthier food options.

The population-wide measures in the plan to transform the food environment, such as restricting the promotion and marketing of unhealthier foods, are likely to be effective in reducing health inequalities as they do not rely on individuals consciously changing their behaviours.

NHS staff draw on published guidance, for example the British Infection Association’s 2011 position statement on Lyme Borreliosis and the 2018 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guideline on Lyme disease, when caring for a patient who may have Lyme disease.

The Scottish Government encourages all schools to be rights based. This work is achieved through working alongside Education Scotland to further implement ‘Recognising and realising children’s rights’ and ‘Learner Participation in educational settings 3-18’ as well as other approaches and projects including Rights Respecting Schools.