Chamber and committees

There is currently no penalty for polluters of microplastics specifically because of the diverse range and high prevalence of microplastic sources such as tyre fibres in road run-off, shedded textile fibres etc. The legislation introduced 19 June 2018, Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (Scotland) Regulations 2018, bans microplastics in the form of plastic microbeads in rinse-off personal care products. Manufacturers or suppliers of these products are subject to penalties of a fine of up to £5,000 and /or a period of imprisonment of up to 2 years.

There are currently no plans to make school holiday play schemes a statutory provision.

Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 places a duty on each local authority and relevant health board to jointly prepare a children's services plan covering children’s services and related services over a three-year period. A range of other relevant national and local bodies, including the third sector, are expected to be either consulted with, or obliged to participate, at various stages of the development of the plan.

The Scottish Government has also funded non-statutory short breaks for carers, committing £23 million between 2010-11-2017-18, and a further £3 million for 2018-19. In particular, Better Breaks has provided grants to third sector organisations to develop and deliver short breaks projects and services for children and young people with disabilities (aged 20 and under), and their carers.

Children’s services, including for disabled children, are planned and commissioned at a local level.

There are a number of specialist services operating across local authorities providing play scheme provision and support for children with complex additional support needs and their families.

Local authorities manage their financial resources on the basis of agreed local needs and priorities.

Microplastics in our waters are resulting from direct loss or the breakdown of macroplastics into smaller fragments. We are taking action to reduce the amount of plastics entering all of our waters, not just the Firth of Forth, with actions in our Marine Litter Strategy and prioritised work in our Programme for Government including introducing a deposit return scheme. We introduced the Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (Scotland) Regulations 2018 on 19 June 2018, banning the manufacture and sale of rinse-off personal care products containing plastic microbeads and are currently developing legislation to ban plastic-stemmed cotton buds. We are also working with the plastic industry and other stakeholders to further reduce pre-production plastic loss.

The Scottish Government does not currently regulate the emissions of pre-production plastic pellets. We support the plastic industry’s Operation Clean Sweep initiative which is designed to reduce pellet loss. We recognise that more needs to be done to reduce pre-production plastic pollution and are working with the plastics industry and relevant stakeholders to consider how this can be best achieved.

The Scottish Government collects data on plastic ingestion by some wildlife, however this does not always indicate cause of death. Stomach contents of fish are analysed for plastic by Marine Scotland Science, and dead fulmars are collected for research into plastic consumption by sea birds. We also support the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme which performs necropsies on dead animals found in a relatively fresh condition. As part of the post-mortems, stomach contents are examined, which includes identification of plastics if present.

Every Child, Every Chance set out that the Scottish Government would explore how to take forward advice from the Poverty and Inequality Commission on a transitions fund. As the Plan made clear, the Scottish Government already offers or is developing support at key transitions, such as the Best Start Grant, Baby Box and Education Maintenance Allowance. Development of the action set out in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan is at an early phase and an update will be provided as this work progresses.

Costings will depend on a range of factors including how we target the income supplement and models for delivery. The Poverty and Inequality Commission did not take costings into account in their recommendations to the Scottish Government, but advised that they should be considered alongside issues such as complexity of delivery, potential take up rates, income security and potential disincentives to move into work or increase earnings, as well as likely impact. That is what we will now explore. The budget requirements of all Scottish Government portfolios, including those for the income supplement, will be considered as part of future budget processes.

The MS Society report, highlights one of the numerous problems with the UK Government’s Personal Independence Payment which has caused stress and anxiety to thousands of people going through an assessment process that has been continually criticised.

This government has repeatedly called on the UK Government to halt the roll-out of PIP in Scotland – just as we have expressed our concerns about so many other welfare changes and cuts that are damaging the people of Scotland.