Chamber and committees

The Zero Waste Scotland website pages for the Scotland Deposit Return Scheme were launched in May 2019. Data on the number of visits to these pages has been made available to the Scottish Government for the period between September 2019 to 9 March 2023, totalling 348,175 visits across this period. These pages received 21,176 in 2019 (from September), 45,956 in 2020, 72,053 in 2021, 97,691 in 2022 and up to the 9 March 111,299 visits in 2023.

In regards to the Scotland-specific overview, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13419 on 23 January 2023.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government recognises that while more people are being diagnosed with cancer, more people are also being cured and living longer with the illness, thanks to the many new and established treatments now available. The increasing numbers of cases is also a simple reflection of the fact that people are, overall, living longer. Clearly our NHS remains under pressure, but more patients are being treated on cancer pathways than was the case prior to the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is developing a new 10 year cancer strategy to launch in Spring this year, which will take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways, from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. This will be supported by an initial 3-year action plan.

The strategy will include a new earlier diagnosis vision for Scotland as well as a robust workforce strategy and ambitions aimed at strengthening research and innovation and eradicating inequalities.

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

The Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 allows for new methods of body disposal and we intend to regulate alkaline hydrolysis (also known as water cremation) for use in Scotland. However, all types of body disposal must be equally safe and dignified. We must move forward in a way that ensures the protection of the environment and the public, maintaining their confidence in the process.

It’s therefore important that regulation of water cremation is subject to a similar regulatory framework as other methods before being introduced. This must also interact with the requirements of environmental regulation and national and local planning policy.

We will soon be publishing a full public consultation as part of this process and we will also continue to work closely with the funeral sector to support its delivery of high-quality services to bereaved families.

The findings presented in this report do not fully address the question of independence in Scotland. The modelling undertaken makes a range of simplifying assumptions and does not account for the many economic opportunities that would be available to an independent Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s comprehensive paper “A stronger economy with independence”, outlines the case for independence as essential to building a more stable, sustainable economy with fairness and human wellbeing at its heart. Independence will allow Scotland to re-join the EU, give Scotland the full range of economic and other policy levers to take decisions based on our own needs, allowing us to replicate the success of independent European countries comparable to Scotland that are wealthier and fairer than the UK.

The Scottish Government has been made aware of incidents of force-fitted installations of prepayment meters across different suppliers, although it does not hold information on the number or nature of those incidents. While policy on energy markets is a matter reserved to the UK Government and the responsibility for supplier guidance sits with Ofgem, the Scottish Government opposes the forced installation of prepayment meters, which increases the risk of self- rationing and self-disconnection. The additional costs associated with prepayment meters also lead to increased debt.

We are engaging with Ofgem regarding its request to suppliers to immediately halt forced installations and remote switching to prepayment meters until 31 March 2023, as well as its consultation on the rules and guidance on the use of prepayment meters by suppliers. We will use this engagement to ensure that the rights and interests of Scottish consumers are fully considered.

We remain committed to significantly increasing the rate of restoration as one of the transformative changes needed to meet the targets set out in the Climate Change Plan. In 2020 we set out ambitious plans to invest more than £250 million over ten years to restore at least 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.

Against this target, we have delivered around 64,000 hectares to date at an annual rate of around 6,000 hectares in recent years. This falls short of our annual target of 20,000 hectares. There are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that peatland restoration is a sector in its infancy and has not yet developed significant supply capacity. Contractor capacity is limited, as is the field of technical advisers and agents to support land owners and managers through restoration projects.

Our Peatland Programme is working to address the many barriers to transforming restoration rates in order to meet both current and future targets. We are taking actions to boost supply and demand, to create new levers and incentives through agriculture and land reform, and to increase private investment.

From November 2021 to December 2022 (the most recent available data), six fines were dispensed for charges under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953, section 1(1)&(6). The value of these fines are in the following table:

Table 1: Fines dispensed between November 2021 and December 2022 for livestock worrying.

Scotland’s Redress Scheme provides freedom of choice for applicants throughout the process. The scheme is designed to ensure that applicants do not have to fund legal costs from any redress payment they may receive. While applications can be made without the need for a solicitor, applicants are strongly encouraged to take up the offer of funded legal advice, particularly before signing a waiver and accepting a redress payment.

Costs and expenses reasonably incurred in the making of an application are reimbursed and, recognising the importance of legal advice, the scheme ensures that where an applicant chooses to take legal representation there is a clear route for this to be funded directly from the Scottish Government to the solicitor. The maximum levels of legal fees which can be reasonably paid directly to a solicitor by the scheme are prescribed in legislation, though there is scope under the scheme to pay additional fees in exceptional circumstances. The prescribed sums are set at £450 + VAT for a fixed rate and next of kin payment and £2,000 + VAT for an individually assessed payment. However, as per the legislation, applicants are free to appoint their own solicitor and come to their own arrangements on the payment of fees if they choose to do so, and the terms of the engagement should be agreed at the outset.

Information is provided to applicants to ensure that they can make informed choices about the funding of legal advice. Practical, emotional, legal and general support is available to all applicants to Scotland’s Redress Scheme at all stages of their application.

As of 28th February 2023, £100,244 has been paid directly to solicitors. Redress payments of just over £17,500,000 have been paid directly to applicants.

An update on the progress of Scotland’s Redress Scheme was provided to the Education, Children and Young People Committee on 12 January 2023. The official report of the meeting can be found on the Scottish Parliament website .

Our thoughts remain with all those who lost loved ones on board Pan Am Flight 103 and those in the town of Lockerbie.

Decisions around the allocation of police resources are operational matters for Police Scotland in dialogue with the Scottish Police Authority. The Scottish Government will continue to work to ensure that Police Scotland have the necessary resources to fulfil their functions, including for complex, international investigations.

The primary responsibility for controlling feral pig populations in the wild lies with land managers who should work in partnership with local communities.

It is an offence under Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release any type of pig, including wild boar. It is also an offence to allow them to escape from captivity.

Further information can be found on the NatureScot website at Managing feral pigs in Scotland | NatureScot