Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is clear that there is no place for harassment or abuse in any form in the workplace and that everyone has the right to go to work without fear of intimidation. All employers have a duty of care to protect the health, safety and welfare of their workers.

Health and Safety legislation, as well as Equality Law and Employment Law, is reserved to the UK Parliament. Only with the devolution of further powers will the Scottish Government have the full set of levers to take real action on workplace injustices.

Not with-standing that we recognise the important role Scottish Government has in promoting Fair Work policy and actions to make workplaces fairer and more inclusive. We encourage all employers to have in place robust workplace policies for handling issues such as bullying or harassment.

As part of our Equally Safe strategy, we are providing over £330,000 in funding to Close the Gap to develop “Equally Safe at Work”, the first accreditation programme to focus on gender equality at work. This funding will allow for the expansion of Equally Safe at Work into additional local councils.

The programme is also being piloted in the NHS, third sector organisations and the Scottish Government. The programme address themes such as leadership, data and workplace culture and supports organisations to improve employment practice, advance gender equality and prevent violence against women.

We expect all public bodies, including Ferguson Marine, to adhere to existing Scottish Government guidance on due diligence and human rights. It would not be appropriate for Scottish Ministers to comment on any specific live opportunities being pursued by Ferguson Marine. Decisions on which opportunities to pursue are for the Ferguson Marine management and Board of Directors.

We expect all public bodies, including Ferguson Marine, to adhere to existing Scottish Government guidance on due diligence and human rights.

Any decision on whether or not to introduce screening for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) in Scotland will be guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises Ministers and the NHS in all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy. The UK NSC last reviewed SMA in 2018 and did not recommend screening for this condition.

The UK NSC is expected to review SMA screening later this year, taking into consideration the latest evidence since the previous recommendation in 2018. Should the UK NSC recommend screening for this condition, the Scottish Screening Committee, in consultation with medical experts in this field, will advise Scottish Ministers on the most appropriate future course of action for Scotland.

The Master Policy is the compulsory professional indemnity insurance arrangement which covers all Scottish solicitors working in private practice, arranged by the Law Society of Scotland it exists to ensure that where someone establishes a valid claim for negligence against a solicitor, that claim will be paid - even if the solicitor is no longer in practice, no longer solvent or cannot be traced.

Prior to making a claim one must establish that a solicitor acted in a negligent way. Many claims are resolved by negotiation. Where negotiations fail, one may wish to raise court proceedings. In respect of a civil claim for negligence, an individual may choose to take this forward using a success fee agreement provided for by the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018. Success fee agreements provide clarity on the amount a client can be asked to pay their solicitor and place a cap on the level of the success fee that a solicitor can recover from a client’s damages, providing for greater consumer protection.

In addition, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission has an oversight function, to monitor and make recommendations on the effectiveness, including improvement, of the Master Policy professional indemnity arrangements to the Law Society of Scotland. The Scottish Government liaised with the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission to consult on amendments to the Master policy in December 2020, which would seek, as far as possible, to ensure that where awards of redress are made under the statutory complaints process, the complainer will receive redress in full.

Scottish Government officials have been involved in initial discussions with academics and clinicians about the potential for a Scottish research study of newborn screening for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), and are awaiting a fully developed proposal. Any decision thereafter to run an SMA pilot will depend on the expert advice of the Scottish Screening Committee as well as the organisations that oversee implementation of any changes to the newborn screening programme.

The following table provides a breakdown of all landfill sites with a pollution, prevention and control (PPC) permit that are currently in the ‘closure’ phase, in that they are not receiving waste for disposal .

Following the December 2020 cyber-attack on SEPA, it is not possible for SEPA to provide the dates at which sites moved from operational to closure status but in the last five years no PPC landfill sites have entered ‘Definite Closure’ meaning these sites could theoretically become operational again in the future.

All of these sites have been monitored, both by the operator and/or SEPA since before their permit was issued and will continue to be subject to monitoring until such time as an application to surrender the permit is approved by SEPA, i.e. throughout operational, closure, definite closure and after care phases.

Transport Scotland officials and Scottish Ministers have regular engagement with British Transport Police (BTP). These have included meetings with the new Chief Constable BTP UK and the Chief Superintendent D Division BTP Scotland where topical rail issues, such as the topic of ScotRail services being brought under Scottish Government ownership on 1 April 2022, have been discussed.

I personally met with the Chief Constable of BTP UK, Lucy D’Orsi, on 31 March and we discussed this matter along with several other topics.

The status of a landfill site can be described as either ‘Operational’, ‘Closure’, ‘Definite Closure’ or ‘Aftercare’.

Landfill sites are not considered formally closed until they reach ‘Definite Closure’ status. Sites in the Closure phase are those which are no longer accepting waste, but could potentially be made operational again in the future.

The Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003 outline the formal legal process behind the closure of landfill sites to achieve Definite Closure.

As per these regulations, closing procedures to achieve Definite Closure begin when either the conditions specified in the landfill permit are satisfied; when SEPA initiate closing procedures following a request from the landfill operator; or following a reasoned decision of SEPA set out in a closure notice.

Closing procedures will not be completed until the reports from the operator, as required by SEPA, have been submitted to and assessed by SEPA; a final on-site inspection is carried out by SEPA; and SEPA have given the operator notice in writing that it approves the closure of the landfill site.

Once Definite Closure has been established the site is considered to be in its aftercare phase. The aftercare phase will continue until such time as an application to surrender the permit is approved. The site is regulated and monitored by SEPA throughout the operational, closure, definite closure and aftercare phases.

Further information can be found in SEPA guidance WST-G-56 ‘Guidance on Closed Landfill Regulated under Pollution Prevention and Control’.

There are currently no plans to recommission the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Attitude Survey (SALSUS). Over the past 4 years, the Scottish Government has been working with local authorities in developing a Health and Wellbeing Census. This Census is currently underway in Scottish schools and contains some key, high-level data which were previously collected in SALSUS. Results from the 2021/22 HWC are expected to be published towards the end of 2022.