Chamber and committees

As Table 2 of the amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) makes clear, the economic modelling in the BRIA assumes that there will be 3,021 reverse vending machines (RVMs) in operation.

Annex F of the amended final BRIA shows that the economic case for DRS remains strong if higher numbers of containers and return points, suggested by industry, are adopted. As we have seen no evidence for higher numbers of RVMs than 3,021, this is also the figure modelled in Annex F.

The position taken by Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) in respect of container and return point numbers, as I understand it, is set out at Annex F of the amended Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) published in December 2021.

CSL’s position in respect of number of reverse vending machines is that they expect roughly 3,000 of these as set out in the Full Business Case for DRS.

CSL had no sight of the content of the amended BRIA in advance of publication.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 provides local authorities with a discretionary power to set up workplace parking licensing (WPL) schemes. Section 71 of the 2019 Act defines what constitutes a workplace parking place. Customer parking at retail outlets (except parking for business customers) is not included in the definition of workplace parking and therefore those places could not be included in any local authorities’ WPL scheme.

It will be for local authorities to decide whether they wish to implement WPL locally and to shape proposals to suit local circumstances. Parking places provided for employees and business customers are included in the definition of workplace parking set out in the 2019 Act. Accordingly, employers will be liable for workplace parking for staff within the context of proposals set out by local authorities.

Energy policy and markets remain reserved to Westminster, as do the majority of tax levers. We have called repeatedly on the UK Government to consider all options to help those affected by increased utility bills, including a temporary cut in VAT on energy bills, but to no avail. However, we will continue to push for four-nations discussions to develop an effective response to energy bill increases and press for changes to help those in need, as well as calling for the devolution of the powers to make those changes ourselves if the UK Government refuses to act.

The Scottish Government operates a water and sewerage charges exemption scheme for eligible small charities. The charity must be registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator and have an income below £300,000. Charities should contact their licensed provider in order to apply for the scheme. Additionally, Business Energy Scotland will be delivered by Energy Saving Trust (EST) from 1 April, as part of EST’s extensive advice and support offerings delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has committed to provide at least £465 million of funding over this parliamentary session to support fuel poor households. This figure was set with the aim to provide - at a minimum – a funding level for those in fuel poverty and least able to pay which at least maintains previous levels, with the flexibility to be responsive to the needs of those in fuel poverty so we can mitigate any detrimental impacts of the heat transition on fuel poverty and ensure no-one is left behind.

Our long-standing fuel poverty programmes have already supported over 150,000 households in or at risk of fuel poverty. In 2021-22, we allocated a considerably increased level of funding (£50m) for our Warmer Homes Scotland fuel poverty programme and in 2022-23 will further increase this to £55m. In 2022-23 we will also increase the level of funding individual fuel poor households could benefit from through the £64m local authority-led Area Based Schemes.

The Scottish Government’s investment has also helped to secure Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding and we would hope to continue to do so. ECO is a UK Government scheme that delivers energy efficiency measures to fuel poor households and is funded by energy suppliers through a levy on energy bills.

Scotland has benefitted from approximately £691 million since the scheme began in 2013. If Scotland maintains its current share of ECO delivery (9%), then we would expect to benefit from a further £360 million over the lifetime of the new ECO4 scheme (from April 2022 to March 2026).

There is not a single offence of modern slavery in Scotland. Several offences fall within the ambit of modern slavery. These offences are listed below.

On 31 May 2016, the Human Trafficking & Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 came into effect.

The 2015 Act introduced new offences and aggravations, which apply to conduct occurring on or after 31 May 2016.

Offences that were in effect prior to the implementation of the 2015 Act continue to apply to conduct occurring before 17 December 2016.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are able to provide statistical data from 2002/03 onwards. Table 1 details the number of accused persons reported to the Procurator Fiscal, for one or more of the offences listed below, in each financial year since 2002-03.

Table 1

The most recent data for environment protection expenditure is published as part of the Country and regional analysis published by HM Treasury ( Country and regional analysis: 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ). The relevant information can be found in Table A-15 of the published tables.

Table 1 is taken from the publication and summarises expenditure per head for Scotland, England and Wales for 2020–21.

Table 1

We have allocated over £2million additional funding in 2021-22 to NHS Forth Valley to improve CAMHS from our £120m Recovery and Renewal fund.

The Scottish Government national standard is that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral and the latest CAMHS publication reporting to quarter ending 31 December 2021 is available on the PHS website at:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-31-december-2021/

Table 1 shows the total number of patients seen for first treatment following referral to CAMH Services in NHS Forth Valley and the percentage seen within 18 weeks, 19-35 weeks, 36-52 weeks and 53+ for the latest published data for quarter ending 31 December 2021.

Table 1 : Total number of patients seen and waiting times from referral to treatment, quarter ending 31 December 2021, NHS Forth Valley

This information is not held centrally. It is not possible to identify activity in specific hospital units/wards based on centrally available data.

On 1 March 2022, there were 71 UK Government-operated test centres, 39 Scottish Ambulance Service-run mobile test centres, and around 50 temporary local authority and health board-run asymptomatic test sites across Scotland. There were also 23 operational small-scale test sites in NHS Highland and NHS Grampian, resulting in a total of around 180 test sites.

As the First Minister said in her 15 March statement when she announced the Test and Protect Transition Plan, the primary purpose of testing is changing from population-wide testing to reduce transmission, to targeted testing to support clinical care. It will also be required on an ongoing basis for surveillance, outbreak management and health and care workforces.

Until the end of April, we will continue to advise those with symptoms to get a PCR test. PCR test sites will remain open during this period, though opening hours and locations may change during the transition. Test sites will close at the end of April – although a small number of mobile testing units and lab capacity will be retained for our longer term contingency and testing purposes.

A copy of the Test and Protect Transition Plan can be found here: Supporting documents - Coronavirus (COVID-19): Test and Protect - transition plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)