Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14655 on 13 March 2018. 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

As of March 2022, 7 adverse events relating to the device have been submitted to NHS Scotland's Incident Reporting and Investigation Centre.

I am in the process of making arrangements to meet with members of the Life After Essure UK and Ireland support group.

Once this meeting has taken place the Government will, of course, consider whether any further action is required on our part or by the NHS in Scotland.

Decisions on licence applications are taken by NatureScot on a case-by-case basis taking into account all relevant information. The arrangements for restricting the use of General Licences are set out in detail on the NatureScot website. We consider these arrangements to be a fair and proportionate response where there is evidence of wildlife crime. We do not think an automatic restriction on all other licence applications is necessary or justified.

An individual licence may be issued, where a general licence restriction has been imposed, where there is evidence that the licence is required to deliver legitimate land management or other work. Applicants must provide detail as to the requirement for an individual licence, therefore, individual licences allow more control by the licensing authority. Details such as number of a species to be controlled, time and place can be specified on the licence. The licence will also usually require the applicant to report on the activities carried out.

For example, NatureScot has previously issued individual licences to employees of landholdings where general licenses restriction are in place, for the prevention of serious damage to livestock. In this case for example the licence was for heavily restricted use only in specified locations.

As this requires several tables of data to answer, a response has been provided through the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 63198). Across all crime and justice-related statistics, house burglary is not identified separately from housebreaking. As such each table shows actual and attempted crimes for theft from a motor vehicle by opening a lockfast place, theft of a motor vehicle, theft by opening a lockfast place and theft by housebreaking, including housebreaking ‘with intent’.

Table 1 shows crimes recorded by the police between 2011-12 and 2020-21. We do not hold information on the number or percentage of these crimes that were reported to the police by the public. For information the Scottish Crime & Justice Survey includes estimates of how many property crimes were committed over 2008-09 to 2019-20, and the percentage of them that were reported to the police. Further information on this has been provided alongside the tables. All crimes presented in Table 1 will have been investigated by the police as a crime was recorded by them. Table 2 and Table 3 show the number and percentage of these crime types that were cleared up the police.

Table 4 shows charges brought by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Tables 5 and 6 show the number of people proceeded against and the number of people convicted respectively, for these crime types over 2009-10 to 2019-20, and the overall percentage is shown in table 7. The 2020-21 National Statistics will be published later this year.

Care should be taken when comparing different data sources relating to the criminal justice system. For example recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year, charges brought and court proceedings concluded in subsequent years. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

The Scottish Government welcomed engagement with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland during the revision of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland. The Commissioner’s Office provided permission to publish their response to the formal Scottish Government public consultation on Citizen Space .

The Commissioner asked for a comprehensive re-draft of the guidance to ensure that children’s human and statutory rights are threaded throughout; a consistent application of a rights-based approach across health, justice and local authority Children’s Services and Planning Partnerships with greater clarity that children’s rights to protection apply to all those with a duty of care; extending a trauma-informed approach to children in conflict with the law; and a request that Children’s Hearings should be extended to all children under the age of 18.

The Scottish Government met with the Commissioner’s Office to discuss their response and incorporated suggestions into the final published guidance to further strengthen the focus on rights, relationships, collaboration and support for families, building on strengths. It was noted at this meeting that forthcoming Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) support materials will support improved consistency across Scotland in appropriately balancing rights to privacy and family life with rights to be supported and protected. The Commissioner’s Office subsequently reviewed and contributed to the Guidance Supporting Narrative which sets out how our approach to child protection in Scotland aligns with and supports strategic developments including UNCRC implementation.

Some suggestions made in connection with legislation and practice relating to 16 and 17 year olds are beyond the scope of the guidance which reflects the current legislative, policy and practice context. The Scottish Government has committed to review the guidance on an annual basis to ensure that it remains consistent with wider changes.

The Scottish Government recognises, and will continue to champion, onshore wind as a key part of Scotland’s energy mix. Continued growth in onshore wind will be a vital component in meeting our net zero ambitions.

The Onshore Wind Policy Statement consultation was launched on 28 October 2021, which includes our ambition that an additional 8-12 GW of onshore wind be installed by 2030.

The consultation considered key themes such as barriers to deployment, community benefits and shared ownership, circular economy and supply chain opportunities.

The consultation closed on 31 January 2022, and a full policy statement is expected to be published later this year with consultation analysis also to be published in due course.

Individual Licences can be issued on land-holdings where General Licences have been restricted due to the level of control held by the licensing authority in the case of the former. General Licences by their nature require a higher degree of trust on the part of the licensing authority as the user of the licence is not required to provide details of the activities being undertaken under the licence. When an application is made for an Individual Licence details such as number of a species to be controlled, time and place are specified on the licence. The licence will also usually require the applicant to report on the activities carried out.

The Scottish Government has no immediate plans to introduce such legislation. However our new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone' sets out a series of actions intended to deliver further air quality improvements over the period to 2026. Amongst these actions are several which focus on reducing emissions from domestic fuel combustion.

An expert working group, which met for the first time in January 2022, has been established to advise the Government on taking forward these actions. Further information will be made publicly available as this work proceeds.

The data is not available in the format requested.

Men become eligible for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening when they reach age 65, and should receive an initial invite before their 66 th birthday. The programme monitors the proportion of the eligible population who are sent an initial offer to screening before age 66 as a key performance indicator.

In March 2020 all adult screening programmes, including the AAA programme, were temporarily paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AAA screening programme resumed in July 2020, prioritising men in the high risk cohort.

The latest data published on 1 March 2022 shows that the programme has maintained screening the eligible population before they turn 66 and 3 months at a rate above 75% which is similar to pre-COVID-19 rates and in line with the programmes recovery route map. 90.5% of men were invited for screening before their 66th birthday. The full report is available here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-aaa-screening-programme-statistics/scottish-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-aaa-screening-programme-statistics-year-ending-31-march-2021/.

The Scottish Government’s Agri-Environment Climate Scheme fund includes options to help support waders and has so far committed £38.8m that will directly benefit waders since the scheme opened in 2015.

Working for Waders is a partnership project involving a wide range of land management and conservation organisations and groups across Scotland. The project provides financial support through small grants directly to farmers and other land managers for activities which support waders. NatureScot have provided £392,000 to the project in direct support of wader work in Scotland over the last four years, with contributions in kind from project partners including expertise and support to deliver outcomes.

It is not possible to provide year-on-year declines in the numbers of waders in Scotland as data on breeding birds in not gathered in a way that can provide this information. However the table below provides trend figures taken from the latest Breeding Bird Survey, published by the British Trust for Ornithology, for the main 5 species of wader that breed on Scottish farmland over five and ten years. Further details on that data, and the full Breeding Bird Survey, is available at: https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/birdtrends/2020