Chamber and committees

The Forestry Grant Scheme, delivered through the Scottish Rural Development Programme and Scottish Forestry, will provide £307,759 of support specifically for capercaillie between 2016 and 2025. Prior to this, the Scottish Government paid out £781,452 through the Rural Priority (RP) Scheme’s Capercaillie Package between 2008 and 2019.

NatureScot, (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage), made payments of £544,705 towards the research and conservation of capercaillie in Scotland during the period December 2011 – December 2021.

Other Scottish Government funding in support of habitat management is likely to have benefited capercaillie but where not specifically provided for this species no breakdown is available.

Total expenditure on the organ donation campaign in Scotland since the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Act 2019 received Royal Assent, on the referred media, is £657,922.31. This is broken as follows:

On 14 December I confirmed in my statement to Parliament that the implementation date of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will be 16 August 2023. Accordingly, revised regulations were laid on 15 December which will change the date by which producers are required to register with SEPA to 1 March 2023 (instead of 1 March 2022). Once the revised regulations come into force, the registration window for producers is in effect changed to the period from 1 January 2023 to 28 February 2023.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde report that maintenance work requests for wards 4a and 4b were mainly in relation to paint and floor damage. Reactive works requests are general requests direct from the Ward and can include issues such as broken equipment, heating, cooling lights, broken beds, electrics etc.

Planned maintenance activities are also carried out which include checks of Ventilation, Emergency lighting, Fire Alarm, Thermal Mixing Taps, Showers and Fire Doors etc.

The Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Programme for Government contained a commitment to introduce a Good Food Nation Bill. The purpose of this Bill, introduced on 7 October, is to provide a clear, legislative framework introducing a statutory requirement for the Scottish Ministers and specified public authorities to publish good food nation plans. Those plans must set out the main outcomes they want to achieve in relation to food-related issues; the policies needed to do this; and the indicators or other measures required to assess progress.

The Bill underpins the work we are carrying out as part of the Good Food Nation programme of measures, delivering outcomes which support our nation’s social and economic wellbeing, the environment, people’s health and economic development. The subsequent plans will link together all the areas of food policy work that are addressed within the Programme for Government. Examples of such policies include our commitment to update and develop the Local Food Strategy following the recent consultation; plans to legislate for restrictions on unhealthier food and drink promotions; and a commitment to bring forward a plan to end the need for food banks and support people experiencing food insecurity.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Decisions by the SPS as to the most appropriate location to accommodate transgender people are made on an individualised basis, informed by a multi-disciplinary assessment of both risk and need.

Such decisions seek to protect both the wellbeing and rights of the individual as well as the welfare and rights of others around them, including staff, in order to achieve an outcome that balances risks and promotes the safety of all.

As of 3 December 2021, there were 15 transgender individuals held across 10 prisons in Scotland. In order to avoid the potential indirect identification of individuals, it is not appropriate to disaggregate the data as requested.

The following table outlines the number of calls made to the Dumb Dumpers hotline each year since 2014. As a result of the cyber attack experienced by SEPA, the Dumb Dumpers Hotline was down between 24 December 2020 and 27 June 2021.

During this time, the public were still able to report flytipping incidents through the online form on the Zero Waste Scotland website.

However, due to this cyber attack, we do not have access to Dumb Dumpers data between 1 November and 24 December 2020.

* Figures from 1 June 2020 to 30 October 2020

** Figures from 28 June 2021 to 30 November 2021

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04311 on 3 December 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found athttps://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

The Scottish Budget provides additional funding of £387 million for frontline NHS Boards in 2022-23 and continues to ensure that no Board is further than 0.8% from its target funding allocation.

In 2022-23, NHS Grampian will receive additional investment of £26.7 million, and this will take the Board’s overall funding in excess of £1 billion for the third consecutive year. Since 2015-16, NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £56 million specifically to support the Board's movement towards NRAC parity.