Seòmar agus comataidhean

Officials and Ministers are in regular contact with business, including some of the biggest producers, and sector organisations in relation the delivery of the Deposit Return Scheme. The lack of clarity around an Internal Market Act exclusion has regularly been raised at these meetings and causes uncertainty and inhibits planning and preparation.

All Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s resources are reviewed regularly by the clinical team supporting HIS. The high risk medicines framework has been reviewed and has been identified as a useful resource for teams to use within their local settings. These are live resources and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme team welcomes feedback or suggestions for further developments.

As Circularity Scotland is a private company, any compensation to businesses they have arrangements with is a matter for them and it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to intervene in such commercial arrangements between private companies.

The Just Transition Fund sends a clear signal of our support for the North East and Moray however government alone cannot finance the region’s journey to net zero. The Scottish National Investment Bank will invest this £25 million funding in line with the Bank’s Investment Strategy, its missions including to support the Just Transition to net zero, and the Fund’s geographic remit.

Officials have engaged regularly with the Enterprise Agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank to inform the approach to Just Transition Fund investment capital.

On 24 January officials engaged with representatives from local councils, chambers of commerce, enterprise agencies, regional economic development organisations and community groups to reflect on the lessons learned from the first year of the Just Transition Fund.

On 9 February 2023 the former Minister for Just Transition held a series of engagements with representatives from Opportunity North East, Energy Transition Zone and the Net Zero Technology Centre.

The Scottish Government did not place any newspaper or TV adverts in relation to our initial public consultation on our overall approach to Highly Protected Marine Areas.

Information on proceedings is provided in the following tables. Table 1 shows all charges reported to COPFS under Section 1(3) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. Table 2 shows only people prosecuted where the main charge was under Section 1(3) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

Table 1

Charges reported to COPFS under: Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 S1(3)&1(7) - Possess a dog otherwise than in accordance with Act, 2013-14 to 2022-23.

The High Risk Medicines Framework specifies some medicines and medicines groups and at the current time this does not include Parkinson’s medication. There is also a High Risk Medicines Discussion template that is not medicine specific and can be adapted and used by local teams to meet their needs. Parkinson’s medication can be reviewed and discussed within this framework to support local teams to discuss and prioritise improvement activities. All resources are reviewed regularly and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) welcomes further suggestions to add to or develop resources.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17503 on 15 May 2023. 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

Reducing harm due to high-risk medicines has been identified as a priority by health boards across Scotland and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) has focussed on supporting teams to discuss and prioritise improvement activities related to high-risk medicines and high-risk situations around medicines.

The SPSP programme within HIS has developed a number of tools and resources which are publicly available via the Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) website. These resources include the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) Safer Care Bundle, NSAID Communication Care Bundle, Medicines Sick Day Rule Cards, High Risk Medicines Framework and the High Risk Medicines Discussion Framework. All resources available on the HIS website are reviewed by the clinical team supporting HIS to ensure they remain up to date and beneficial, and are available for staff to use within their local settings.

Human activities have had a considerable impact in Scotland’s seas. Of the 21 marine regions reported in the Scottish Marine Assessment 2020 , where physical disturbance was assessed, 18 were predicted to have more than 15% of their area classified as highly disturbed and are considered to be in “poor condition”.

Our proposals to introduce Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) are intended to contribute to addressing this situation and improving the state of our sea bed across Scotland’s seas. However, enhanced marine protection is about more than tackling biodiversity loss and climate change – it is also about delivering societal benefits which must include benefits for coastal and island communities.

We are proposing that HPMAs protect ecosystems and the services they provide, including essential fish and shellfish habitats, which will deliver societal benefits, including for island and coastal communities. By being properly designed and located we believe these areas would provide long term and sustainable benefits for island and coastal communities.

Scientific studies indicate that fish stocks can increase in HPMAs, providing spill over benefits for fishers and making sure there are sustainable levels of fish and other marine products to be derived and benefitted from our seas. For example, a study by Lenihan et al in California has shown spill over benefits with increased stocks of spiny lobster.

We have conducted a range of initial impact assessments, including an initial Sustainability Appraisal (composed of a Strategic Environmental Report and a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment); a partial Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) Screening Report; and a partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA). We sought views on these as part of our initial consultation, which closed on 17 April. However, as was noted in the consultation, any specific potential impacts can only be considered in full once specific site proposals have been developed, following close stakeholder and community engagement.