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Following the publication of the Health and Social Care Winter Resilience Overview I wrote to General Practices on 15 November to set my expectations regarding the need to ensure there is an appropriate mix of pre-booked, same day, face to face and remote appointments that suits individual practice populations.

I also announced the formation of the General Practice Access Group. The group aims to understand the challenges and issues affecting access to General Practice and will establish high level core principles to support and enhance patients’ experience of accessing ‘The Right Care, Right Time, Right Place’. The group has commenced its work and I understand will be looking to consult on a draft document in February.

On 21 December 2022 NHS Forth Valley and NHS Lanarkshire have been allocated £52.565 million and £109.967 million respectively to provide primary medical services.

Circularity Scotland issued the final RVM specification in November 2022. Separately some producers have highlighted that their containers have higher than usual variation in weight. Circularity Scotland have recently met with RVM vendors and drinks producers to discuss tolerance levels in dimensions, particularly with glass, to ensure that the settings in RVMs accommodate these variations. This is a standard approach for deposit return schemes and will mean that return points don’t need to deal with high levels of rejections.

On 28 September 2022 the Scottish Government published the report from our consultation on proposals to make regulations under sections 17 to 19 of the 2016 Act, which would introduce restrictions on the following:

• advertising
• brand-sharing in products and services
• free distribution and nominal pricing
• sponsorship of an activity, event or person

The responses, together with the analysis report will inform and shape the final vaping restrictions which we aim to bring forward in 2023.

If businesses have any concerns or questions regarding DRS, they should contact Circularity Scotland in the first instance. They can do this via their website or their dedicated helpline.

The works at each of the ports as part of the Skye Triangle Infrastructure programme (Tarbert, Lochmaddy & Uig) are aimed at replacing life expired infrastructure, improving resilience and increasing the range of vessels that can use the ports. The Tarbert (Harris) project is estimated to cost £23million. Our response to the Freedom of Information Request 2022-00297832 published in July 2022 outlined that we have offered a capital funding contribution of up to £19.599million with the remaining contribution to be met by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) as statutory harbour authority.

No expressions of interest have been received by the Scottish Government as the Community Bus Fund has not launched. Officials have engaged with local authority representatives ATCO and CoSLA, who have indicated the general feedback from local authorities on the Community Bus Fund has been positive.

An appeal has been lodged with Scottish Ministers on behalf of Loch Long Salmon Limited against the decision by Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority to refuse planning permission for a marine fish farm and associated development at Beinn Reithe, Loch Long. A reporter has been appointed to consider this appeal and is currently assessing what if any further information is required to fully consider this appeal. The planning authority has been asked to submit its response to the appeal, which will include copies of all information submitted on the application. This will include any consultation responses, including those from Marine Scotland, submitted on the planning application. Given this is a live appeal it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits or otherwise of the proposal.

We recognise the hazard of asbestos and the risks to health it poses. However, asbestos is only dangerous when it is disturbed or in poor condition. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance states that it is safe for asbestos to remain in place if it is in good condition, well-protected and unlikely to be disturbed. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate. The Scottish Government will double its NHS estate maintenance budget and health boards can use that money to remove asbestos as and when it is appropriate to do so.

The Scottish Government’s consultation on Gaelic and Scots closed on 8 December 2022 and the responses from this consultation will help inform part of the work to develop Scots language policy and the proposed Scottish Languages Bill.

As part of the consultation process, the Gaelic and Scots Division undertook a variety of public engagement events to ensure the views of Scots speakers and stakeholders were heard. This included attendance at the Scots Cross Party Group. The responses to the consultation are now being analysed and will help shape any future legislation.

From data provided in the 2019 Scottish Household Survey, the percentage of people aged 60+ without a concessionary bus pass (National Entitlement Card (NEC)), broken down by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles, was as follows: