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The Scottish Government is committed to tackling the impact that single use plastics have on the Scottish environment.

That is why last year we laid regulations before Parliament that, subject to the impact of the UK Internal Market Act 2020, ban some of the most problematic single use plastic products (expanded polystyrene beverage cups, expanded polystyrene food containers, single-use plastic beverage stirrers, plastic cutlery, straws, balloon sticks and plastic plates).

The legislation is the first in the UK to ban such a wide range of single-use plastic items and goes further than the single-use plastic bans currently in force in the rest of the UK.

The Scottish Government is committed to moving to a circular economy and, as part of this, is taking further action to deal with the problem of single-use plastics. To support this, we have committed to develop a route map to identify further actions required to accelerate progress towards existing waste prevention and recycling targets, and to introduce a Circular Economy Bill in this parliamentary term to support and encourage reduction of consumption, reuse, repair and recycling.

To support our circular economy ambitions we are working with the other UK administrations to introduce extended producer responsibility for packaging, which will encourage more sustainable packaging design by putting the cost of managing packaging waste onto producers.

We are keeping under review the impact of actions in train or planned and will consider any further measures that may be required to combat the environmental impact of problematic single-use plastics, taking account also of international evidence.

Finally, the Scottish Government is also a founding signatory to the UK Plastics Pact, led by WRAP, a collaborative initiative that seeks to create a circular economy for plastics and reduce plastic waste.

As we have set down in the answer to question S6W-05212 the interval between appointments is dependent on the dentist’s clinical assessment of the oral health of the patient.

This assessment should be based on the available evidence from expert groups on appropriate oral health management. For example, the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) published an Oral Health Assessment and Review in 2012. This advised that patients considered at low risk of oral ill health should receive ‘standard prevention’ and a further Oral Health Assessment at 24 months for adults and 12 months for children.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament on 17 November 2022 I gave an update on progress towards implementing Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. In that statement I said that officials and I were working hard with Circularity Scotland and the industry to agree a final timescale and clear milestones for delivery including interpreting the impact of the decision from the UK Government on VAT, which had only just been communicated to me. While carrying out that further work, the date was very much under continuous assessment as new information was received and views of stakeholders were taken on-board. The date was made firm when I announced this to Parliament on 14 December.

We do not expect local authorities to develop new consultation processes on river catchment management and individual property protection measures.

The Flood Risk Management Act (2009) sets out Scotland’s catchment based approach to Flood Risk Management, including requirements for consultation on measures to reduce flood risk.

To support the implementation of the Act, the Scottish Government produce statutory and non-statutory guidance to help SEPA, local authorities and Scottish Water fulfil their responsibilities.

In 2019, the Scottish Government published the second edition of Delivering Sustainable Flood Risk Management . It includes advice for engaging with individuals, communities and landowners on flood risk, on steps that individuals can take to protect their families, homes and businesses from flooding, and of actions to avoid that can increase flood risk.

Our Living with Flooding Action Plan , also published in 2019 recommends actions for a range of stakeholders to take to help promote property flood resilience in Scotland. We continue to work with the steering group to help implement the actions set out in the plan.

We consider that these documents provide appropriate guidance for consultation on developing environmental considerations and policies.

Booster information was made available on paper/pdf certificates from 13 December. Only the 2 most recent vaccine doses are included.

The certificates have been developed in line with the standards set by the EU on 17 November. The EU set a deadline for all members of the EU DCC scheme to have aligned with this standard by 31 December.

This change will allow those travelling to the small number of countries that are seeking evidence of more recent doses to provide evidence of their booster or third vaccination.

The recommendation from COSLA leaders was a pause by local authorities of any non-legally committed flood protection scheme, pending a review of projects by a programme oversight group. A review of these projects is being undertaken to assess their status and viability and COSLA will present the review findings to Ministers in due course. That review is still ongoing and it is for COSLA and local authorities to determine how to communicate that information to local populations.

The Scottish Government has not provided additional financial support to local authorities specifically relating to the Covid certification scheme.

We are working closely with Local Authorities, the Health and Safety Executive and Police Scotland to ensure that we are taking a joint approach on the enforcement of regulations and wider workplace health measures. We have committed to £2.9m in funding to support Covid related work carried out by Local Authority Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers to year end 2021-22. We continue to engage with the Local Authorities to understand how this funding is being used to ensure they have the capacity to support businesses to comply with the regulations and guidance, including the Covid status certification requirements. Local authorities are responsible for prioritising enforcement work within their area, and they are doing so using a risk based and 4 Es approach (Engage, Explain, Encourage and Enforce).

We continue to engage with Local Authorities over this funding, and any potential extensions that may be required.

Through local Health and Social Care Partnerships, a wide range of support is provided to people aged under 60 who can no longer be looked after by their families at home due to complex medical issues.

This includes support from GPs and community Multi-Disciplinary Teams including therapists, nurses and social work teams. In some circumstances support from specialists may be necessary to handle specific complex medical issues, however the community team remains the cornerstone of care. Scottish Government recently announced £20 million to strengthen Multi-Disciplinary Teams, to support joint working between health and social care.

Self-directed Support (SDS) is Scotland’s mainstream approach to social care that seeks to give people choice and control over how their care is provided. Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) are required to ensure that people are offered a range of choices on how they receive their social care support.

Where it is no longer possible for people to remain at home, a wide range of residential options, in homely settings, are available. There is a robust assessment process to ensure that any receiving setting is assessed as a good match and can meet the health and social care needs of individuals.

Each Health Board operates their own policy for the management of risk assessment. This includes well established processes with locally agreed trigger points for maintaining a safe service and ensuring patient safety.

At the time of writing only NHS Lanarkshire is at the highest level of escalation, according to their own escalation framework.

COSLA recommended to Scottish Ministers that the flood protection schemes eligible for funding in the Flood Risk Management Strategies published in December 2015 which are not yet “legally committed” are paused. Ministers accepted this recommendation and COSLA are undertaking a review of these projects to assess their status and viability. COSLA will present the review findings to Ministers in due course. This pause and review of schemes is one element of the work being taken forward to review the current funding and distribution arrangements for flood risk management. The Scottish Government has not suspended any expenditure on the flood risk management schemes.