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The Scottish Government supports implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and agrees with others in the international community that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law; making it harder for a peaceful two state solution to be reached.

In 2018, the Scottish Government published Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rights [1] , setting out how we, our executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an investment relationship with them. This list of 112 companies identified by the UN Human Rights Office as being involved in activities related to illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, during the period from 1 January 2018 to 1 August 2019, is one piece of information to be considered in that due diligence process.

Existing policy guidance on procurement outlines actions that public bodies can take if they believe there are grounds to exclude companies active in any illegal settlements from bidding for public contracts [2] .

I have asked officials to write to the Chief Executives of relevant public bodies to remind them of the policy guidance, make them aware of this UN list and ask them to provide information to officials on any relationships they have with companies on this list. Following this, I will write to any companies, thus identified, seeking an update on their activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and what they are doing to cease those specific activities- as identified by the independent international fact-finding mission, which provided the basis for their inclusion in this list.

On account management services or other support, as noted in response to question S6W-00182, Scottish Enterprise is confident that it has acted in full accordance with their internal due diligence procedure, introduced in 2019. This procedure follows from the 2018 Scottish Government guidance.

As policies and procedures on due diligence and procurement are updated the Scottish Government takes account of the latest findings and recommendations of international bodies such as the UN.

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

[1] https://www.gov.scot/publications/due-diligence-checks-good-practice-guidance/

[2] https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20160106214501/http:/www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/SPPNSSPANS/policy-notes/SPPN2014/SPPN42014

Our 2018 Guidance on Due Diligence: Human Rights sets out how the Scottish Government, our executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies should undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, before entering into an investment relationship with them. Building on this, Scottish Enterprise’s Customer Due Diligence Procedure, introduced in 2019, sets out the process that it follows to undertake human rights due diligence checks on companies it works with. Such checks are based on a rigorous process and independent evidence. Scottish Enterprise is confident that it has acted in full accordance with this Procedure.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care’s report: Every Story’s Ending. This report provides a helpful insight into the experiences that people and their families have at the end of life in Scotland.

The findings of the report will be helpful in shaping the work to take forward our commitment to produce a new palliative and end of life care strategy over the course of the coming year.

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

The SPS do not conduct routine drug testing upon release from prison at the end of an individual’s sentence.

Regulation and authorisation of medicines is reserved to the UK Government. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the UK agency responsible for the approval of clinical trials in the UK and of marketing authorisations (licences) for new medicinal products. There are currently no COVID-19 vaccines authorised for supply in the UK for those aged 12 years and under.

In the event that the MHRA authorises COVID-19 vaccine(s) for those under the age of 12 years we will be guided by this and by advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations on offering vaccination to this age group.

Our ‘A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan’ sets out key actions we as a Government will take to meet our commitment to reduce the employment gap between disabled people and the rest of the working age population by at least half by 2038. This Action plan will be refreshed in Spring 2022; and we are working closely with our partners, including disabled people themselves and the organisations that represent them, as we develop this. The Young Person’s Guarantee will ensure that every person aged between 16 and 24 – including disabled people and those from low socio-economic groups will have the opportunity to study, take up an apprenticeship, job or work experience, or participate in formal volunteering. The transition to net zero presents opportunities to put this into practice. This year we have provided £27 million for Fair Start Scotland to provide tailored support for unemployed disabled people to move into fair and sustained work.

We are also providing over £8.65 million for the Parental Employability Support Fund in 2021-22, and will invest at least a further £15 million across 2022-24. This helps low income families identified as being most at risk of experiencing poverty, including disabled parents to increase their earnings, by gaining and progressing in fair work, providing intensive, person centred key worker employability support. In August we launched phase 1 of The Green Jobs Workforce Academy. The Academy makes it easier for individuals of all backgrounds at any stage of their career to consider how their skills and experience can be built upon to launch a green career. Finally, The Individual Training Account scheme continues to support the unemployed or those in low paid work with the opportunity to access £200 towards training.

The Independent Review of Adult Social Care recommended that accountability for adult social care should be transferred from local authorities to Scottish Ministers, creating a National Care Service.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on proposals for the remit and role of a National Care Service and wider proposals for community health and social care. The consultation also seeks views on whether children’s social work and social care services, and justice social work, should be included in the National Care Service.

Scottish Government welcomes ongoing engagement with local authorities and their participation in this consultation process. All responses to the consultation and engagement events will be carefully analysed to inform the Government’s position on the role and remit of the National Care Service. We will continue our engagement with key partners and stakeholders across the range of proposals for the new legislation.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish information as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Funeral Support Payment’. This includes information on the number and value of payments made since launch. In the most recent publication, which covered data up until the end of June 2021, 9,865 payments had been issued since the launch of Funeral Support Payment.

Information on Funeral Support Payment was last published on the 24 August 2021 and provided information up to the 30 June 2021. This publication is available from:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/funeral-support-payment-high-level-statistics-to-30-june-2021/

As we set out in our recent Programme for Government, we are committed to delivering the recommendations of the independent Grouse Moor Management Group review (the ‘Werritty Review’) as a matter of urgency.

This will include tighter regulation, including licensing, and oversight of muirburn, and a ban on burning on peatland (expect in very limited cases as part of an approved habitat restoration programme).

We will also undertake a review of the current definition of peatland, taking expert advice on whether it should be revised and a stricter definition imposed.

The timing of the legislation will depend on the future legislative programme for the Parliament, which will be set out in due course.

The Scottish Government recognises that the food we produce and consume has wide-ranging impacts in many areas of life. Our ambition is for Scotland to be a Good Food Nation where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day. We have already been working across government on an extensive programme of measures to deliver on this ambition. This work will now be supported and underpinned in law by the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill, introduced on 7 October 2021.

The Bill will provide an over-arching framework for clear, consistent and coherent future Scottish food policy. It places duties on Scottish Ministers and certain public authorities to produce plans of their policies in relation to food and set out what they will do to make those plans real. These plans will also have to set out the main outcomes to be achieved in relation to food-related issues, the policies needed to do this and the measures we will use to assess progress. We want these plans to deliver outcomes which support our nation’s social and economic wellbeing, the environment, people’s health and economic development.