Seòmar agus comataidhean

Seafarer employment legislation is reserved and a matter for the UK Government. Guidance published by the UK Government in 2018, and updated following 2020 legislation, can be found here: Minimum wage: seafarers and other people working at sea - GOV.UK.

As such, no assessment of the pay and conditions of seafarers working on vessels at Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm has been made by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Renewables’ Supply Chain Impact Statement 2023-24 highlighted that, at the time of publication, 105 different Scottish suppliers, firms and consultancies have helped to progress and shape the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. Inch Cape may consider publishing further details in relation to its supply chain and work packages at its own discretion.

The Scottish Government recognises the company’s commitment to Scotland’s supply chain and its role in identifying opportunities for local businesses.

To drive progress towards our circular economy goals, Scotland had a set of waste and recycling targets in place over the past decade running to 2025, and spanning the waste hierarchy.

As our Circular Economy & Waste Route Map set out, while these previous 2025 targets have provided a good platform for progress over the past decade, they are not universally the best indicators to deliver our circular economy, emissions and nature objectives.

By 2027, we will set new statutory circular economy targets, using powers from the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024. These targets will follow the development of a monitoring and indicator framework to allow for more holistic tracking of Scotland's consumption levels and wider measures of circularity, and will take into account the waste hierarchy.

There are currently three Energy from Waste (EfW) sites currently in construction and commissioning and SEPA keeps the Scottish Government updated about their development.

With respect to community consent, these facilities require planning consent from the relevant local authority and a permit from SEPA. Both the planning process and SEPA permitting process include formal consultation processes.

For EfW permits, SEPA consults the public twice: firstly at an early stage of the application and again on SEPA’s draft determination and draft decision document. This process has been followed for all EfW permits to date. Some EfW facilities also have regular liaison meetings with their local community and SEPA attends when invited.

Permits plus compliance and monitoring data are published by SEPA on its public register and EfW operators are also required, via the permit, to publish their monitoring data on their own website. There is also a 24 hour pollution hotline which members of the public can use to inform SEPA of any issues associated with an EfW facility.

Scottish waste legislation is underpinned by the waste hierarchy and Scottish Government has a range of laws and policies which implement it in managing waste.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require Scottish households and businesses to present recyclable materials such as glass, metal, plastic, paper, cardboard and food waste separately for collection.

Scotland was the first nation in the UK to introduce a ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste which comes into force on 31 December 2025.

The Circular Economy Act and our Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to 2030 set out ambitious plans to deliver priority actions which will help maximise progress towards a circular economy. The plan has 4 strategic aims: to reduce and reuse, maximise recycling, decarbonise disposal and strengthen the circular economy.

A total of £66.6 million has been allocated through the Recycling Improvement fund, to 27 Scottish local authorities for 47 projects to increase the quantity and quality of recycling across Scotland.

These are just some of the measures in place in Scotland which are to helping to drive waste up the hierarchy and away from disposal.

The implementation of regulation has not prevented physician associates (or anaesthesia associates) who are currently practising from continuing to do so, nor has it prevented NHS Boards or other employers from designing services around, and recruiting to, these professional groups.

As set out in Section 19(1)(b) of the Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024, from December 2026 it will be an offence to practise as a PA or AA in the UK without holding registration with the General Medical Council (GMC).

Surgical Care Practitioners, also a Medical Associate Profession, are not regulated by the GMC.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Decisions regarding the employment of individual members of staff are a matter for each NHS Scotland Board.

The Medical Associate Professionals (MAPs) Programme Board meets on a quarterly basis to discuss and advise on matters regarding the deployment of MAPs across NHS Scotland. The Board will next meet on 3 April 2025. Papers for the Programme Board can be viewed at https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/77069.

Physician Associates (PAs) are a long-established profession within the NHS Scotland workforce. The Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with the PA profession, including through dialogue with the Scottish Physician Associate Network which is represented on our national Medical Associate Professionals Programme Board. The Scottish PA Network also participates in the national MAPs Stakeholder Group, with a representative from the network acting as co-chair of the Group.

The information requested on how many (a) physician associate and (b) other medical associate profession roles there are in NHS Scotland can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence.