Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34490 on 18 February 2025:

Based on the latest published Criminal Proceedings data (available to 2022-23), since January 2014, there have been no prosecutions under section 40(1) of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (where this was the main crime).

The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland bulletin (2023-24) is scheduled for publication in autumn 2025.

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

Ensuring that workers and communities currently reliant on oil and gas are protected and indeed, stand to benefit from the transition to net zero is central to the rationale underlying our wider Just Transition policy.

The Grangemouth Just Transition plan will be an iterative document that is subject to ongoing monitoring and evaluation and this will inform wider policy development around the transition to net zero at a local level.

We will continue to work with stakeholders across Scotland’s energy system, doing all we can within our power to identify priority areas for action.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-36801 on 8 May 2025. 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

The Scottish Government made clear to Project Willow partners that the outputs of initial work must align to its draft Grangemouth Just Transition Plan with workforce and community considerations as fundamental prerequisites.

Both the workforce and the wider community were fully engaged in the initial research informing Project Willow, and stakeholders have regularly been kept appraised of findings and progress through the Project Willow standing committee that had representation from Unite and through the Grangemouth Future Industry Board which has representation from both community and workforce members.

Going forward, workers and the wider Grangemouth community will be able to contribute to next steps of Project Willow through regular review points across the GFIB group, as part of the Just Transition process. And we continue to engage closely with trade unions, educational institutions, and workers to make progress.

The Scottish and UK Governments are working jointly, along with trade unions, to fund a tailored skills intervention for workers facing redundancy at the Grangemouth Refinery. This is designed to support the transition of the impacted workforce through the job market into in-demand industries. Forth Valley College (FVC) are the delivery provider.

Given the urgent nature of the work, both governments meet weekly to discuss this intervention. Our priority focus is ensuring that all eligible members of the workforce have access to training aligned to their redundancy. However, it is critical that this intervention retains skilled workers in the Scottish economy and we will continue working with partners to understand how it can support workers to play a central role as future low carbon projects are phased in at Grangemouth.

Private sector investment in energy and infrastructure projects will be critical to realise a just transition at Grangemouth. That is why our final Just Transition Plan will seek to instruct and mobilise wider support from investors and developers, centred around the clear opportunities present at Grangemouth.

The Scottish Government welcomes the publication of Project Willow and its recommendations which set out a transformative future for parts of the Grangemouth cluster, if the public and private sectors work together.

To support this, Scottish Enterprise and the UK Office for Investment have established an “Investor Taskforce” to identify and attract investors with an interest in progressing the Project Willow proposals. I would encourage any interested investor to engage with Scottish Enterprise in the first instance to explore how any opportunity could be progressed.

Scottish Government policy for respiratory conditions falls under the remit of the Long Term Conditions Unit which has so far spent £219,365 to support delivery of the Respiratory Care Action Plan since its publication in 2021.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan also contains actions and commitments that are being addressed by other Scottish Government strategies which have their own funding.

The Scottish Government recognises that pulmonary rehabilitation is an important element of respiratory care and acknowledges the significant impact this treatment can have on people living with respiratory conditions.

In 2024 we worked with stakeholders, including many respiratory physiotherapists and nurse specialists, to develop a service specification for effective pulmonary rehabilitation services across Scotland. These recommendations have been shared with NHS Boards.

We will continue to work with NHS Boards and key partners, including the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, to ensure these recommendations are implemented.

The Scottish Government welcomes this report and will fully consider the Action Against Stalking report recommendations and will work in partnership to consider current policy and how recommendations may be taken forward.

Scottish Government notes this report with interest and is fully aware that the risk of liver disease is increased by the impact of harmful alcohol use and obesity.

This is why we are determined to do all we can to reduce alcohol-related harm, one of the most pressing public health challenges that we face in Scotland. We take a whole population approach to tackling such harm, in line with the World Health Organisation’s focus on affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol.

Our Alcohol Framework 2018 contains 20 actions to tackle alcohol-related harm. One of the key actions was the implementation of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) in May 2018. Since then, we have seen a reduction of 3% in total alcohol sales, with a focus on the cheap high-strength alcohol which is often drunk by people drinking at harmful levels. Recent research by Public Health Scotland has found that MUP has been found to save more than 150 lives a year and 411 fewer hospital admissions. It’s also encouraging to see that this research has highlighted that the policy is having an effect in Scotland’s most deprived areas – which experience higher death rates and levels of harms from problem alcohol.

We also want everyone in Scotland to eat well and have a healthy weight to help reduce the impact of a range of diet-related ill health conditions, including liver disease. We continue to implement the wide-ranging actions set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan to address this challenge. This includes our commitment to restrict less healthy food promotions and improve the availability of healthier options when eating out, as outlined in our Out Of Home Action Plan.

Scottish Government through its national Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) has formed a Specialty Delivery Group for Liver Disease with the first meeting on 6th November 2024. Early Detection is one of the pathways being prioritised.

The Early Detection Pathway has already been passed through the first Gateway in the CfSD delivery pathway. The challenges are around how individual boards can implement this before the National Laboratory Information Management System.

There has been progress in developing the Early Detection pathways in individual health boards using the technology as currently available while others are using the Referral Advice to Primary Care with increased use of the FIB-4 and Fibroscan with advice for Lifestyle changes and repeat investigation as required.