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The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones)(Scotland) Act was granted Royal Assent on 22 July 2024.

Commencement of the Act is subject to parliamentary procedure which requires a Scottish Statutory Instrument to be laid. The Scottish Government is therefore currently undertaking work to commence the provisions as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government published a response to Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury - Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy, the first report from the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy in June 2022 and set out some key actions in response to the full recommendations.

This response can be found here: Independent review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The consultation on our Circular Economy and Waste Route Map set out a range of actions with associated timelines, including the development of an indicative capacity cap as part of our Residual Waste Plan, due for publication in 2025/26, to meet these recommendations which can be found here: Circular economy and waste route map to 2030: consultation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group’s 2020 report noted that there was some evidence that rehabilitation programmes of 12 weeks had led to more successful treatment outcomes. However, the recommendations were also clear that further research was required on the length of rehabilitation programmes and their correlation to outcomes across Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s current position is that all placements for residential rehabilitation should be assessed on an individual needs basis, and it is ultimately for professionals and clinicians to make the decision locally as to whether a shorter or longer programme is effective for the individuals involved.

As part of our work on developing the residential rehabilitation evidence base, the Scottish Government published a literature review in 2022 which looked at existing evidence and research gaps. As noted in Page 14, residential rehabilitation encompasses a diverse range of treatment models, and there is no one programme which has proven to produce routinely better outcomes for individuals.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland have worked collaboratively with stakeholders to establish a core minimum dataset to support the monitoring and evaluation of residential rehabilitation. It is expected that the first extracts will be published in December, where a greater level of insight and data will be available, including average treatment length and associated outcomes, as the dataset continues to develop and mature.

Publication of the 20% car use reduction route map is planned in autumn this year. It is being produced in partnership with CoSLA.

On 25 April 2024 planning guidance on local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods was published, setting out a framework and information on how the concepts of local living and 20 minute neighbourhood can be applied in a Scottish context, as set out in the fourth National Planning Framework.

The above-mentioned route map does not commit to delivering 20 minute neighbourhoods, although both policies mutually support each other.

Funding allocated to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) is for both alcohol and drug treatment services. In 2024-25, £112.9 million is being made available to ADPs. This funding is used to ensure that local services meet the needs of people who experience alcohol and drugs harms.

On 7 September 2023, the previous Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy supported a Member’s Debate Motion calling for investment in alcohol services, outlining the Government’s plan to reduce harm from alcohol misuse.

We have asked Public Health Scotland to investigate the apparent decline in alcohol treatment numbers. This is underway and is expected to be completed in 2024. In 2023-2024, the number of statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements increased to 938, the majority of which included alcohol use or co-dependency.

We are working with partners and stakeholders to develop a national specification for alcohol and drug treatment in Scotland. The national specification will build on the forthcoming UK Alcohol Treatment Guidelines which will support the improvement of alcohol treatment in Scotland, mirroring the use of the Orange Book Guidelines for drug treatment.

The NHS Scotland Volunteering program promotes the use of the Volunteer Scotland Volunteer Charter principles within its Best Practice Guide . The principles are also endorsed within the NHS Scotland’s Volunteering Programme’s Strategic Vision for 2023-28.

The Scottish Government is not responsible for taking action against any land occupiers who have received multiple Section 59 notices. It would be for SEPA or the local authority responsible for issuing the notices to determine whether or not any further action or investigation would be appropriate in relation to any ongoing activity on the land.

Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) most recent report confirmed that 461 statutory-funded placements were approved in the second half of the 2023-24 financial year alone, with 938 placements approved for the year overall. This indicates that we are already on track to meet our commitment of 1000 people accessing statutory-funded residential rehab in 2026 (an increase of 300%).

While the PHS statistics indicate welcome progress, we recognise the scale of the challenge that we continue to face and are determined to do more.

We are working with ADPs to aid the development of clear pathways into residential rehabilitation across the country, and the establishment of pathway development clusters by Healthcare Improvement Scotland has resulted in 29/30 ADPs publishing their pathways. This will help facilitate a further increase to statutory funded placements and support our aim of meeting the final target before the end of the National Mission in March 2026.

The Public Health Scotland interim monitoring report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements does not gather data on the number of successfully completed rehabilitation placements.

We have responded to calls for more transparency and accountability commissioning Public Health Scotland to develop a National Core Minimum Dataset that will provide data not only on the number of publicly funded placements but also with time will publish insights on outcomes from placements in Residential Rehab.

This will provide the Scottish Government with a clear line of sight on how residential rehab funding is being spent across the country and help to further the evidence base for this treatment model.

Public Health Scotland’s baseline report on the residential rehabilitation programme, published in February, outlines the complexities in evaluating shorter programmes within the context of wider residential rehabilitation.

As noted on Page 12 of the report, discussion as to whether two-week or four-week placements are best included or excluded from the total number of publicly funded residential rehab placements remains ongoing. The argument for including them is that they are publicly funded placements. The argument for excluding them is that there has been some evidence in previous reports such as the 2020 Residential Rehabilitation Working Group report which suggests that positive outcomes are more likely with longer placements.

However, all placements for residential rehab are assessed on an individual needs basis, and so we cannot assume that longer programmes necessarily constitute a comprehensive rehabilitation experience in general. It is ultimately for professionals and clinicians to make the decision locally as to whether a shorter programme is as effective for the individuals involved.