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The Scottish Government recognises the importance of emerging chemicals of concern, such as prescription pharmaceuticals and works closely with Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to develop further understanding and take appropriate action in this area.

Scottish Water have a number of activities either ongoing or in development including a sampling programme at selected treatment works to quantify the impact of real time control on treatment of substances of emerging concern, including pharmaceuticals and a process optimisation trial to see whether better removal of steroids can be achieved at Activated Sludge Treatment Plants.

Scottish Water also directly funds research in this area including two PhD projects at Glasgow Caledonian and Robert Gordon Universities which look at reducing anti-microbial resistance and the treatment potential of septic tanks for pharmaceuticals. A further study is also underway to investigate how different pharmaceuticals degrade and change during wastewater transport to enable more accurate prediction of pharmaceutical concentrations in waters around Scotland.

Scottish Water is also a member of the One Health Breakthrough Partnership, which is funded by the Scottish Government and brings together key stakeholders across the water, environment and healthcare sectors who are committed to addressing pharmaceutical pollution in the environment through source control. The project has produced the first open access interactive tool: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (sepa.org.uk) in the UK to combine national environmental and prescribing data with data for 60 medicines detected in river water, raw wastewater and treated wastewater. The tool is used to explore and develop appropriate and sustainable solutions to reduce the discharge of pharmaceuticals to the environment.

We welcome the Asthma + Lung UK Scotland report and make the following comments in response to the recommendations on air quality and transport:

• WHO guidelines - the review of Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 will consider the current air quality objectives. The 2021 WHO guideline values will be a factor in our considerations.
• Monitoring - air pollution hotspots will generally be where high levels of traffic coincide with locations where large numbers of people are regularly present. The monitoring network and the supporting methodologies are sufficiently robust to ensure that any areas of concern will be picked up.
• Alert system - Know & Respond is a free service to subscribers in Scotland sending registered users an alert message if air pollution in their area is forecast to be moderate, high or very high. Air pollution episodes are rare in Scotland, but this early warning service allows people with medical conditions that may be affected by pollution, to take action to protect their health during periods of higher air pollution.
• Scrap peak rail fares - the final evaluation of the pilot clearly shows that the ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot has not achieved its aim of encouraging a significant shift from car to rail, and therefore it ended on 27 September 2024.
• Accelerate the roll out of electric trains and buses and reduce the proportion of routes using diesel vehicles – we are committed to decarbonising the passenger rail network. Details of how this is to be achieved are set out in the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan. The Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all passenger diesel trains being replaced; the order and programme in which that is done will depend on business cases and available budgets.
• Utilise the powers of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to support bus travel - we have delivered all the bus powers within the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to enable local transport authorities to consider all the powers available to them, including partnership working, franchising and local authority run services which sit alongside their ability to subsidise services.
• Greater incentives to purchase new ultra-low emissions vehicles - since 2011 we have provided over 8,000 interest free loans worth £223,178,275 million which has funded 8,514 ultra-low emission vehicles.
• Audit the electric vehicle charging network annually - we recognise how important a reliable public EV charging network is for instilling confidence in drivers. While we cannot comment on the reliability of commercial charging networks, reliability across the Charge Place Scotland CPOS network is typically very good with charge points on the network available for around 95-98% of the time each month. Where faults do occur they are usually rectified remotely and swiftly with minimal impact on EV drivers.
• Implement Low Emission Zones (LEZ) in further cities and large towns - local authorities have been given the powers to introduce and administer Low Emission Zones as appropriate through the Transport Scot Act 2019. To date four local authorities have used this power, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Local authorities can apply to amend their LEZ if so required following due process and according to legislative requirements. Any other local authority can submit an application for a LEZ to Scottish Ministers following the due process and according to legislative requirements.
• Vehicle idling - we are undertaking a review of the current guidance on vehicle idling with local authorities.

I raised this issue with the Principal of City of Glasgow College on 29 October 2024, who assured me the College remains committed to providing trade union education.

The Scottish Government, along with the other UK nations, relies on advice about screening programmes from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group.

Population screening for prostate cancer was last reviewed by the UK NSC in November 2020 when they concluded that the benefits of screening did not outweigh the potential risk of harm. As you may be aware, I have recently written to the UK NSC to ask them to review this matter again. The UK NSC chairman, Sir Mike Richards, has responded with assurance that this issue is a high priority for the Committee.

I am also encouraged that a large-scale study (TRANSFORM) has been launched to provide valuable evidence, looking at potential innovative screening methods and recruiting hundreds of thousands of men for the research. The UK NSC have committed to assessing evidence as it is published throughout the trial, and this will inform any future recommendation.

Should a recommendation be made to introduce prostate screening, the organisations that oversee screening will advise Scottish Ministers on how to take that recommendation forward.

In the meantime, men and those with a prostate who are concerned they have possible symptoms should speak to their GP. There is a list of symptoms available on the NHS website: Prostate cancer - NHS (www.nhs.uk).

Men aged 50 or over can also discuss taking a PSA test with their GP, even if they do not have symptoms.

The professional learning offer (courses) delivered via the Scottish Digital Academy is varied and multi-faceted, as it has been designed to meet the needs of a diverse audience.

Taught courses are broadly defined into three categories with an average duration as follows:

Short courses – 3.5 hours (half day)

Courses – 12 hours (2 days)

Programmes – 30 hours (5 days)

Some events are typically 6 hours (1 day) in length and self-directed learning courses vary between 15 minutes and 3 hours, as these are taken at the learner’s own pace and to meet their individual needs.

The Scottish Government shares concerns about the rise in popularity of high puff-count vapes, their accessibility to young people and the associated health risks they pose. The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 set out that in order for a vape to be considered reusable, it must be both refillable and rechargeable. By refillable, this means that the vape must contain a single-use container which is separately available for purchase by an individual user and can be replaced by the user in the normal course of use, or a container that can be refilled by the user in the normal course of use. By rechargeable, it means that the vape must have both a battery that can be recharged, and a coil which is separately available for purchase by an individual user and can be replaced by the user within the normal course of use.

There are a range of criminal laws available to deal with individuals who attack emergency workers.

Anyone who is guilty of assaulting an emergency worker can receive up to life imprisonment under the common law of assault. Anyone who is guilty of threatening or abusive behaviour towards emergency workers can receive up to five years imprisonment under the general offence of threatening or abusive behaviour. In addition, there is specific legal protection for emergency workers contained in the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 which can be used to prosecute cases.

Following a conviction, decisions on the sentence in any given case is a matter for the independent courts within the overall legal framework.

The Scottish Government supports the independent courts having these powers available to use in relevant cases.

The Scottish Government has no plans to undertake a national hedgehog census in Scotland.

Hedgehogs are protected in Scotland under the Wildlife and Countryside (Scotland) Act 1981. Alongside this legal protection, steps are being taken to halt the decline of hedgehogs in our towns and cities including the promotion of green space and green networks.

It is important to recognise that hedgehogs exist in some parts of Scotland where they are a non-native species. In those areas, such as South Uist, work is being done to manage the population through methods such as trapping and translocation.

We share concerns regarding the growing market share of high puff-count vapes, however the definition of single-use within the Regulations sets out that a vape must be refillable and rechargeable. In addition to a rechargeable battery, it must have a replaceable coil in order to be considered rechargeable and a refillable or replaceable container to be refillable. It is otherwise single-use and its sale and supply will be banned in Scotland when the ban comes into force next year. We have worked closely with Trading Standards to ensure that there are no loopholes in the definition of a single-use vape in the Regulations that manufacturers can exploit. We will continue to work with Trading Standards to monitor developments in vape design to ensure that the ban is fit for purpose and properly enforced.

The Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with business and industry to deliver a just transition for Scotland’s valued oil and gas sector, which recognises the declining nature of the North Sea basin and is in line with our climate change commitments.