Seòmar agus comataidhean

Scottish Government officials are currently undertaking scoping work with a variety of stakeholders including healthcare professionals (representatives from British College of Aesthetic Medicine and British Association of Cosmetic Nurses), hair and beauty industry representatives, Environmental Health Officers, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), and other UK Governments in order to bring forward proposals regarding the potential further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures within the beauty sector in Scotland.

The scoping of further regulation of non-surgical cosmetics procedures includes the consideration of age restrictions, the levels of insurance, training, qualifications and supervision required to safely perform various types of non-surgical cosmetic procedures that pierce and penetrate the skin, is underway.

We hope to be in a position to update Parliament on timescale for this in due course.

All applications are subject to site specific assessments which are expected to address cumulative impacts. Where there is a need for co-ordination between applicants proposing development in the same area, the Scottish Ministers expect all parties to work together to co-ordinate development and minimise any impacts on communities and the environment. When determining applications made under the Electricity Act 1989, the Scottish Ministers are required to seek advice from planning authorities to ensure that decision-making is co-ordinated to reflect local circumstances.

Potential age restrictions for non-surgical cosmetic procedures are one of a number of issues that are being considered during the scoping work that Scottish Government officials are currently undertaking with a variety of stakeholders including healthcare professionals (representatives from British College of Aesthetic Medicine and British Association of Cosmetic Nurses), hair and beauty industry representatives, Environmental Health Officers, and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).

We hope to be in a position to update Parliament further in due course.

The anticipated cut by the UK Government to the Scottish Government's capital budget of up to £1.3billion in real terms over the coming years has consequences. In December 2023, given the extremely challenging capital funding position, NHS Boards were instructed to pause any project development spend and instead direct capital budgets towards maintenance of the existing estate and essential equipment and digital replacement. Boards were notified that the Scottish Government does not anticipate starting construction of any new project over the next two years at least. Obviously should the UK Government change course on capital investment we have an opportunity to look at this again alongside the capital review ongoing across the Scottish Government.

There is therefore no change to the position on NHS Capital Projects as a result of the ongoing review of the Infrastructure Investment Plan.

The Scottish National Investment Bank is guided by the missions set for it by Scottish Ministers but it is operationally independent and makes investment decisions in line with its own investment processes and strategy.

The Bank’s investments are also designed to fill gaps in the supply of capital available to businesses and at the same time to crowd in private capital to create a thriving ecosystem of investors active in Scotland.

The following table details the resource planning assumptions for each local authority for (a) 2024-2025 compared with the assumed figures that were published on 15 July 2021. These figures do not include the additional £40 million for 2024-2025, the allocations of for which are still being considered. No resource planning assumptions have yet been agreed for (b) 2025-2026.

The Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy recommended that no further planning permission is awarded to incineration facilities, beyond those for which planning permission has already been granted, with some limited exceptions. This analysis took into account the need to develop some additional capacity to ensure that Scotland can manage its own waste and implement the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste by 2025, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee. We addressed this recommendation through National Planning Framework 4.

Our Circular Economy and Waste Route Map consultation, published January 18, set out further detail and proposed provisional associated timescales on the steps we will take to minimise the environmental and climate impacts of waste, including the development of an indicative capacity cap as part of our Residual Waste Plan to 2045, with a provisional publication date in 2025-26.

The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) regulations 2012 (“the PPC regulations”) require that SEPA make impartial assessments of all PPC Permit applications and make decisions relating to environmental permits in accordance with these regulations. While Scottish Ministers do have the ability to intervene in the PPC process by way of a direction, SEPA is Scotland’s independent environmental regulator and intervening in the PPC process needs careful consideration and typically would not be appropriate in the absence of exceptional circumstances.

Further information on these developments can be found here: Circular economy and waste route map to 2030: consultation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish building regulations already set requirements for venues, for new buildings and new building work, that are intended to assist people with visual impairment to safely navigate a building.

However, building regulations are not applied retrospectively to existing buildings.

The Scottish Government expects building owners and managers to be familiar with their duties under equalities legislation and where necessary make reasonable adjustments following the relevant codes of practice published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Scottish Government believes everyone should have the right to access a cultural life of their choice, and are committed to advancing disability equality and tackling systemic barriers that affect the daily lives of disabled people. We are working with Disabled People’s Organisations, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Inclusion Scotland, and Disability Equality Scotland to ensure disabled people’s experiences are heard.

Facilitating access and participation to culture, is central to the artistic purpose of all Scottish Government funded culture bodies and they all share a desire to communicate with as large and diverse an audience as possible. The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments where a disabled person in placed at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with non-disabled people. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has produced a Code of Practice that gives more information on the application of reasonable adjustment. However the Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent, and reserved public body, and therefore cannot be directed by Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government-funded National Performing Companies all offer relaxed and adapted performances, this includes Audio Described and Captioned performances across Scotland, and in some cases pre-show Touch Tours for visually impaired audiences.

The Scottish Government is committed to promoting the rights of disabled people and ensuring that they benefit from all that we are doing to improve people’s lives. This includes ensuring that all serving Armed Forces personnel and veterans living in Scotland, as well as their families, are able to: access the best possible care and support; enjoy their rights on an equal basis to others; and participate fully and lead their own lives.

Those involved in ticket sales, such as venues or ticket providers, should be familiar with and address their broader duties under UK health and safety and equalities legislation including, for the latter, the requirement for service providers to make reasonable adjustments in circumstances where a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled people.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has produced a Code of Practice that gives more information on the application of reasonable adjustments. The Scottish Government expects all relevant organisations to comply with the requirement of the Equality Act 2010 and relevant codes of practice published by the EHRC.EHRC is an independent, and reserved public body, and therefore cannot be directed by Scottish Ministers.