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The Cabinet has received regular updates on the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and last discussed it on 6 June 2023. Cabinet was briefed on the latest position regarding letters exchanged with the UK Government on the Internal Market Act, in particular the UK Government’s refusal to provide a full exclusion despite detailed engagement over almost two years and the evidence that says the biggest benefits, economically, financially and environmentally, are from including glass.

This is an operational matter for NatureScot. I have asked their Chief Executive to write with the relevant information.

Independent reporters have decided on 493 wind turbine appeals since 2007. 222 of these have been allowed and 271 have been dismissed. The breakdown, in full, of planning authority areas and decision outcomes as requested, is a large statistical document. This information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under Bib. No. 64333.

Tables 1 and 2 present the number of properties receiving SBBS as at 1 June 2021 and 1 July 2022, in Clackmannanshire and Stirling council areas. These figures are based on the billing data provided by councils to the Scottish Government as at those dates.

Equivalent figures for 2023 are not currently available. These are expected to be published in late 2023.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of properties eligible for the Small Business Bonus Scheme, as we are unable to reliably identify business chains.

Table 1: Properties receiving SBBS relief in Clackmannanshire.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with COSLA to agree a New Deal with Local Government in Scotland that promotes sustainability, empowerment and provides greater fiscal flexibility over local funding with clear accountability for delivery of shared priorities and outcomes.

As part of the New Deal, we are committed to concluding the Local Governance Review in this parliament, ensuring that decisions are taken as close as possible to those they affect the most is at the heart of our approach to public service reform in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has funded two successful international projects to help tackle global challenges around period dignity. Funding of £100,000 was provided to Water Aid Foundation to support women in Rwanda, and just under £13,000 was provided to a project through the Freedom From Fistula Foundation in Malawi.

These projects helped communities make and sell reusable period products and generate an income for community members. Funding was also used to donate free products to school pupils in these countries. Both projects were funded in collaboration with international development programmes and through the social justice budget.

The Scottish Government has committed to undertaking independent research to understand the impact of 20 th century policies on the Gypsy/Traveller community in Scotland. We developed specifications for two research projects to gather further information, with one focussing on archival analysis and the other on community engagement and lived experience. We successfully appointed an appropriate contractor to take forward the archival project, and are working to re-tender the community engagement and lived experience project as no compliant bids were received for this. We expect to receive initial findings from the research next year, at which point we will consider next steps and respond.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times warehouse to collect electronic patient records. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, for patients who have completed their wait the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect that performed after they were admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the warehouse, and as such we would be unable to report accurately on ongoing waits to this level of detail.

Public Health Scotland publishes quarterly statistics relating to the number of ongoing waits, by specialty and health Board of treatment. The latest statistics for Ophthalmology in NHS Shetland are published up to 31 st March 2023, and for new outpatients, this information can be found under Table 1.1 using the link below:

https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/19970/newop_may23.xlsx .

Scottish Government launched the Neonatal Expenses Fund (NEF) in April 2018 to help support parents to be able to spend as much time with their babies as possible, while they were receiving care within a neonatal unit.

Scottish Government increased funding in July 2021 to form the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF), which subsumed the NEF to create a single unified fund. This new commitment extended support to families of children and young people receiving inpatient care up to age 18.

The fund is demand-led and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring sufficient funding to NHS Boards to support all valid YPFF claims. Budgets for both funds are as set out in the following table.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17049 on 10 May 2023. 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 .