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Figures on employee owned businesses in Scotland are collated every two years in a census exercise commissioned by Co-operative Development Scotland and published shortly thereafter. The last census was undertaken in February and March 2022

At that time there were 146 Scottish-registered employee-owned businesses and worker co-operatives and 49 non-Scottish registered employee-owned businesses. The census revealed that the Scottish registered EOB's and worker co-operatives have a combined turnover of £691m and employ 5,350 people.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing its work on raising awareness of Lyme disease and ticks.

The Scottish Government-led Lyme Disease Awareness Raising Group will run the Lyme Disease Awareness Raising Campaign in May 2023 to coincide with National Lyme Disease Awareness Month, during which patients, activists, educators and Government share information on how to prevent Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with stakeholders and clinicians through the Health Professionals Education Sub Groups. This is chaired by the Scottish Government and comprises representatives from primary and secondary care, including experts in infectious disease in general and Lyme Disease. The group are examining the current resources being used by GPs and considering options for additional learning and development.

Clinical decisions on the care and treatment of individual patients are always matters of professional judgement for the responsible practitioner. NHS Boards and clinicians are required to use methods of treatment that are clinically appropriate and have a strong evidence base for their efficacy.

The Scottish Government will continue to use its own platforms to highlight the need to be tick aware and to set out the signs and symptoms of possible infection.

Control over the rates and bands of non-savings non-dividends income tax has been devolved to the Scottish Parliament since 2017-18.

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publish Outturn statistics annually, showing the revenue raised from Scottish Income Tax for the tax year prior. These statistics show revenue raised from taxpayers at their highest marginal rate, that is, the Income Tax band that a taxpayer would pay their next pound of Income Tax into.

Last year the Scottish Government consulted on proposals for a National Litter and Flytipping Strategy. The consultation included proposals to encourage behaviour change, improve infrastructure and services and strengthen enforcement, including a review of the current enforcement model. A final strategy will be published this year.

In addition, we are supporting local authorities to prepare for the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme next year, which will help to reduce the amount of waste, including litter, that local authorities have to handle, reducing the £36 million of public money spent annually on associated litter clean-up costs.

We will also be taking forward action to strengthen enforcement through the planned Circular Economy Bill this year.

Residents in Dumfries and Galloway should continue to contact their Health Board for up-to-date information on dental practices that are registering new NHS patients. NHS Dumfries and Galloway can be contacted by email at: dg.pcd@nhs.scot.

I appreciate, given distances, this might not be appropriate but, residents in Dumfries and Galloway may wish to register with a dental practice in a different Health Board area and if this might be appropriate should contact the relevant Health Board to obtain information on those practices accepting new patients.

Any patient who requires treatment for an urgent dental situation before they are able to register with a dental practice, can find advice on how to access dental services on the NHS Inform website at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/nhs-services/dental/dental-emergencies .

The Scottish Government does not plan to amend the current legislation on matters around public libraries.

Under section 163(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, public library services in Scotland are devolved to local authorities who have a statutory duty to ensure that there is adequate provision of library facilities for all persons resident in their area, taking into account local needs.

Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities, as independent corporate bodies to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on libraries, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Any decision around public libraries must be considered extremely carefully and we would encourage local authorities to work in partnership with communities to explore ways of delivering services, based on need.

The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with local government to ensure that the people of Scotland continue to receive the high quality public services that they expect and deserve.

Special Advisers and their responsibilities can be found on the Scottish Government website .

The First Report of the independent review of incineration was delivered in April 2022. Having accepted all of its recommendations, we have already taken actions to deliver the commitments we set out in our response. This includes introducing new restrictions on the development of energy from waste proposals in National Planning Framework 4, and working with UK Government to develop a methodology to report emissions from energy from waste separately.

Following careful consideration of the key findings and recommendations of Dr Church’s Second Report, we have published our response to the Report today. The Scottish Government’s response is available at: Scottish Government Response to: Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury? The Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland. Second Report: Decarbonisation of Residual Waste Infrastructure in Scotland. Our response accepts, in full or in principle, all of the report’s recommendations and sets out the actions we are taking to decarbonise the waste sector, in particular by ending the unnecessary incineration of plastics.

Our 2022 Waste & Circular Economy Route Map consultation set out a range of proposed measures that will support the ambition to end the unnecessary incineration of plastics. These include continuing to deliver the £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund, implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, and greater transparency in the end destination of recycling collected. In addition, we will continue to work with other governments of the UK to consider the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, which the Report notes could be an important decarbonisation tool.

We are also continuing to incentivise and support the deployment of combined heat and power, including for incineration facilities through our £300 million Heat Networks Fund. This is available across this Parliamentary session to support the rollout of new zero emission heat networks and communal heating systems, as well as the expansion and decarbonisation of existing heat networks across Scotland. Further details on implementing these recommendations will be incorporated into the final waste Route Map.

I would like to thank Dr Church for his hard work in delivering this important report for Scotland.

Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.

The total cost of Special Advisers employed during the financial year 2020-21 was £1,618,713.47. Total cost includes all salary costs, employer NI, and employer pension contributions. The level of employer NI and pension contribution is not a matter for the Scottish Government.

The cost of Special Advisers during 2020-21 was based on the following Pay Bands and Pay Ranges:

All findings from the 2016–2022 Rural Affairs Food and Environment Research Programme evaluation can be found in the published reports:

2016-2022 Rural Affairs, Food and Environment Research Programme Evaluation Main Report .

2016-2022 Rural Affairs, Food and Environment Research Programme Evaluation - Highlights Report .