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With funding from the Scottish Government, in December 2021, SEPA contracted an environmental consultant to manage the construction of a leachate management system at the former landfill site at Tarbolton Moss, to prevent the ongoing discharges of landfill leachate to neighbouring watercourses and make it possible for leachate disposal to the public sewerage system. The design phase is now complete. As the answer to S6W-11600 on the 4 November 2022 updates, we are working with public partners to begin work to implement leachate management as soon as possible. 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 .

SEPA continues to monitor ongoing environmental risks at the site and completed its latest survey in August 2022. This found no significant increasing trends associated with the migration of landfill gas or impact to groundwater from leachate.

SEPA publishes monitoring updates and the latest update (August 2022) will be available shortly here: Tarbolton Moss Landfill | Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

The Scottish Government provided £3.275 million in 2021-22 to local authorities and the third sector to provide direct support to families in financial crisis. This funding was targeted at families with children who are on the edge of care, or have experience of care. In 2022-23, the Scottish Government has committed to providing the first £50 million of the £500 million Whole Family Wellbeing Funding.

Given the scale of change and the associated ambitions, the Scottish Government has made a commitment to undertake a rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) up to 2025-26.

The evaluation process is divided into two stages. We have commissioned an independent social and market research agency, IFF Research, to undertake an initial evaluation of the first year of the funding. The year 1 evaluation report will be published by late 2023. The second stage of the monitoring and evaluation of WFWF for the period 2023-2026 is currently being developed in close consultation with key stakeholders.

Civil solicitors have always covered a wide geographical area. The location of firms does not appear to support the assertion that advice is not available. Unlike in other jurisdictions, the Scottish Government has maintained wide access to legal aid for civil law issues. In addition to the availability of legal aid for private legal firms, we also fund a number of law centres who provide advice and representation on issues not normally dealt with by commercial firms, as well as localised advice providers who are supported by grant funding from the legal aid fund. We also fund public legal services through the Civil Legal Assistance Office. All of these services can and do operate across a wide geographic area.

I recognise that stigma associated with liver disease can create very specific challenges, including by isolating people from their communities and act as a significant barrier to seeking help and support. This can increase the harms experienced due to delayed presentation especially given the generalised association between liver disease and alcohol misuse and/or drug abuse.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling this stigma, including among health care professionals across the healthcare system. We are currently developing a national stigma action plan for drugs and alcohol that will include taking the principles of the stigma charter developed by the Drugs Death Taskforce and putting these into action.

The issue of stigma is also clearly referenced on the NHS Inform website which states that a drug or alcohol problem is a health condition and people should receive help and support, not judgement.

Alcohol and drugs are of course not the exclusive causes of liver disease. On 20 June 2022, Public Health Scotland launched the Challenging Weight Stigma Learning Hub . The learning hub aims to raise awareness of the impact weight stigma can have on people living with overweight and obesity and what health professionals can do to mitigate this. It is interactive and has been developed alongside academics, health professionals and those with lived experience of stigma.

In 2020-21 and 2021-22, over 15,000 deaths were reported to COPFS. This was a 40% increase from 2019/20. Notwithstanding this increase, in 2021-22 95% of deaths where no investigation was required were closed within 6 weeks of receipt of the death report, and 49% of deaths requiring further investigation were concluded within 12 weeks. Only a small proportion of reported deaths result in a Fatal Accident being held.

In relation to deaths which require further investigation, there are a number of factors which may influence when those investigations may be concluded and many are outwith the Crown’s control. These include the need to await the outcome of investigations by other reporting agencies, information from other public bodies and receipt of expert opinion. In addition, in some cases criminal proceedings require to be initiated and concluded before a decision can be taken on the holding of an FAI.

The lodging of a First Notice is the process by which the Crown will intimate that a FAI requires to be held. Thereafter, the Crown has limited control over the timescale for commencing and concluding the Inquiry. Matters such as the scope of the Inquiry and the evidence that requires to be led are ultimately for the presiding Sheriff to determine.

The following information relates to the five FAIs in 2021/22 which took the longest time to conclude:

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of people reported missing from NHS hospitals or other healthcare settings, as there is no specific variable within Public Health Scotland’s data to highlight where a patient is reported missing.

Some information is available from Police Scotland on incidents of a person going missing from the NHS (covering those cases that were reported to the police). This is provided in the following table. The data is drawn from the Missing Person’s Database and is available on a consistent basis from April 2019 onwards. The figures relate to a count of incidents (and their associated investigations) rather than a count of people going missing. As such, the same person may appear multiple times within any year if they have been reported missing on more than one occasion during that period.

It should also be noted that the data covers all NHS grounds and not just hospitals.

Missing Person Investigations, “Missing From The NHS”, Police Scotland

This report was funded by The Promise Partnership, of which the Scottish Government is the principal funder. The Scottish Government recognises that it raises important issues about how children and young people are supported to enforce their rights, and welcomes that Clan ChildLaw commissioned this work. Many of the report’s findings align with The Promise, particularly that Scotland must consider the creation of an accredited legal specialism to set standards for legal professionals representing children.

Through legal aid, children and young people can access legal support for a wide range of matters including children’s hearings, criminal proceedings and to resolve civil disputes. The Legal Aid Fund pays for legal advice and representation, but it is not designed to fund wider support needs. The young people’s statements of their ideal legal services, as captured by the report, extend beyond the traditional model of service delivery by law firms, and the scope of the current legal aid system.

As the report has highlighted, “There may be a need for the development of initiatives, partnerships and funding bids focused on specific issues and needs” and officials will continue to engage on how to best to support such work.

The National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Young People currently covers bus travel only. At this time, there are no plans to extend this to rail.

On public transport fares more broadly, the Scottish Government is progressing its Fair Fares Review to develop and assess options to create a fairer, more transparent system of fares across all modes that maintain and increase affordability for those who need it most, taking cognisance of the relative changes to the overall cost of travel.