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In Scotland, guidance in relation to preparing for emergencies is generally structured around key consequences or themes, rather than specific risks. The Scottish Government’s suite of emergency planning guidance, “Preparing Scotland” ( https://ready.scot/how-scotland-prepares/preparing-scotland-guidance ), covers topics such as response, exercising, scientific and technical advice, preparedness assessments, public communications, and recovery from emergencies, which are all directly relevant to pandemic preparedness.

This guidance is developed in consultation with the organisations which have legal duties in relation to emergency preparedness under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, which includes all local authorities.

We are fully committed through our employment policies and procedures to support employees who experience pregnancy loss at any stage of pregnancy, and our current package of support measures fully reflect the spirit and intent of the Pregnancy Loss Pledge. The ongoing NHSScotland workforce policies refresh programme offers the opportunity to go further in highlighting provisions and improving guidance for managers. These refreshed policies and supporting documents relating to the Pledge will be published in Autumn 2023.

The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has been central to making Scotland a safer place since this government took office, with recorded non-sexual violent crime reducing by 25% since 2006-07. The work of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit is overseen by a governance board and is delivered through various programmes which are evaluated and measured for effectiveness. While progress has been made to reduce violence across Scotland, we recognise we must continue to do more.

We are clear that any level or form of violence is unacceptable. In 2023-24, in addition to the budget for policing, we will be providing our partners with over £2m to support ongoing and innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland. To strengthen our approach, we will publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, which will set out our vision, aims and actions to prevent violence and as and when it does occur, to reduce its harm.

Bute House is the Official Residence of the First Minister.

Bute House is Category A listed building and is owned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).

There are no costs associated with the transfer of the use of the House between First Ministers: the lease for Bute House is between the National Trust for Scotland and Scottish Ministers (the Scottish Government).

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. After clarifying the specifics of the question with the member, her response is as follows:

• How many items of contraband have been detected by the photocopying of mail?
• Photocopying of mail does not detect contraband. The process for establishments that have this in place is that original mail items are photocopied and the prisoner is given the copy with the option to destroy the original or have this placed in their property for issue upon release. If during the opening of correspondence an item is suspected to be suspicious then this is sent to security for testing on the rapiscan machine.
• How many items of contraband have been detected by the rapiscan machine since the introduction of this policy?
• Since the introduction of the photocopying of prisoners correspondence 2,677 items have tested positive on the rapiscan machine.

The Contracts for Difference scheme is a UK Government mechanism.

Information about all Contracts for Difference strike prices is available in the public domain here: Contracts for Difference - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is a separately constituted statutory body, independent from the Scottish Ministers, that has primary regulatory responsibility for protecting and improving the environment. Scottish Ministers are not responsible for SEPA’s operational matters, including the exercise of its enforcement functions. It is up to SEPA to consider its enforcement position in relation to this matter.

As a non-Police specialist reporting agency, SEPA has the option to submit reports to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). Both SEPA and COPFS are clear that such enforcement action is a last resort, used for the most significant offending. SEPA is an independent regulatory agency and is not required to consult with COPFS or others when taking regulatory positions. This includes the published position concerning online takeback for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) which provides reassurance to retailers that no enforcement action will be taken by SEPA with respect to DRS takeback obligations whilst this aspect of the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 is under review.

The £2 billion figure reflects the current appetite from the investment partners to finance projects in Scotland. It is not a fixed figure and additional capital may be available if a sufficient pipeline of investment projects can be created and a successful investment model proven.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) producer registration service will only grant registrations that meet the requirements of The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations. All producer registrations granted to date have been registered in accordance with the Regulations. A registration is complete once it has been accepted by SEPA and the producer has been formally notified.