Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on14 March 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on14 March 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15654 on 14 March 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

Wastewater Treatment Works provide appropriate treatment to sewage year round. The methods used to treat sewage is a matter for Scottish Water to consider to ensure regulatory standards are met in an efficient manner. As noted previously, UV treatment is energy intensive hence the need for a proportionate approach.

There were 2,014 people in receipt of an Independent Living Fund award at the end of February 2023.

The Scottish Government is aware of the UN Committee’s General Comment and is taking seriously concerns that 16- and 17-year-olds may need more protection.

Clearly, all marriages and civil partnerships should be entered into with full consent of both parties. There is existing legislative provision against forced marriage.

We are currently gathering views from stakeholders on the minimum age for marriage.

Increasing the minimum age could be argued to increase safeguards for young people but such a change could also be seen as removing their right to marry or to enter a civil partnership.

We understand from National Records of Scotland that fewer than 30 people aged 16 or 17 entered a registered marriage in 2019. The Scottish Government appreciates there could be concerns about unregistered marriages, which are not governed by the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. We would need to consider what impact raising the minimum legal age would have on unregistered marriages.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government has not made any estimates of number of people resident in Scotland who have undergone forced marriages abroad in each year. Whilst we do have data on forced marriages, this data does not identify where the marriage itself took place. This is as the locus of the offence is where the violence, threats, coercion or deception took place and not the locus of the marriage itself, which could potentially be outside of Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15610 on 14 March 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

The Scottish Government does not hold the full level of information requested for reasons outlined in our answer to your recent question S6W-15113 on 7 March 2023. We do know that our delivery partner the Fuel Bank Foundation has found that in the current financial year, around four in every ten applications have come from households which include at least one child under the age of 16, or if in education, under 18.

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