Seòmar agus comataidhean

Any business with questions or concerns about registration should contact Circularity Scotland (CSL) for advice and guidance. They can do this via their website or their dedicated helpline.

CSL has ongoing communications with businesses to raise awareness and help them understand their obligations as part of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and what they need to do to comply. This includes a recent series of information workshops across the country for businesses affected by DRS.

I also meet regularly with industry stakeholders to discuss their concerns and to help them prepare for the scheme’s launch in August.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14685 on 7 March 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website-

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14685 on

‎ 6 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

Work is underway to develop a number of cardiac pathways. These will be shared with the Heart Disease Task Force for their review and support prioritisation of work in 2023-2024.

We have significantly increased access to digital mental health treatments, products and services since the first cCBT treatment was rolled out in 2017. We now have 27 different computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) treatments available across all NHS Boards. This includes the tool ‘Space in Coronary Heart Disease’.

Through delivery of the Heart Disease Action Plan, we have worked with five health boards to encourage their utilisation of this tool within cardiac rehab services. We are in the process of evaluating this to support further adoption within cardiac services.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The release of non-native common pheasant and red-legged partridge for shooting purposes is permitted under Section 14 (2A) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. There is no statutory requirement under this legislation (or any other) requiring those releasing non-native gamebirds to submit records of numbers of birds released.

The Scottish Government does not provide specific funding to local authorities to support breakfast and after school clubs which are struggling financially. Local authorities have flexibility to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. In 2023-24 local authorities have autonomy to allocate over 93% - £12.5 billion – of the funding provided by the Scottish Government, plus all locally raised income.

Over the last 5 years, there have been 781 large outdoor fires, 243 of which were deliberate (31%). Th Scottish Fire and Rescue Service does not routinely gather information on the number of wildfires that happen as a result of Muirburn. However, a 2019 sample of the available evidence for the most severe wildfire incidents concluded that out of control burning was a relatively rare cause of these incidents.

Although UCAS has confirmed that at the end of the January equal consideration date there has been a reduction in applications compared to this time last year, our higher education institutions will continue to accept, and consider, applications until the end of June and thereafter through any clearing process. Therefore, we expect application numbers to continue to increase. Scotland’s higher education institutions are working hard to recruit applicants to their nursing programmes and it is worth noting that not all funded places are applied for via UCAS(for example our Open University funded places), and these applications will also contribute to final numbers.

Alongside this, we continue to explore alternative pipelines into the nursing profession such as earn as you learn routes and apprenticeships. In addition to that work we will also address current challenges to the nursing profession in relation to workforce supply, retention and professional development as part of the new Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce. This will ensure our nurses, already the best paid in the UK, will have the best conditions and career opportunities.

We realise that recruitment to initial teacher education is challenging for various reasons and this is being seen across the UK. However, as in previous years, Scottish universities will keep their application processes open until they have met their targets in both primary and secondary by subject. We will continue to work with universities to monitor applications to all initial teacher education programmes. Typically, we have seen teacher training applicants increase by around 17% by the end of the application cycle.

SEPA’s grant in aid funding from Scottish Government has increased over the last five-year period from £34,936,000 to £41,406,000. SEPA determine the amount of resources allocated to meeting their statutory obligations through their Annual Operating Plan in each year in agreement with the Scottish Government.

SEPA Grant in Aid Funding:

£34,963,000 in 2018-19

£34,425,000 in 2019-20

£37,098,000 in 2020-21

£44,449,000 in 2021/22

£41,406,000 in 2022/23 [figures subject to year end audit]

SEPA operate under statutory frameworks to recover the costs associated with their role as the environmental regulator. The annual income recovered across all charging schemes and other incomes as notified to the Scottish Government was as follows:

Charging scheme & other income:

£47,282,000 in 2018-19

£47,807,000 in 2019-20

£44,901,000 in 2020-21

£46,010,000 in 2022-23 [figures subject to year end audit]