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The environmental benefits of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will be realised by the increased collection and recycling of drinks containers that the scheme entails. As scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland will be required to report regularly against collection targets to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); these are set at 80% for 2024 and 90% for each subsequent year.

Significant programmes of work are underway within both Circularity Scotland and SEPA to prepare to deliver its obligations, and monitor its compliance with these obligations, respectively.

The Scottish Government does not stipulate the maximum or minimum number of patients that can access a community pharmacy. Health Boards are responsible for the provision of pharmaceutical care services within their areas, taking into consideration neighbourhood, the adequacy of existing pharmaceutical services in the area and the necessity and desirability of approving an application to secure adequate pharmaceutical services in the area.

Community pharmacy owners are responsible for ensuring that pharmacies are safe and effective for pharmacy teams and patients. This includes setting safe staffing levels in line with the guidance provided by the regulator, The General Pharmaceutical Council.

The Scottish Government expects all women to receive high quality, safe care including in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia.

The Scottish Perinatal Network has been tasked with examining the adoption of PlGF testing in light of the draft NICE guidance published for consultation in March this year and we expect the finalised guidance to be published on 27 July 2022.

As part of its initial work, the Network is engaging with the clinical and scientific community to understand how the additional two tests included in the draft guidance work in practice. This work is underway and I have asked my officials to continue working with the Network to explore how we can best implement PlGF testing in Scotland.

The provision of community pharmacy pharmaceutical services are made according to arrangements set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. Under this, decisions are a matter for NHS Health Boards, through their Pharmacy Practices Committee (PPC). The process is independent of Scottish Ministers and Government.

Scotland’s Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement (LRRS) introduced in 2017 is a ground-breaking example of Scotland’s ambitious land reform journey. We are currently reviewing the LRRS, have recently published an analysis report of the consultation responses and will report our response (with any revisions following the consultation process) to Parliament in September. We are also committed to bringing forward a new Land Reform Bill in this parliamentary session and will undertake a wide-ranging consultation later this year on proposals for the Bill.

A Culture Strategy for Scotland highlights the Scottish Government commitment to ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to experience culture’s empowering and transformative potential. We want to ensure that everyone in Scotland can take part in culture throughout their lives and that culture in, and from, Scotland enriches the lives of people and communities across the country.

The innovative Creative Communities programme, Creative Communities - Inspiring Scotland , was launched following the publication of the Culture Strategy in 2020 which supports and empowers individuals and communities to further develop their own cultural activity.

The Culture Strategy sets out that those who engage in cultural activity as children are more likely to participate and attend when they are adults, regardless of parental background, wealth or poverty. Our long-standing Youth Music Initiative offers a year’s free music tuition to all children before they leave primary school, as well as targeted opportunities for out of school participation in music for children and young people who may not otherwise have these opportunities. Additionally, our Youth Arts Emergency Fund offered similar targeted opportunities across a range of art forms.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Promise Scotland’s Oversight Board report and the continued focus and momentum across all stakeholders to Keep The Promise.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Keeping The Promise by 2030, working in partnership with Local Authorities, The Promise Scotland, third sector, health boards and importantly the care community.

On 30 March 2022 the Scottish Government published the Keeping The Promise Implementation Plan , setting out how it will Keep The Promise by 2030. The Plan contains over 80 actions which span over a range of areas including education, health, justice and child poverty.

The Scottish Government provides resource for local authorities to tackle homelessness through the annual local government finance settlement. In 2022-23, local authorities received £55.322 million [1] of homelessness grant aided expenditure. In addition, the Scottish Government has made available £100 million between 2018-19 and 2025-26 from the Ending Homelessness Together fund to transform homelessness services. Of this, £42 million supports the development and implementation of local authority rapid rehousing transition plans.

In May 2020, the Unsuitable Accommodation Order was extended to all households to ensure people are provided with suitable accommodation to support them out of homelessness. We are aware that full compliance with the Order remains challenging for some local authorities. Scottish Government officials have met with the local authorities that are facing the greatest barriers in complying with the Order to offer support. Engagement with local authorities has shown positive progress is being made in reducing the use of unsuitable accommodation and there are plans for learning to be shared more widely.

Ultimately, it is for local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation that is suitable for the needs of a household.

[1] Scottish Local Government Finance 'Green Book' 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of eligibility and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant but only for Scotland. There are no estimates or forecasts of eligibility and take-up (the proportion of eligible children that receive payments) by area within Scotland. The following figures cannot be used to inform eligibility or take-up for East Kilbride specifically.

However, internal Scottish Government analysis suggests around 6000 children in East Kilbride are forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment in each of the next 6 years and around 1000 for Best Start Grant. Also, that in 2022-23 around 4000 children are forecast to receive Scottish Child Payment, rising to 5000 from 2023-24 onwards. For Best Start Grant, around 1000 children are expected to receive payment in each of the next 6 years.

All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand to reflect these are approximate estimates and use national level eligibility and take-up rates. See Tables 1 and 2:

Table 1: Estimated number of children in East Kilbride constituency forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant.

Home Energy Scotland (HES) is the Scottish Government’s impartial, bespoke advice service for households. It acts as the gateway to various Scottish Government funding programmes to make homes warmer, greener and more energy efficient, such as the HES loan/cashback scheme. In order to ensure that work is done to the required quality and that appropriate consumer protections are in place, it is a recommendation within the HES loan/cashback scheme that applicants use a Green Deal certified installer. For solid wall, underfloor, flat roof or room-in-roof insulation, it is compulsory that an applicant’s installer is Green Deal certified.

The pace of the transition to zero emission heating requires a substantial growth in supply chains, not only within the Greater Glasgow area but across Scotland as a whole. A broad range of different skills are needed to support the transition, however we are aware that the installer skills for zero emissions heating and energy efficiency measures represent the largest gap.

Unlocking investment in the supply chain must start with clear demand for its products and services and our investment of at least £1.8 billion, as outlined in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, will strengthen demand and support an increase in jobs and skilled workers.

We have partnered with Skills Development Scotland to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’ which will help us better understand the timing of workforce growth and how best to support people transitioning into key sectors.

We are carefully considering a wide spectrum of support for supply chains to grow, transition and innovate to meet the heat in buildings challenge and have committed to publishing our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan later this year which will detail actions and public support to aid workforce growth through a combination of reskilling, upskilling and youth employment.