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The Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2022 make it clear that the Board should reach its decision having taken into account all the matters before it including, where applicable, failure to disclose the location of a victims remains. The decision to refuse parole is at the discretion of the Parole Board.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13624 on‎ 20 January 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

NHS Education for Scotland (NES), in partnership with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, produced an e-learning module for Non-Executive Board members on the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act. This was promoted to NHS Board Chairs in July 2022 and is a resource that all staff can access.

Equality is a theme running through the new Leading to Change programme aimed at developing future and current leaders in health and social care. NES is also working with a range of stakeholders to scope out current training and learning needs for staff on equality and diversity. This will inform work by NES to continue to develop up to date and relevant learning resources on equality and diversity for health and social care staff.

This will include a review and update of the NES essential learning module 'equality and human rights' which is available to the health and social care workforce.’

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters, including how many buildings in Scotland have been included on Historic Environment Scotland’s Buildings at Risk Register in each year since 1999, are best answered by Historic Environment Scotland.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to respond directly to the member with a full reply to his question in writing.

The Scottish Government has discussed the use of the term Minor Attracted Person with Police Scotland following recent media coverage. Police Scotland has confirmed that it does not use the term and it is not used by its partners. The Scottish Government does not use this term and it is not used by Scottish public bodies.

Police Scotland has issued a statement which confirms that it does not use this term and explains the context to it being referred to in a June 2022 Police Scotland performance report.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12759 on 15 December 2022.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for setting all packaging requirements for medicines. Blister packs are not easily recycled because of strict regulatory requirements for pharmaceutical packaging. The Scottish Government encourages businesses to take steps to increase the recycling rates for this packaging where these are compatible with the waste hierarchy and ensure the high-value recycling of materials.

We are taking action to reduce packaging waste and improve recycling in Scotland, including the £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund, which will make it easier for households to recycle, and work across the devolved administrations to introduce extended producer responsibility for packaging. These actions will help local authorities increase the types of materials they can recycle.

Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget, including how to prioritise fleet, equipment or buildings is a matter for SFRS.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with SFRS to ensure it has the resources it needs to keep communities safe. SFRS is currently undertaking an assessment of the risks faced by communities and the assets which are needed to deal with those risks and this will inform future discussions on both capital and resource budgets.

The Scottish Government has made significant funding commitments to protect and restore our biodiversity and is committed to invest an additional £500 million in our natural economy over the course of this parliament. Our recent funding package of £2.9 million for biodiversity projects comes on top of a £65 million commitment for nature restoration. This additional funding includes £1.3m for Atlantic rainforest restoration to fund the first phase of a rainforest restoration programme; £0.5m for ‘Species on the Edge’; and £200,000 to expand nature networks.

As set out in the new draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy we are committed to developing a Biodiversity Investment Plan, to mobilise public, private and philanthropic finance, closing the estimated £20 billion finance gap for nature this coming decade.

Scoping work is ongoing to consider the additional data collection, recording, and quality assurance requirements necessary for implementing this action. Further information on the delivery of this action will be set out in our update to the National Workforce Strategy, to be published later this year.