Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government received a copy of the letter on the evening of 22 November 2022.

A Steering Group comprising staff from NatureScot and Scottish Government is undertaking the goose management policy review.

A six-week stakeholder consultation concluded on 17 October 2022 in which stakeholders were invited to comment on the effectiveness of current national goose policy and its delivery, to identify issues and make suggestions for future national goose policy.

Invitations were extended to individual members of the National Goose Forum and Local Goose Management Groups, and NatureScot’s web pages provided open access to the questionnaire to other interested parties.

257 stakeholders submitted questionnaire responses.

The results from the questionnaire have been summarised and the key themes include concerns around greylag geese, funding and how goose management might be supported in future.

The next steps are: for the Policy Steering Group to engage with Local Goose Management Groups and other stakeholders to share the summary responses with them, to confirm they accurately reflect their views, to ask them which issues are of greatest concern to them, and how they would like their concerns to be addressed through future goose policy. These discussions are ongoing, and will be completed before Christmas.

Production of the report by NatureScot has been delayed slightly due to pressures of the additional work being generated with regard to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This delay will allow NatureScot to ensure the impacts of HPAI are taken into consideration as part of the review.

Following the completion of the review, NatureScot will produce a report for Scottish Ministers in Spring 2023.

In the meantime, the Steering Group will share a draft report with stakeholders and engage in further stakeholder discussions in February 2023.

Decisions on how we will approach monitoring and judge the efficacy of the recently announced £5 million funding to loss and damage are yet to be taken. Decisions will be undertaken in consultation with stakeholders and communities. In line with the £2 million announced last year that is already being evaluated, we will ensure robust monitoring and evaluation is built in throughout the programme design.

The amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 22 December 2021, gave our assessment of the impact of DRS on online sales. The BRIA is available here; see paragraphs 215-218:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/impact-assessment/2021/12/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/documents/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria/govscot%3Adocument/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment-bria.pdf

As stated in the response to S6W-12236 on 1 December 2022, we are considering measures to address concerns that have been raised by industry, including representatives of the food delivery industry, regarding the obligation to provide a takeback service for scheme articles sold online under DRS.

Customers buying drinks through online sales do not have to use the takeback service provided and can return their empty containers to any return point.

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 DRS Regulations allow return points to refuse returns where the number of containers is disproportionately greater than the number of containers that retailer would sell in an average single transaction. This will allow food delivery drivers to refuse such requests from customers.

The spend on agency nursing and midwifery staff is published on an annual basis. The cost for agency nurse for the year ending 31 March 2022 is £88.9 million. Spend on agency nursing and midwifery staff is less than 2% of the total staff spend. The cost for this current financial year to date and the estimated cost for the whole of current financial year is not centrally available.

I have raised this issue with Julie White, Chief Officer in the Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership, who has advised that following the temporary closure of the in-patient facilities a total of 52 staff were re-deployed.

The deployed community staff are currently supporting:

• 102 packages of care (535.5 hrs) which equates to circa 120 individuals to support care at home sector
• The opening of 18 beds in Mountainhall Treatment Centre as an intermediate care facility as a step down from Acute Care.
• The Marie Curie and district nursing 24/7 services have resulted in reducing the need for cottage hospital beds as the partnership are able to support caring for more people in their homes.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with health boards to ensure, as far as possible, that support for energy costs is available to those who require it.

Some patients already receive support for costs associated with home haemodialysis and the use of oxygen equipment. We have now written to all NHS territorial Boards to understand what support with fuel costs is available to patients using life-saving equipment.

We have already pledged almost £3 billion in this financial year towards helping families and households face the increased cost of living. This includes the provision of services and financial support not available elsewhere in the UK to help reduce every day costs and increase incomes.

The Scottish Government understands that there is normally a GP or practice nurse routinely present at Leadhills Surgery every week. There has recently been reduced presence due to annual leave but patients were able to see a doctor in the main surgery in Moffat if necessary.

The Scottish Government is supportive of the reintroduction of ferry services from Scotland to Europe.

Transport Scotland have engaged with a number of interested parties proposing such services and we will continue to engage with potential operators and Scotland’s main ports to provide information and advice on what the Scottish Government can offer in support of a viable commercial proposition.

The Scottish Government have also recently undertaken engagement sessions with key port stakeholders as well as freight forwarders and logistics companies to explore options for increasing freight movements through Scottish ports.