Seòmar agus comataidhean

Whether the recycling system used in Wales is successful is a matter for the Welsh Government, not the Scottish Government. I would note, however, that the Welsh Government is also working to introduce a deposit return scheme (DRS), including the same materials as ours.

The Welsh Government is also, like the Scottish Government, working with the other UK administrations to bring in packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) from 2024 as a major reform to their recycling system. Packaging EPR for drinks containers was considered as an alternative to DRS in our final DRS Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, which found that DRS would deliver more economic and environmental benefits.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07901 on 3 May 2022. 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

We have repeatedly called for the UK Government to waive all visa requirements but, in the absence of this, what we now need is for the Home Office to grant people visas quickly and efficiently.

I have held several meetings with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, on the UK response and how our governments work collaboratively. I recently met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Safe and Legal Migration, and raised my many concerns about the significant administrative issues, complex application processes, and unacceptable delays for individuals who have been forced to flee their homeland.

Many of these challenges are a direct consequence of the decision to use the immigration and visa system rather than properly fund a humanitarian resettlement scheme. The UK Government must put people, not processes, first.

Within the Scottish Government funding of health research falls under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office.

Following an independent expert review process, 9 projects were funded through the CSO's Long-term effects of COVID-19 call Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Final reports will be published on the CSO website upon completion of the projects. All the projects are scheduled to complete in Q1/Q2 of 2023.

Project final reports are the result of a collaborative effort between the individual project teams and members of the CSO Public Engagement Group who work together to ensure the reports are written in accessible language. There is therefore an inevitable short delay between the project end date and the publication of the final report.

I can confirm that the information requested does not exist in the format requested.

Public Health Scotland’s ‘Alcohol related hospital statistics’ report includes specific figures on alcohol related liver disease, however the exact age of each patient admitted is not included. This means it is not possible to report on the mean age per annum of patients admitted to hospital with alcohol-related liver damage.

The full dataset supporting the alcohol related hospital statistics covering financial years 1997-98 to 2020-21 can be found via the following link:

Alcohol related hospital statistics - Scotland financial year 2020 to 2021 - Alcohol related hospital statistics - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

The Seed Potatoes (Scotland) Regulations 2015 stipulate the disease tolerances for seed potato crops in Scotland, and all seed crops must comply with the requirements laid down in the Regulations to be certified as a seed crop.

The tolerance permitted for total virus in a seed crop is 0.8%, which includes a tighter tolerance of 0.4% combined for infection with the three most damaging viruses (PLRV, PVY and PVA). Seed crops are inspected at least twice during the growing season and monitored for disease and trueness to type. Leaf samples from all crops displaying virus symptoms are tested in the laboratory at SASA for 12 virus species to confirm the presence of virus infection in a crop. Crops that have a virus level that exceeds that permitted for a seed crop may be downgraded to ware.

A crop would only be destroyed if the virus levels were 4% or above and therefore posed an unacceptable plant health risk to other neighbouring potato crops.

There is currently no formal plan in place to conduct a post implementation review of the Honey Regulations (Scotland) 2015. However, as the body with policy responsibility for these regulations, Food Standards Scotland continues to monitor the effectiveness and suitability of the legislation through communication with its stakeholders, such as Local Authorities, businesses and consumers, as well as discussions with other Scottish and UK Government departments.

It should be noted that FSS and the wider Scottish Government have a responsibility to conduct a formal post-implementation review within 10 years of the respective regulations coming into force. With regard to the Honey Regulations this is due to be factored into business planning at a point up to and including 2025.

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

We are working with the Scottish Perinatal Network to examine the adoption of PlGF testing for pre-eclampsia in Scotland. This will include consideration of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance on PlGF (DG23) that is currently out for consultation and expected to be published in July 2022.

SEPA allocated approximately £30.1m of its £88.6m spend in 2021/22 to managing river catchments. This funded work to protect and improve the water environment including permitting, regulating activities, monitoring water environment and producing River Basin Management Plans.

SEPA administered total grant values of £2.353m from the Water Environment Fund to third parties to deliver river restoration and fish barrier removal works. Approximately £0.75m was allocated to regulatory activities as part of SEPA’s diffuse pollution priority catchment work. These include SEPA’s overhead costs. They do not include SEPA work on flood warning and flood risk management.

The Scottish Government do not provide compensation to potato farmers who have been ordered by SASA to destroy their crops to prevent further growth.

Article 4 of The Plant Health (Potatoes) (Scotland) Order 2006 provides an explicit power to require that the grower of a potato crop (seed or ware) takes immediate action (within 72 hours of the service of a notice) to ensure the destruction of the haulm of a potato crop which has been determined by official inspection to present a clear plant health risk to other potato crops due to high levels of virus in the crop.