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The Scottish Government does not keep a record of the number of retailers currently operating return points on a voluntary basis.

We understand that a number of businesses are trialling or have already trialled the use of reverse vending machines in their premises in Scotland and welcome their commitment to ensuring their readiness for the launch of the UK’s first Deposit Return Scheme on 16 August 2023.

The Scottish Government have no plans to tender for a ferry service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge. Subsidy Control rules limit government directly funding international commercial ferry connections beyond initial start-up support. As commercial propositions, we continue to work with potential commercial operators who are interested in introducing new ferry services to the Continent.

The Scottish Government have had no discussions with David MacBrayne Ltd regarding a ferry service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge. Subsidy Control rules mean any route would have to operate on a commercial basis and this would be a matter for David MacBrayne Ltd’s Board to consider.

As net zero is one of this Government's foremost priorities, addressing climate change is integrated into the work of teams right across the Scottish Government, our agencies and public bodies.

At the end of September 2022 there were 68.8 full time equivalent staff directly employed in Domestic and International Climate Change Divisions within the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have been engaging with stakeholders to identify opportunities and barriers to increasing shipments of exports from Scottish ports and airports directly which could have environmental and economic benefits. This work is ongoing.

The operation and administration of the £36 million Climate Justice Fund, is managed by the International Climate Change Policy Team, within the International Climate Change Division at the Scottish Government. The team has six full-time equivalent (FTE) members of staff at a range of civil service grades who delivering international climate policy work including overseeing and supporting the procurement and delivery of Climate Justice Fund’s contracts and grants.

The Scottish Government does not have any business need to record the proportion of time that members of staff devote to specific aspects of their duties. Consequently, the Scottish Government does not have exact administrative costs for the Climate Justice Fund. However, the grading of the six FTE team members are as followed: one C2, three B3’s and two B2’s, and details of civil service grades and pay ranges offered from April 1st 2022 can be found online at https://work-for-scotland.org/our-reward-benefits

The operation and administration of the £5m recently announced at COP27 to address loss and damage will be managed within the existing resourcing structure for the International Climate Change Policy Team, within the International Climate Change Division at the Scottish Government. The team has six full-time equivalent (FTE) members of staff at a range of civil service grades involved in delivering international climate policy work including the Climate Justice Fund . Four of the six FTE members of staff will primarily be involved in overseeing and supporting the disbursement of the £5 million.

The Scottish Government does not have any business need to record the proportion of time that members of staff devote to specific aspects of their duties. Consequently, the Scottish Government does not have exact administrative costs for the Climate Justice Fund, including the £5 million for loss and damage. However, the grading of the six FTE team members are as followed: one C2, three B3’s and two B2’s, and details of civil service grades and pay ranges offered from April 1st 2022 can be found online at https://work-for-scotland.org/our-reward-benefits

The claimant count rate for Dundee City local authority and 2021 electoral wards within Dundee City are shown in table 1 for November 2018 to November 2022.

The model based unemployment rate for Dundee City local authority are shown in table 2 for years Jul 2017-Jun 2018 to Jul 2021-Jun 2022. Model based estimates of unemployment are the official source for unemployment rates by local authority. Unemployment rates by electoral ward are not available from this source.

Table 1: Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 years

Progressing work to enable the establishment of a US pre-clearance facility is primarily a commercial matter for Edinburgh Airport and would ultimately need to be approved by the relevant authorities in the United States.

The Scottish Government works closely with Scotland’s airports to help grow international connectivity, while not returning to previous levels of emissions. Direct connectivity between Scotland and the United States has improved significantly in recent years but there are other US routes where a direct link would be positive for Scottish businesses, the tourism sector and the economy as a whole. Pre-clearance would help ensure the ongoing success of established routes and encourage the development of new ones.

In July, I wrote to the then UK Secretary of State for the Home Office to invite the UK Government’s view on Edinburgh Airport’s ambition to establish pre-clearance for outbound flights to the US given the role they would need to play in the process. While the Minister for Safe and Legal Migration recognises that this is a commercial matter, I am pleased that the response from the UK Government indicates that the Home Office, together with the Department for Transport, would be keen to explore this matter further should there be a commercial decision to proceed. We also remain in close contact with Edinburgh Airport.

Extensive work has already taken place to develop projections for the health and social care workforce, including engagement with stakeholders to understand different user needs, and actively including these in the specification for the Projections.

Early conclusions from the developing projections model indicate:

• Further workforce growth, from current record staffing levels in Health and Social Care, will be required between now and 2030, across the health and social care workforce, to successfully respond to known demographic trends within Scotland’s population.
• The relationship between service demand and workforce demand is heavily influenced by other factors including the development of new roles and the reform of existing job roles, alongside evolutions in service models, investment in technology and, artificial intelligence and new skills.

Projected workforce demand in the short-medium term will continue to be managed through a portfolio approach to operational workforce planning, in accordance with the framework set out in the National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy.

Through this approach we continue to invest, at historically high levels, in the education and training of pre-registration healthcare professionals, continue to invest in widening access, apprenticeships, role diversification and role reform, and continue to invest in ethical and proportionate international recruitment of qualified health and care staff, to supplement domestic supply routes, in line with projected needs.

We aim to set out high level conclusions from projections in the coming months. Clearly, these projections are iterative and will respond to and change depending on emerging evidence and data.