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Yes, as set out in our recent Waste and Circular Economy Route Map consultation, we intend to set new circular economy targets for the period to 2030 which go beyond weight-based criteria.

We must ensure that any future targets correspond to our Environment Strategy and overall vision for a circular economy, alongside the principles we set out in the consultation. One of these key principles is that any future targets should help to ensure that we deliver a sustainable international material footprint.

The feedback from the First Minister’s Environmental Council will be considered along with responses to the Route Map consultation, which are currently being analysed.

The Scottish Government has not set a prescriptive list of “reasonable costs” for welcome arrangements.

Local Authorities are best placed to determine how best to provide support to the Ukrainian people in their areas arriving under the Scottish Super Sponsor Scheme and the Scottish Government is committed to reimbursing them as delivery partners for any reasonable costs incurred in providing that appropriate support.

The First Minister’s Environmental Council’s responses to the question regarding mechanisms to reduce consumption in raw materials can be found in the minutes of the meeting on 13 June 2022: www.gov.scot/publications/first-ministers-environmental-council-minutes-june-2022/

Specifically, the minutes report that:

• members suggested an increase in community and stakeholder engagement to understand how best to incentivise household recycling - noting the lack of standardised recycling across local authorities and the social barriers to recycling.
• members highlighted chemical recycling as a key example to support a fundamental shift: i.e. chemicals in products holding back recycling potential. Members suggested further investigation on targeting the use of critical elements such as Lithium
• support was provided on embedding circular economy practices into construction and product design. Key challenge is addressing the generation of waste, not just managing existing waste.
• need to consider low carbon as well as recycled materials and understand the evidence behind different choices is important here.

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review published its final report at the end of September 2022 and set out over 200 proposals for reform.

Cross-government work is now underway to assess the implications of these proposals. Given the scope and complexity of the review, we will take time to consider the report in detail and will provide a formal response in due course.

Future licensable activities are still under consideration, but may include commercial dog walking and pet grooming, the operation of livery yards, greyhound racing, and canine fertility clinics. We are also considering the case for revoking dated licensing legislation covering riding establishments and animal boarding, with a view to replacing it with new controls under the 2021 licensing framework.

We continue to work with key stakeholders to finalise our proposals on licensing and will consult on these at the earliest opportunity.

The number of school inspectors employed by Education Scotland is as follows:

The Scottish Government has committed to introducing a Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill to ensure that the rights of autistic people, people with learning disabilities, and neurodivergent people are respected and protected.

Final decisions on the exact timing of a formal public consultation will be taken by Cabinet and announced in due course.

The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities of over £11 million per year to provide the school clothing grant for eligible children and young people. Local authorities are directly responsible for setting the eligibility criteria at the local level, therefore the Scottish Government does not hold information about how many children and young people are eligible to receive the grant.

However, the Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics workbooks contain information about the number of school clothing grants issued by local authorities in each financial year. In 2020-21, the most recent year for which this data is available, Inverclyde Council issued a total of 1,400 school clothing grants to primary school children and North Ayrshire Council issued 3,689 grants.

In total, Inverclyde Council issued 3,282 school clothing grants to eligible pupils across all age groups and North Ayrshire Council issued 6,283 grants.

This information is available on the Scottish Government’s website through the following link: Scottish local government finance statistics (SLGFS) 2020-21: workbooks - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review published its final report at the end of September 2022 and set out over 200 proposals for reform.

Cross-government work is now underway to assess their implications and we will set out our response, including priority actions that will be taken forward, in due course. As part of this work, we are considering the timescales for implementation and any recommendations that can be progressed in the short-term as part of our existing work to strengthen mental health and incapacity policy and law.

The Scottish Government is committed to exploring the implementation of HPV self-sampling, and acknowledges that it has the potential to increase uptake levels and reduce barriers to cervical screening.

The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) recognises the potential benefits of self-sampling but have concluded that there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend implementation. Studies are underway to gather further evidence, but it is not yet known when the NSC may make a positive recommendation. Additionally, it is unclear when the work to assess and validate a test for HPV self-sampling in the UK will complete.

As introducing a new screening test into the National Screening Programme is inherently complex, a working group has been convened to assess potential models and understand any required changes to the screening programme to support an initial roll-out. This work is being informed by the emerging evidence from UK and global research, including the study undertaken in Dumfries and Galloway which provided self-sampling test kits to women between 25 and 64 who had not taken up the offer of attending for cervical screening. The results of this study showed the potential benefits of self-sampling, but also underlined the need to carefully consider how any eventual roll-out is targeted.