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I am not aware of any reports that glass captured through our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) could be processed outside Scotland.

There is a significant reprocessing industry for glass in Scotland. While it will be for Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) as scheme administrator to enter into reprocessing agreements on a commercial basis, I would note that the cost of transporting glass means the Scottish glass industry should have a competitive advantage due to the closer physical proximity to CSL.

I therefore anticipate that our glass industry will benefit from the increased quantity and quality of glass recyclate that DRS will make available.

As outlined in the National Transition Training Fund Year 1 report published in February 2022, 60 individuals were supported through the Energy Efficiency Transition Support and Heat Pump Training Fund in the 2021-22 academic year.

In Year 2, the project aims to support 455 individuals. The Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) commenced the project in December 2021 offering colleges the opportunity to participate in the project. Delivery of courses began in January 2022 and will run until the end of the current academic year. We will report on final outcomes upon completion of the Fund in August 2022.

Another training opportunity related to heat pumps is the Sustainable Energy Supply Chain Programme at Energy Saving Trust, which manages and administers the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) fund on behalf of the Scottish Government. This fund provides grants to assist Scottish SMEs installing heat pumps in achieving MCS certification for the first time. This funding is for installers who are not currently MCS certified for heat pumps and who want to become MCS certified for any heat pump technology (air, water, or ground source). The fund pays for 75% of the initial fees required, up to a maximum of £1,000, for both the certification and consumer codes of conduct which installers are required to join in order to become MCS certified. The fund started in September 2021 and will continue to run until March 2023 or until funds fully invested.

We have kept the wholesale sector closely involved in discussions relating to the development and implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), in particular through engagement with the Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA).

As table 1, page 12, paragraph 46 of the amended Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for DRS makes clear, the SWA was consulted as part of the policy-development process that led to the amended BRIA.

Applications for development and capital funding are open. More information can be found on the Local Energy Scotland website here www.localenergyscot.org . Loan and grant capital funding is currently available to communities developing renewable energy, heat decarbonisation, and local energy system projects through the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).

Funding is dependent on project needs and type. The CARES team work with projects from inception to completion and continue to offer a flexible package of support to a wide range of renewable energy projects and will also soon offer support through a framework of specialised technical consultants to make it quicker and easier for communities to explore options. More information on this will be published shortly on the Local Energy Scotland website.

From April 2022 CARES will also give greater focus to the decarbonisation of heat in buildings in line with the ambitions set out in our Heat in Buildings Strategy.

We estimate that 4,100 businesses will qualify as producers for the purposes of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

We have extensively consulted the drinks producer sector during the development and implementation of our DRS. Our Implementation Advisory Group included a range of representatives of the sector, and drinks producers, like any stakeholder, were consulted through the two consultations on DRS that ran from June-September 2018 and September-December 2019.

The Small Woodlands Loan Scheme was launched in March 2021 and currently there have been ten applications. One loan agreement has been agreed (allocated) and its Forestry Grant Scheme contract value was £40,859.60; a loan for £15,800 has been distributed to this applicant in December 2021.

I am not aware of any reports that glass captured through our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) could be processed outside Scotland.

As set out in the answer to question S6W-07104 on 18 March 2022, DRS will significantly increase the quantity and quality of glass recyclate. Local authorities will continue to collect glass not captured by DRS in line with the duty in the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

I am therefore confident that DRS will have a significant positive impact on the quality and quantity of recycled glass that is available to manufacturers in Scotland.

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 are aiming for a non-commercially sensitive contract to be available for publication by Summer 2022, once the necessary administrative work has been completed.

In addition to taking forward a National Conversation on rail, we will be consulting specifically on women’s safety when using public transport.

The specific means by which we carry out this engagement are yet to be determined and will be informed by initial discussions with groups representing women and Transport Scotland Officials. A range of options will be presented for how this engagement takes place. It is envisaged that these will include options for engagement that is open to all, focussed on specific groups or combines elements of both.

We welcomed the opportunity to participate in the first Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Day and joined the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce in raising the profile of less survivable cancers, including neurological cancers, through our video of support on twitter.

We know that the earlier cancer is detected the greater the chance of survival, this is particularly important across rapidly-advancing diseases like the less survivable cancers, which include brain tumours. Our Detect Cancer Early (DCE) Programme adopts a whole-systems approach to diagnosing and treating cancer as early as possible. This £44m programme received an additional £20m in August 2021 and is being developed and supported by a new Early Cancer Diagnosis Programme Board.

Scotland’s first three Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC) are now live in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Fife. These Centres provide primary care with a new referral route for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer (including weight loss, fatigue and nausea), which do not meet Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer for specific cancer types, including brain tumours.