Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government did not receive advance notice of the Home Office decision to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels in Scotland. I wrote to the Home Secretary on 21 October to raise concerns about the lack of advance engagement on this matter and on the suitability of using hotels to accommodate people seeking asylum. Officials have subsequently had engagement with Home Office officials on this issue.

Scottish Government and COSLA have regular discussions about a range of asylum matters including the use of hotels.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05057 on 23 December 2021. 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.

Proof of COVID-19 booster vaccination will appear on the NHS Scotland Covid Status app within 24 hours of the vaccine being administered.

The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in Pal vs The United Kingdom [2021] ECHR 990 relates to the police’s decision to arrest the applicant on suspicion of having committed an offence of ‘harassment’ under section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. That does not operate in Scots criminal law.

While the case concerned the actions of the authorities in particular circumstances, it is a reminder that the police are required in the course of their duties to respect an individual’s human rights – including their right to freedom of expression. This is not a new requirement and it will continue to be the case as new laws are implemented.

Soil that is classified as hazardous is always chargeable at the standard rate of Scottish Landfill Tax. Therefore no hazardous soils should have been subject to the lower rate of Scottish Landfill Tax.

Statistics published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) show that the volume of hazardous soil landfilled in Scotland has declined significantly since 2015, reducing from 27,209 tonnes to 3,921 tonnes in 2020.

Scottish Forestry has published a breakdown, by local authority area, of new woodland creation planted in the last full financial year.

Provisional results of the storm damage to forests caused by Storm Arwen were published on the 14 December 2021. Initial estimates are that around 4,000 hectares of woodland has been affected.

An online mapping tool has been developed to support forest owners assess the impacts and can be viewed here; Storm Arwen Windblow Mapping (arcgis.com) . The map will be updated by Forest Research on an on-going basis as more data becomes available. A version 2 update was made available on 17 December.

The satellite-based assessment will allow woodland owners, Forestry & Land Scotland and forestry agents managing large areas of forestry across the country to target their own local assessment using drones and site visits. The national data will also inform the strategic response of the forestry and timber sector facilitated by Scottish Forestry.

No specific assessment has been undertaken to assess the impact of Scottish Landfill Tax on the quantity of waste soil going to landfill.

Statistics published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) show that the overall amount of waste going to landfill has reduced from around 4.2 million tonnes in 2015 to around 2.6 million tonnes in 2020. The amount of soil going to landfill has also reduced over the same period, from around 1.24 million tonnes to around 0.83 million tonnes. Statistics for 2020 will however have been affected by the impact of Covid-19 restrictions.

The SEPA waste statistics are available at www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/ .

10,195 hectares of new woodland has be planted in Scotland since 21 st January 2021. The area that was planted as (a) coniferous, (b) broadleaved, (c) native and (d) non-native is shown in Table 1. This balance of planting is in line with SG targets.

We have invested more than £460,000 to enable Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland to deliver its long COVID Support Service. We have raised awareness of the service through:

• The Implementation Support Note which we have developed for clinicians supporting people with long-term effects of COVID-19 and has been disseminated to all NHS Boards. This resource includes information on the support available through Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s long COVID Support Service and how it can be accessed.
• The Decision Support Toolkit which was developed with the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre to incorporate key information from the Implementation Support Note, including details of Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s long COVID Support Service, https://www.signdecisionsupport.uk/ . Available via both a web-based platform and a mobile app, the toolkit presents clinicians with current evidence and helpful recommendations on assessment, investigations and referral, planning care, management and follow up for people experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19.
• The NHS Inform website which provides information, guidance and signposting for patients experiencing long-term effects of COVID-19.
• Our marketing campaign in October and November 2021 which included a marketing toolkit sent to more than 3,000 contacts across the NHS and third sector. This marketing toolkit contained information on Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s long COVID Support Service.

We are committed to ensuring that this service can be easily accessed by those who wish to do so, and we will continue to work with Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland to support this as appropriate.