Seòmar agus comataidhean

The spending plans for 2022-23 will be announced in the Scottish Government budget which will be published on 9 December and plans for future years will be considered as part of the Resource Spending Review .

We listened closely to small retailers in designing Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Under the DRS Regulations, return-point operators including small retailers will be able to claim a reasonable handling fee from the DRS scheme administrator for each container returned. This fee must cover costs including the rental value of space used to collect or store scheme packaging and will ensure small retailers are not out of pocket for operating a return point.

Retailers will also be able to refuse returns where the quantity of material is disproportionately greater than the volume of containers they would usually sell as part of a single transaction.

We are confident that these protections will ensure that small retailers can successfully operate a return point. Nevertheless, the DRS Regulations do allow a retailer to apply to the Scottish Ministers for an exemption from the obligation to operate a return point where they meet certain criteria. Further information is available at: https://depositreturnscheme.zerowastescotland.org.uk/ .

After suffering a substantial cyberattack in December 2020, SEPA enacted business continuity arrangements and implemented procedures to ensure priority planning and business critical cases were responded to.

SEPA worked with planning authorities and other consulting bodies, providing practical planning advice. By August 2021, SEPA had processed the backlog of cases and to date have responded to 1597 consultations.

Estimated spend on dementia by each Integration Joint Board in each year since 2016 is as follows:-

As announced by HM Treasury on 14 November 2016, the Scottish Government's population-based settlement from the UK Government's Apprenticeship Levy was £221 million in 2017-18, £230 million in 2018-19 and £239 million in 2019-20. This funding was allocated as part of the block grant.

From 2020-21 there has been no notional allocation of Apprenticeship Levy revenue included in the block grant and the normal operation of the Barnett Formula has provided a similar outcome. The UK Government collects the Levy and has details on who is liable to pay it and what revenue is accrued, with the Scottish Government not being responsible for this information.

Future allocations from the Apprenticeship Levy will be received as part of the block grant, and we have no advance notice of what this will be.

The winter funding will be used by Health and Social Care Partnerships to fund a range of options to support the timely discharge of patients from hospital. This includes £62 million for enhancing care at home capacity, £20 million to develop multi-disciplinary teams, £40 million for the development of alternative, interim care options and up to £48 million to increase the hourly rate of pay for social care staff.

In addition to this funding, in March 2021 we issued a £20 million Community Living Change Fund to be used during 2021–2024. Funding will be used to redesign services for people with complex needs including intellectual disabilities and autism, and for people who have enduring mental health problems, avoiding the need for out of area placements and reducing delayed discharges from hospital.

The National Services Division (NSD) in NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) have commissioning responsibility for the Scottish Genetic Laboratories. NSD are currently conducting a review of NHS Scotland’s genomics services which includes reviewing the Scottish genomic test directory and genomics infrastructure. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the 2021-2022 financial year.

The outcomes from the review will be considered by the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group, chaired jointly by Professor David Crossman, Chief Scientist for Health for the Scottish Government, and Susan Buchanan, NSD Director. This Group are supporting the Scottish Government in ensuring appropriate planning and robust decision-making processes are in place for genetic testing availability in Scotland.

Should the review highlight an inequity of access for Scottish patients for specific genetic tests, NSD will work with the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

The National Services Division (NSD) in NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) have commissioning responsibility for the Scottish Genetic Laboratories. NSD are currently conducting a review of NHS Scotland’s genomic services which includes a review of the Scottish genomic test directory and genomics infrastructure. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the 2021-2022 financial year.

The outcomes from the review will be considered by the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group (SGLG), chaired jointly by Professor David Crossman, Chief Scientist for Health for the Scottish Government, and Susan Buchanan, NSD Director, who are supporting the Scottish Government in ensuring appropriate planning and robust decision-making processes are in place for genetic testing availability in Scotland.

In addition, the SGLG and NSD are working closely with the Scottish Genetics Laboratory Consortium and the Scottish Medicines Consortium to understand the laboratory capacity requirements for current and future medicines requiring a companion diagnostic test.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The SPS awarded the pre-construction services contract for the HMP Highland project to Balfour Beatty in September 2021.

The SPS are working with Balfour Beatty to further develop the design of HMP Highland, prior to the award of a stage two contract that will deliver the construction element of the project.

Our clear ambition is that no one should be inappropriately delayed in hospital once they are clinically ready for discharge. However, given the current challenges health and social care partnerships are experiencing in relation to recruitment of care staff, and the increased level of needs people are presenting with, we need to set a realistic trajectory for reduction. Our intention is therefore to see a return to the position seen between the Summer of 2020 and Spring of 2021, freeing up at least 500 beds for winter.