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Since July 2021 SEPA has advised that the same vehicle that is used for delivery can be used for the backhaul of scheme packaging provided that:

• the haulier is a registered waste carrier ;
• where backhaul is carried out in a vehicle used to transport fresh food, there is sufficient separation and a barrier to prevent contamination of waste materials with organic matter.

This advice was published as part of a series of DRS Frequently Asked Questions on SEPA’s website on 8 March 2022.

We have no plans to conduct an independent assessment of the Keys to Life Learning Disability strategy. We worked with people with a learning disability and autistic people in planning and publishing our Towards Transformation Learning Disability and Autism plan last year. This plan recognises the additional pressures of the pandemic as well as the aims of the Keys to Life strategy. The plan sets out key agreed actions to improve the lives of people with a learning disability and autistic people, to which we are fully committed and on which we have been working in partnership with our stakeholders.

The management of asbestos in buildings is a reserved matter for the UK Government and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has UK wide responsibility for enforcement of the legislation and regulations.

My officials asked the HSE for information on current activities to collect data on the number of premises containing asbestos either publicly or privately-owned. There is no requirement on any authority to collect data, and in recent evidence to the UK Parliament Work and Pensions Committee, HSE confirmed that the exact number of business premises in Great Britain containing asbestos is not known. There is however a duty on owners of any premises to know whether their building contains asbestos and to manage it in accordance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

HSE is currently carrying out a statutory, five yearly, review of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Part of the cost benefit analysis for the report which is due to be published in the summer will include estimates about the number of premises containing asbestos. HSE has also given a commitment that future research will address the number of business premises containing asbestos.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people are able to access the right support for their mental health without stigma, including medication where this is the most appropriate intervention.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the numbers of children and young people who have been offered talking therapy or who have refused talking therapy as a treatment option.

Prescribing is a clinical decision based on a prescriber’s judgment as to what they believe to be in the best interests of the patient. The prescribing of antidepressants to children and young people is undertaken in consultation with the patient and, where appropriate, with their family, to ensure that patient choice is also central to decisions taken regarding treatment and care.

Medication is one aspect of treatment, alongside psychological therapy or other therapeutic interventions, available as an option for children and young people who require support. We continue to invest and improve access to other services, including by providing £16 million per annum to ensure that every secondary school in Scotland has access to counselling support; and by investing £15 million in community-based mental health and wellbeing services as part of our focus on early intervention and prevention.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05219 on 17 January 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The Scottish Government’s Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) is awarding £62 million to support bus operators to acquire 276 new zero emission buses and associated infrastructure. Bus operators are free to choose which manufacturer they purchase from and we do not seek to influence this, in order to ensure a level playing field.

Level playing field provisions in trade agreements ensure that competition is open and fair, and that businesses from one trading partner to not gain an unfair advantage and undercut rivals from others. The success of the bus manufacturing industry in Scotland and the UK requires that the industry makes available high-quality products for bus operators at competitive prices and which can compete in the international market.

ADL will manufacture their buses in Falkirk, Wrightbus, Switch and Orion manufacture elsewhere in the UK (with Orion chassis being manufactured in Italy, Poland and Turkey), EVM manufacture in the Republic of Ireland (with the chassis manufactured in Germany) and Yutong manufacture in China. In total, 137 buses will be manufactured in Scotland, 23 in the rest of the UK, and 116 in China.

The following table shows how many buses from which manufacturer ScotZEB is supporting operators to acquire:

Stock keeping arrangements related to Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) are a matter for industry to determine; our Regulations do not mandate a separate Scottish label or barcode for in-scope containers.

We are supporting the National Advisory Committee on Stroke to develop a progressive stroke pathway document which will set out the vision for what stroke services across Scotland should deliver across the whole patient pathway, including access to stroke rehabilitation, and access to support for people who have experienced a stroke.

Scottish Government will work closely with the Stroke Improvement Programme Team and stakeholders throughout 2022 to develop an implementation plan to deliver the vision set out in this document.

We will continue to take steps to introduce a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service in Scotland. A Scotland wide service is expected to be operational by 2023.

Our new air quality strategy 'Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - Towards a Better Place for Everyone' sets out a series of actions intended to deliver further air quality improvements over the period to 2026. Amongst these actions are several which focus on reducing emissions from domestic fuel combustion including work with local government and SEPA to consider revision of the Clean Air Act 1993.

An expert working group, which met for the first time in January 2022, has been established to advise the Government on taking forward these actions. Further information will be made available as this work proceeds.

The available records of published Road Orders details our understanding of when the following sections of A9 dual carriageways were opened:

(a) May 1979 to May 1997