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As Table 2 of the amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) makes clear, the economic modelling in the BRIA assumes that there will be 3,021 reverse vending machines (RVMs) in operation.

Annex F of the amended final BRIA shows that the economic case for DRS remains strong if higher numbers of containers and return points, suggested by industry, are adopted. As we have seen no evidence for higher numbers of RVMs than 3,021, this is also the figure modelled in Annex F.

The construction of the A92/A96 Haudagain Improvement project is well advanced.

In December 2021 my predecessor announced a revised anticipated date for completion of works allowing roads to open to traffic by the end of March 2022. This revised completion date was based on the latest information reported by the Contractor at the time and was subject to no further disruption occurring due to events such as adverse weather and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Contractor has reported impacts to programme critical work since then due to adverse weather, including a number of high profile named Storms all having an impact on the works (Storm Malik, Storm Corrie, Storm Dudley and Storm Eunice) in addition to cold temperatures causing ground frosts that have prevented programme critical road surfacing works being progressed. This has been compounded by ongoing disruption to the workforce as a result of COVID-19, with over 40% of the on-site workforce having to isolate due to COVID-19 earlier this month, and continued supply chain issues.

In light of the above, I can advise that based on the latest information from the Contractor I now anticipate that the works will be complete to allow the new link road to open to traffic by mid-May 2022 at the latest, although the Contractor is hoping to achieve an earlier date if possible, subject to no further disruption occurring due to adverse weather or the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transport Scotland will continue to engage with the Contractor to ensure that any risks to programme are mitigated where possible and to explore all opportunities to better this anticipated completion date.

We have allocated over £2million additional funding in 2021-22 to NHS Forth Valley to improve CAMHS from our £120m Recovery and Renewal fund.

The Scottish Government national standard is that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral and the latest CAMHS publication reporting to quarter ending 31 December 2021 is available on the PHS website at:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-31-december-2021/

Table 1 shows the total number of patients seen for first treatment following referral to CAMH Services in NHS Forth Valley and the percentage seen within 18 weeks, 19-35 weeks, 36-52 weeks and 53+ for the latest published data for quarter ending 31 December 2021.

Table 1 : Total number of patients seen and waiting times from referral to treatment, quarter ending 31 December 2021, NHS Forth Valley

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of women’s refuge places available in each local authority area in each year since 1999. The data that is available relates to the Scottish Women’s Aid provision of refuge accommodation in Scotland, and data is available for each of 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2018. The provision is as described in the following tables:

Refuge accommodation profile in Scotland 2008

Prescription charges were abolished in Scotland on 1 April 2011. The prescription charge in England is £9.35 per item from 1 April 2021. Prescription charges were abolished in Wales on 1 April 2007.

Unlike England and Wales, Scotland provides free NHS-funded eye examinations to all UK residents under General Ophthalmic Services arrangements.

Social Security Scotland conducts an eligibility check with the submission of part 1 of the application, which checks if the child is already in receipt of a Disability Living Allowance for children award. At present, this information is not stored in a way that can be quantified.

There is not a single offence of modern slavery in Scotland. Several offences fall within the ambit of modern slavery. These offences are listed below.

On 31 May 2016, the Human Trafficking & Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 came into effect.

The 2015 Act introduced new offences and aggravations, which apply to conduct occurring on or after 31 May 2016.

Offences that were in effect prior to the implementation of the 2015 Act continue to apply to conduct occurring before 17 December 2016.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are able to provide statistical data from 2002/03 onwards. Table 1 details the number of accused persons reported to the Procurator Fiscal, for one or more of the offences listed below, in each financial year since 2002-03.

Table 1

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) annually publish the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) which is an estimate of the probability that a 16 year old will participate in Higher Education by the age of 30.

In 2019-20, the HEIPR for 16-30 years olds in Scotland was 57.4%.

https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-statistics/statistical-publications/2021/SFCST032021.aspx

The closest comparison for England is the Higher Education Initial Participation (HEIP) measure published by the Department for Education (DfE) measuring participation rates for those aged 17-30. This publication shows in 2019-20 the HEIP in England was 53.4%.

Unlike the Scottish data, this measure contains higher education delivered at Alternative Providers in England. If these institutions are excluded, then the rate for England is 52.4%.

England does not include 16 year olds in their HEIP measure as very few 16 year olds in England participate in higher education.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-measures-in-higher-education-2006-to-2020

No HEIPR is published for Wales for those aged 16-30.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission published updated forecasts alongside the 2022-23 Scottish Budget on 9 December 2021.

In line with their forecasts, the Scottish Government is committing £3,949 million to social security assistance in 2022-23, and is investing an additional £2.7 million to uprate eight Scottish benefits by 6% from 1 April, subject to parliamentary approval.

The UK Government Spring Statement was made on 23 March and provided an updated set of Social Security Block Grant Adjustments for 2022-23 which total £3,601 million.

Therefore, the Scottish Government is making an additional investment of over £346 million in the social security benefits in 2022-23.

Social security spending is demand-led which means it is variable and harder to control than other areas of spending. We will manage any variance between actual and forecast expenditure or Block Grant Adjustment, in a competent, responsible and balanced way.

Part 1 of the Child Disability Payment application form gathers key personal details of the client and Part 2 of the application form asks for more details on the impact of the client’s disability. For applications that do not progress to complete Part 2, an application outcome is recorded, which can include denied or withdrawn. Where applicable, a high level reason for an application being denied is also recorded.