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In October 2020 the Scottish Government published the Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan. The plan outlined our priorities for mental health, highlighting the importance of community based mental health and wellbeing support.

In February we announced an additional £120 million for a Recovery & Renewal Fund to ensure the delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition & Recovery Plan. The Fund will support the development of an integrated culture of mental wellbeing and prevention within local communities and across Scotland, and promote the capacity and role of third sector organisations to deliver this.

We are committed to improving access to community mental health and wellbeing support. This year we have provided local authorities with an additional £15 Million to fund over 200 new and enhanced supports and services for children and young people. In addition the recently published Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party shared policy programme commits to doubling the budget for community based mental wellbeing services for children and young people to £30 million per annum. Ministers are currently considering options to take this forward and will be informed by the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board.

The NHS recovery plan published in August also highlighted the importance of community mental health support. The Plan commits to building on the success of our community link worker programme, to ensure the by 2026, every GP Practice will have access to a mental health and wellbeing service, creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and direct social prescribing.

This information is publically available through the SEPA Waste Discover Data Tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/

We are actively working with potential investors in plastic reprocessing capacity in Scotland. Zero Waste Scotland have commissioned work to better understand and forecast the volumes of materials, including plastics, collected for recycling.

Once it goes live, Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will create a stream of high value plastic which will be attractive to reprocessors. Our £70 million fund to improve recycling infrastructure will also help to improve the quality and quantity of recyclate collected.

In addition, we are working with the other governments of the UK on reform of the packaging producer responsibility system to provide greater incentives for domestic reprocessing.

Information on how many dementia specialist appointments have been held in each year since 2007 is not collected or held centrally. National-level information on the number of referrals into old age psychiatry does not include dementia-specific referrals.

Connecting Scotland was planned to run till the end of 2021. However, the depth of the challenges of digital exclusion that the pandemic has revealed mean we are extending the programme till the end of this Parliament in 2026, as set out in the Programme for Government.

The current phase is open for applications from organisations working to remove barriers related to digital exclusion for unemployed young people and adults until‎ 27 September 2021. From 28 September the programme will be accepting fast track applications from organisations that can identify users who are digitally excluded, on a low income, and at risk of social isolation and loneliness (particularly older people, people with disabilities, and single parents).

A full update on progress towards our target of a 33% reduction in food waste by 2025 will be provided in the upcoming review of Scotland’s Food Waste Reduction Action Plan. A detailed analysis on the composition of residual waste is currently being undertaken and will form part of this review, due in Spring 2022.

In addition, we are developing a Routemap to deliver our ambitious 2025 waste and recycling targets which will inform the development of the new Circular Economy Bill. There will also be further engagement and consultation to shape the Bill’s contents.

The Scottish Government has committed to extend the Connecting Scotland programme over the course of this Parliament to reach a total of 300,000 people. Work is underway to scope the future service, including how best to reach priority groups who we know are most likely to be digitally excluded, including refugees and asylum seekers.

Since 2016 - which is when a specific food waste support programme came in - up to April 2021, approx. £1.23 million has been spent.

Table 1 also provides a breakdown of Scottish Government’s advertising spend targeted at food waste prevention and reduction since 2013.

When the Gourock to Dunoon passenger service was brought into the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services network, the Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands did commit to look at fares on the passenger service and we remain committed to doing this. However, this is not to prejudge what the outcome of any such review would be.

We are considering Gourock – Dunoon fares in the context of ongoing work to seek to establish a compliant method to deliver RET on the Pentland Firth routes, where there is also a mix of commercial and subsidised operators. This is challenging but we are making progress.

We need to continue this work to fully understand the legal constraints and options for reducing fares where there is more than one operator, prior to any further decisions on RET. Scottish Government resources were pivoted to deal with Covid-19, however work on this issue has now resumed.

(a) Transport Scotland is progressing the commitment to deliver the decarbonisation of Scotland’s railway by 2035. (b) As confirmed in answer‎ S6W-01654 on 16 August 2021, Network Rail is to undertake ground investigation and survey works of the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route during autumn 2021. These works will help determine the appropriate decarbonisation solution which will in turn help inform the programme. Network Rail will only then be in the position to undertake an efficient procurement process which delivers value for money.

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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02352 on‎ 13 September 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