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A number of Scottish local authorities do offer reuse collection points at Household Waste & Recycling centres for paint. However councils are unable to accept liquid paint for disposal, as liquid wastes are banned from landfill sites in Scotland. Zero Waste Scotland provide further detail on what to with used paint and paint cans here: What to do with used paint | Recycling | How to Waste Less .

This service provision supplements social enterprise and third sector initiatives running paint collection and redistribution reuse networks for waste paint.

However, as the RSC’s report highlights, across all paint re-use or reprocessing options in the UK there are key common challenges to overcome to ensure a sustainable circular economy and waste management provision model.

We are committed to increasing the amount and quality of recyclate collected and reprocessed in Scotland. We are working closely with local government on the development of our route map to deliver our waste, recycling and climate change targets to 2025 and beyond, and are giving due consideration to further steps we can take to drive waste reduction and ensure circular economy approach across a range of waste streams.

Scottish Government officials are continually engaging with NHS Boards and Health and Social Partnerships (HSCPs) to identify particular areas of concern. Aberdeenshire HSCP, which has operational responsibility for delivering services at Chalmers Hospital in Banff, advises that it is working closely with the staff group to develop a sustainable model of service delivery for the Banff community.

We have announced a substantial new investment of over £300 million in hospital and community care to support the NHS and social care system. The new funding will support a range of measures to maximise capacity in hospitals and primary care, reduce delayed discharges and ensure those in the community who need support receive effective and responsive care. NHS Grampian is receiving a share of direct workforce investments introduced through this plan including the recruitment of 1,000 additional healthcare support staff to support patients in hospitals and in community health teams.

Over and above this funding we have provided NHS Grampian with £1.1 million to support two new specialist programmes – Interface Care and Discharge without Delay – which will speed up the hospital discharge process or provide an alternative to hospital care altogether. This work is currently underway and we are working collaboratively with the Board to ensure robust actions are in place which support the reduction of long delays and improve patient care.

In addition, Grampian has received a £944K share of a further £10 million which has been allocated to Health Boards to support the delivery of timeous and optimal care. This will support Health Boards to put in place a range of measures including ensuring appropriate levels of staffing are in place across the system to facilitate efficient and effective patient care.

The Scottish Government works closely with CyberScotland Partners including Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help protect the public from cyber threats.

The NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA), which works to fight and prevent fraud affecting the NHS have put together guidance and advice to help anyone who may be a target of scams which can be found here .

We encourage anyone who identifies a suspicious email to forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk and to report any suspicious scam websites using the NCSC Scam Website Reporting Service which can be found here . Any victims of online or offline scams should report these to Police Scotland by calling 101. For general advice/support, contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000.

The Scottish Government works closely with CyberScotland Partners including Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help protect the public from cyber threats.

The Scottish Government supports the publication of a regular technical and non-technical CyberScotland Bulletin which references content from Police Scotland, NCSC, the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, Neighbourhood Watch Scotland and other partners. CyberScotland provides a single online portal for organisations, businesses and individuals seeking information, guidance and support on cyber resilience issues which can be found here .

I welcome the report from Royal Society of Chemistry on making Polymers in Liquid Formulations (PLFs) more sustainable, helping to embed circular economy in to this area.

The Scottish Government is committed to building a fully circular economy as part of our work to tackle the climate emergency.

To make the most of this opportunity, we are working with industry, including construction and demolition sectors, local government, environmental groups and wider stakeholders to develop a Route Map to deliver our waste and recycling targets to 2025 and beyond. Through the Route Map and the forthcoming Circular Economy Bill we will consider how best to take forward waste reduction and ensure circular economy approach across a range of waste streams.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living in Scotland with Cystic Fibrosis is able to access the best possible care and support for their mental health.

As Cystic Fibrosis is a complex condition that affects individuals in different ways, people of all ages will have access to Specialist Cystic Fibrosis Centres and be cared for by a team of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals with specialised knowledge. Cystic Fibrosis Centres in Scotland include a Clinical Psychologist as part of the multidisciplinary team who can provide mental health support to the patient and their family.

Further emotional support can be accessed via the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and a resource detailing support for people on the impact of Kaftrio is available online via their website.

The Nightclub Closure Fund was available to nightclubs for support with meeting staffing costs for the period during which they were required to close between the 27 December and 24 January 2022. In order to qualify for this funding, businesses were required to meet eligibility as set out in guidance. This included the requirement to be trading as a nightclub as of the 20 December. In order to prove this, businesses were asked to confirm that they met five conditions including that their licence confirmed that the music exceeded 85DB after 1am. Where this was not the case businesses have been asked to provide further evidence of this.

Following notification of a decision on their applications, businesses were able to ask for this decision to be reviewed, including where this has been due to out of date information contained on licensing details.

There have been 25 reviews requested; 14 decisions overturned, 6 of these where the reason for rejection was noise levels and upon receipt of further information have been overturned. In addition 11 decision have been reviewed and upheld.

The Scottish Government believes effective voice is key to fair work and welcomes the CIPD’s contribution to highlighting the need for and the promotion of worker voice. We note their Working Lives Scotland report states that 19% of employees say they have no voice channel at work. More positively, it also notes the significant improvement in managerial openness among large organisations and public sector employees. We will continue to promote effective voice for all workers as the best way to ensure fair and democratic workplaces across Scotland, working in partnership with our stakeholders, including the STUC, employers, and the CIPD.

The Scottish Government expects all workers in Scotland to be treated fairly. Without control over employment law, we are using all the levers available to us to drive high quality and fair work, including effective workers’ voice, across the labour market.

Our Fair Work policy is underpinned by the Fair Work Convention’s Framework, which recognises effective voice as a critical dimension of Fair Work. We are working with our trade union partners and other stakeholders to promote and encourage wider fair work practices, including effective voice in various sectors, such as retail and hospitality. We are also working with stakeholders to deliver on our commitment in The Fair Work Action Plan, published in 2019, to work with the STUC to achieve increased collective bargaining focusing initially on four key sectors: social care; early years & child care; hospitality and construction.

Through our flagship Fair Work First approach, we are applying fair work criteria to public sector funding - asking employers to commit to providing appropriate channels for effective voice, such as trade union recognition along with adopting other fair work principles. In line with the Bute House Agreement , and subject to limits on devolved competence, we will strengthen conditionality yet further. By Summer 2022, we will make it a requirement for the recipients of public sector grants to provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice, such as trade union recognition.

The Scottish Government continues to engage in discussions with the UK Government around reported labour shortages through several forums, including Business and Industry Interministerial Group QUAD Meetings and DEFRA/devolved administration inter-ministerial group meetings. Our concerns have been echoed by colleagues from Wales and Northern Ireland in these meetings, and the Devolved Governments have jointly written to the UK Government Minister for Safe and Legal Migration requesting regular and meaningful engagement on migration issues.

It is clear from engagement to date that the UK Government is unwilling to make the necessary changes required to address Scotland’s needs. The UK Government must revise its restrictive migration policy to prevent further harm to our economy and society, and establish a specific Labour Market Shortages Taskforce with the Devolved Governments to enable constructive discussion on the measures required to tackle labour shortages

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is currently reviewing its 2007 recommendation against lung cancer screening. The work on developing a protocol for NHS Boards to undertake pilot programmes for lung cancer screening will resume once the NSC’s evidence review is complete, as any new recommendation will guide pilot design and implementation.