Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03286 on‎ 1 October 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
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The Scottish Government continues to work with and support Scotland's environmental regulator SEPA in tackling waste crime.

The introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 introduced additional enforcement measures for SEPA to utilise which included Fixed Monetary Penalties, Variable Monetary Penalties and Enforcement Undertakings. This has expanded SEPA's toolkit for tackling environmental offending and allows a greater range of remedies targeted at both punishment of offender and remediation of environmental harm.

SEPA participate in several multi agency initiatives such as the Scottish Organised Crime Task Force and the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, a cross UK initiative to allow greater collaboration and operational impact on serious waste crime , particularly those who operate cross border.

In respect of tackling the ongoing issue of litter, a review of the National Litter Strategy was completed in 2019 and published on the Scottish Government website earlier this year. The review provides a snapshot of the activities that took place between 2014 and 2019 and also outlines areas of success and good practice case studies. Work has begun to refresh this as a National Litter and Flytipping strategy, which will be published in early 2022. Enforcement will be one of the four key themes this strategy focusses on.

Data on waste crime convictions is available from SEPA's website ( www.sepa.org.uk/regulations/enforcement).

Scottish Ministers set investment priorities for the Scottish Government. When making investment decisions, Ministers will consider multiple criteria and evidence informed by robust assessments which are in accordance with statutory procedures.

Under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act (2004), all public bodies in Scotland are required to further the conservation of biodiversity when carrying out their responsibilities. The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act (WANE Act) (2011) introduced a further requirement for all public bodies in Scotland to provide a publicly available report every three years, on the actions which they have taken to meet this biodiversity duty.

Scottish Ministers hold regular meetings with SEPA on their strategic objectives, responsibilities and programmes of work, including pollution control, which are central to addressing the biodiversity crisis.

Waste crime has a serious and detrimental impact on our environment, communities and compliant businesses. The Scottish Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy recognises waste crime as a strategic threat.

In respect of an annual appraisal of waste crime impacts, SEPA contribute to the Scottish Multi Agency Strategic Threat Assessment (SMASTA) on an annual basis, which now includes a section on Environmental Crime. This is compiled by Police Scotland with input from relevant partners.

As the national agency for sport, sport scotland invests Scottish Government and National Lottery resources to help the people of Scotland get the most from the sporting system. sport scotland works in partnerships with Scottish Governing Bodies of sport (SGBs), local authorities, leisure trusts, sports clubs and community organisations, schools, colleges, and universities to provide greater opportunities for all to participate in sport.

sport scotland’s investment in each local authority area, in each year, since 2012-13 can be found from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62729)

This data covers investment by sport scotland, in both the local authority and other organisations in the local authority area, including investment for Active Schools, Community Sport Hubs, Sport Facilities Fund, National and Regional Facilities, Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis Fund, Cycling Facilities Fund, Cashback for Communities, Active Places Fund, National Lottery Awards for All, Direct Club Investment, COVID-19 Ice Rink Funding, COVID Loss of spectator funding, and Get Into Summer.

The following table shows the number of people diagnosed with dementia and referred for post-diagnostic support from a named Link Worker in financial years 2018/19 and 2019/2020. Information on people diagnosed with dementia who are not referred for PDS is not available centrally.

For 2018/19, 8,021 people equates to approximately 43.4 % of those estimated to have been diagnosed with dementia in that year. Of those referred in 2018/19 for post-diagnostic support, 75.1% received a minimum of one year’s support. Full 2019/2020 figures will be published next year.

Table 1: Number of people diagnosed with dementia and referred for post-diagnostic support by financial year of diagnosis: Scotland: 2018/19 to 2019/20

Housing to 2040 is Scotland’s first long-term housing strategy. It sets out the Scottish Government’s vision for housing by 2040, that everyone has access to a safe, warm, affordable and energy efficient home that meets their needs, located in the place they want to be. The strategy needs to be agile and able to respond to future changes, and is in alignment with the Shared Policy Programme agreed with the Scottish Green Party. The updated commitments will be reflected in the governance process and monitoring framework plan for Housing to 2040 that will be established later this year.

The Scottish Government supports the planting of the right tree in the right place. Forest and woodland strategies, including the Scottish Borders Woodland Strategy , set the regional framework for woodland expansion and are developed by the local authority in partnership with interested stakeholders. These strategies identify preferred areas where forestry can have a positive impact on the environment, landscape, economy and local people, and also identify sensitive areas where forestry may not be a suitable choice.

The Regional Strategic Woodland Creation Project is furthest developed in the South of Scotland. Here it is being developed as an evolution of the Scottish Borders Woodland Strategy . The ambition is to better define where the preferred areas for woodlands are, helping bridge the gap between strategic and site level considerations.

Regional Land Use Partnership (RLUP) pilots are being established this year, with Regional Land Use Frameworks (RLUF) being developed by 2023. The RLUPs will work within the existing context of their region, including identifying and working with key strategies and projects. The South of Scotland is one of the pilot regions. They are now beginning to engage with stakeholders on their regional approach, which will include engagement with forestry stakeholders as well as local communities, land managers and owners, experts and local and national government.

There is no data held on reasons for missed or non attendance for COVID-19 vaccine appointments.

In the statistical report for 16th of June 2021, Public health Scotland published a one-off analysis of "did not attend" (DNA ) appointments for the time period between 1 February 2021 and 6 June 2021. In this they found that 18.2% of first dose appointments and 3.9% of second dose appointments had resulted in either a missed appointment or a cancellation. The full report is available here : COVID-19 Statistical Report - 16 June 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland