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There is no system of coroners' inquests in Scotland unlike England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The responsibility for the investigation of any death that requires further explanation rests with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Any sudden, suspicious, unexpected or unexplained death and any death which has occurred in circumstances which give rise to public concern, can result in a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) a public examination of the circumstances of that death conducted before a sheriff.

Legal aid is available for relatives participating in an FAI on the same basis as for civil proceedings and the same statutory tests must be met.

Civil legal aid has generous financial eligibility thresholds and those who are entitled to participate in an FAI, such as family, are assumed to have probable cause. In terms of assessing ‘reasonableness’ the Scottish Legal Aid Board expects that the Procurator Fiscal will usually be able to represent the interests of the relatives. However, where a relative of a person who died in prison or police custody applies, SLAB will look favourably on the application.

SLAB holds data in respect of applications from 2012 only. In respect of FAIs I can confirm that since 2012 there has been a total of 134 applications received, of which 111 were granted. That is a grant rate of approximately 83%.

In the financial year 2012-13 90% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2013-14 78% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2014-15 71% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2015-16 93% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2016-17 88% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2017-18 87% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2018-19 79% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2019-20 81% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2020-21 86% of applications received were granted.

The Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) does not contain a standalone Peatland Restoration option. AECS contributes to peatland restoration indirectly, mainly through the funding of certain capital items.

As there is no AECS contract data regarding the area of peatland under management it is not possible to report on the area of peatland restoration contribution related to AECS.

No. Siemens Gamesa is a manufacturer of onshore and offshore wind turbines. Any contract would therefore be between them and Onshore and Offshore Wind Developers and companies in the related supply chain.

Scottish Government and its agencies have no agreements in place to provide financial or other support to Siemens Gamesa.

The Scottish Government put in place and agreed a three year financial package in 2019-20 which sees an annual a fixed percentage uplift of 2.5% to the global sum each year of the current remuneration package. This ensures funding for continuous expansion in the quality and number of services that can be offered by community pharmacy contractors to local communities.

The Scottish Government have also invested £10 million over the course of the 3 year financial settlement in NHS Pharmacy First Scotland, seeing it increase the range of common clinical conditions which are able to be treated by the community pharmacist without the need to see a GP. We have also put in place a National Foundation Programme and Independent Prescriber Career Pathway. This pathway aims to maximise pharmacists’ expertise in medicines and, with the introduction of the new NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service, the opportunity for pharmacists to enhance patient care will further increase. Increasing the number of Independent Prescribers and establishing the core use of the IP qualification in the community setting will enhance the pharmacy networks’ role in the clinical pathway of patients.

The Scottish Government Health and Social Care Integrated Workforce Plan commits to increasing Pharmacy pre-registration training places by 120 over the next 4 years and we are currently increasing training places available for pharmacy technician training. Scottish Government will continue to work with partners to ensure not only the stability of the network but also that the balance of high quality pharmaceutical care is maintained across the whole pharmacy workforce in all sectors.

There were 42 proposed flood protection schemes set out in the Flood Risk Management Strategies published by SEPA in December 2015.

Of the 42 projects 8 have been completed.

The Chief Medical Officer issued guidance in his letter of 21 September on the vaccination of severely immunosuppressed individuals. This letter is published here: COVID-19 vaccination programme: JCVI advice on the vaccination of severely immunosuppressed individual (scot.nhs.uk) . On 19 October a tailored Primary Care Update communication was cascaded direct to primary care networks to ensure GPs and others were aware of arrangements for this cohort.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice on third primary doses is complex both in terms of eligibility and timing, as the ideal time for a third dose may differ from person to person. There has therefore been clear national communication to health boards to assist them in delivery to this cohort.

There are many rare conditions and guidance on specific conditions which may benefit from inclusion is not necessarily exhaustive. Where a condition is not on the list but a patient’s clinician believes they should be included, they can add people to the list and refer them for vaccination to their local health board, if in their judgement, they feel that their patient should be eligible for a third dose.

More information on this is available at: Coronavirus (COVID-19) third dose vaccination | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04237 on 6 December 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 .

Preventing litter is essential to protecting wildlife. We have taken steps to address increased litter of PPE as the result of the pandemic. Scottish Government’s “coronavirus (COVID-19): public use of face coverings guidance” also includes information on wearing reusable face coverings and disposing of face coverings.

Zero Waste Scotland has developed the “Face It: Reuse Beats Single Use” campaign which encourages the public to dispose of face coverings responsibly and wear reusable face coverings. This includes a toolkit of social media assets that can be shared by stakeholders. This initially ran in Spring 2021 and an updated campaign was launched on 2 December 2021.