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There are no plans to review the monetary penalties at this time.

It should be noted however that SEPA continues develop relationships with relevant parties with the aim of taking a prevention-based approach, where penalties are viewed as a last resort.

Whilst fixed monetary penalties remain as one available enforcement measure, they are intended for lower-level offending. For more significant offending, SEPA also has the option of variable monetary penalties (with the current limit set at £40k) or it can recommend prosecution in serious cases to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

SEPA collected around £ 4.8m in financial penalties in the financial year 2023-24.

The Scottish Government grant to the University of Glasgow for this purpose funds one PhD studentship and a number of small projects. The projects are currently at different stages, outputs from some of the projects are expected before the end of the year and all are expected to be completed by Spring 2025.

The successful candidate for the PhD studentship took up their post in January 2024 and the projects and PhD studentship are both wholly managed by the University of Glasgow.

As is standard with high quality research, it is anticipated that the findings will be published in relevant peer reviewed journals.

In response to the increasing number of laboratory-confirmed cases of pertussis that have been reported in Scotland as well as other parts of the UK and Europe, the Scottish Government is working closely with Public Health Scotland (PHS) and NHS Maternity Services to raise awareness of the risks of pertussis, particularly to young infants and to promote timely vaccination uptake as well as emphasising the importance of pertussis vaccination during pregnancy to protect newborn infants.

A National Incident Management Team (IMT) was convened by PHS on 23 May to ensure best practice across all Boards, including addressing any issues locally that might cause vaccination to be delayed.

The National Pertussis Incident Management Team continues to meet regularly to consider and review all actions in response to the increase in pertussis cases.

The Chief Midwifery Officer wrote to Maternity Services on 15 May 2024 encouraging midwives to promote the offer of vaccination to pregnant women.

The Chief Medical Officer wrote to Immunisation Coordinators and Directors of Public Health on 27 May 2024 about the importance of timely vaccination of infants and young children. He also wrote to Medical Directors and health professionals on 30 May 2024 to encourage all health care staff in priority groups working with infants and pregnant women to keep up to date with their own pertussis vaccinations via their occupational health services.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) is the national health and social care improvement organisation for Scotland which develops standards and indicators to support health and social care organisations improve the quality of care and support they deliver.

To support nationwide improvements in the quality of care, work is currently underway to develop a set of healthcare standards which outline the requirements for all healthcare services across Scotland.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland will publish draft National Healthcare Standards for consultation by 31 January 2025. It is anticipated that the final National Healthcare Standards will be published by end summer 2025.

My deepest thoughts and condolences are with those families affected by a death in prison custody. The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) cares for and supports some of the most complex and vulnerable individuals in our society, often at times of personal crisis.

Ligature prevention is an operational matter and ongoing priority for the SPS. The SPS Estates team consider ligature prevention in the design of cells, which continues to evolve, in order to minimise ligature points.

Following every death in prison, the SPS undertake a Death in Prison Learning Audit and Review to learn from the incident. Any learning in relation to ligature points is reported to the National Suicide Prevention Group, a multi-disciplinary group, which consider the high-level policy implications of tackling ligature risks and agree on any changes to be implemented.

There are ‘safer cells’ throughout the prison estate, which are specifically designed to reduce, as far as possible, opportunities for individuals to cause injury to themselves. Anti-ligature clothing and bedding is available where it is considered appropriate. Safer cells are used as a short term measure when the SPS believes they are necessary to safeguard the health and wellbeing of someone in their care.

Designing a prison that is considered to be entirely ligature point free would create a sterile living environment, incompatible with the aspiration of the provision of a normalised space for those in the care of the SPS. Placing individuals in the care of the SPS in restrictive, depersonalised environments as a matter of course could negatively impact on mental health, as well as indicating a lack of trust or acknowledgement of their needs.

Urban areas typically have the highest concentrations of roads and as a result any significant road water run-off into rivers usually occurs in these areas. A mix of oils, chemicals and tyre particles from vehicles builds up on urban roads during dry spells and is washed off into drainage systems and watercourses during rainfall events. The resulting runoff can have an impact on our water environment if it enters watercourses before going through any mitigating treatment processes. For example sediment traps, such as road gulleys, or sustainable urban drainage systems designed to filter out as many “first-flush” pollutants as possible.

The widespread, diffuse and sporadic nature of this issue means it has the potential to impact our water environment in a range of ways and makes it challenging to monitor and to address.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) assess the aquatic environment in Scotland through the Water Framework Directive classification. SEPA carries out a range of surveillance, operational and investigative monitoring to assess Scotland’s water bodies and to prioritise and drive improvements and action where needed. SEPA’s monitoring strategy for Scotland’s water environment can be seen here: Scotland's WFD Aquatic Monitoring Strategy (sepa.org.uk)

SEPA has assessed two water bodies (sections of rivers) as having failed to have met the water quality standards, where the reason has been ascribed to road transport.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of managing urban run-off to protect the water environment and to reduce flooding in our towns and cities. The Scottish Government is working to improve how we manage surface water and drainage, including how we can bring in more sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and blue and green infrastructure into our urban environment to help manage pollution and flooding from urban run-off and reduce pressure on piped urban drainage systems. This is part of our developing policy for the future of the water industry in Scotland in response to the climate emergency. We are also currently consulting on Scotland’s first Flood Resilience Strategy which will focus on actions needed to make our communities more flood resilient over the coming decades. Part of this is looking at how we can make the most of urban green spaces and natural water bodies to capture rainwater where it falls and to reduce run-off and water flowing into our drainage systems. This too will help to reduce the impacts of road run-off on the water environment.

More details on the consultation paper and how to take part can be found here .

Scottish Government officials met with Police Scotland and Environmental Health Officers on 12 January 2023 regarding concerns related to the potential involvement of organised crime groups in the beauty/cosmetics sector.

The implications of the use of counterfeit and unlicensed beauty products is one of a number of issues under consideration as we consider further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

The Scottish Government and its partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce are committed to working together to disrupt any serious organised crime and the harm it causes to individuals and communities.

The Scottish Government is not responsible for taking action against any land occupiers who have received multiple Section 59 notices. It would be for SEPA or the local authority responsible for issuing the notices to determine whether or not any further action or investigation would be appropriate in relation to any ongoing activity on the land.

There is no specific criminal offence of causing harm to birds by poorly installed or maintained building netting. Should such an offence be prosecuted in Scottish criminal court it would most likely be done under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Although we cannot identify building owners as a subset of convicted persons, Criminal Proceedings in Scotland national statistics show no companies were convicted under Section 1 in the most recent available three financial years (2019-20 to 2021-22). The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service additionally confirmed no companies were convicted for an offence involving bird netting in the last five years (2019-2024).

Scottish Government funding of over £2.5m has been committed to support the mental health and wellbeing of health and care staff in 2024-25. These resources include a 24/7 compassionate listening service, confidential mental health treatment through the Workforce Specialist Service and access to psychological therapies and interventions.

Prioritising these treatment and therapeutic programmes reflects our commitment to offer care and support to those staff suffering from stress, anxiety and other conditions. In addition, the National Wellbeing Hub offers a range of self-care wellbeing resources and signposting to relevant mental health and support services.