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The Island Communities Impact Assessment makes clear that the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme will not increase the amount of waste that will arise in island communities as most waste is currently transported off the islands. Furthermore, as part of the Scottish Government’s ‘Deposit Return Scheme Strategic Environmental Assessment: Post Adoption Statement’ at table 3.1 Mitigation of environmental effect does set out the “effects (including greenhouse gas emissions) from the potential for increased vehicle movements from consumers, retailers and reprocessors” and it highlights a number of proposed mitigation actions to minimise carbon emissions. The Scottish Government, Circularity Scotland, and our business partners are developing solutions which build on these proposals where possible. The Scottish Government does not consider an additional assessment necessary at this stage.

A) SEPA is the regulator for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), responsible for the producer registration service and checking compliance with the Regulations. It is not within SEPA’s remit to model the carbon footprint of any transportation used for the scheme, and it has not conducted this modelling. SEPA was consulted on and responded to the consultation relating to the Deposit Return Scheme’s strategic environmental assessment (SEA) which considered the carbon emission associated with the DRS.

B) Circularity Scotland has not conducted carbon footprint modelling on their transportation network, but seek to operate to the highest ethical and environmental standards. This includes developing with their partners a solution for the collection of scheme articles on islands which makes use of local supply chains where possible in order to minimise carbon emissions.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty, with £119 million allocated this year to provide heat, energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures to fuel poor households throughout Scotland.

This incudes funding for our Area Based Schemes (ABS) delivered in partnership with local authorities. This year North Ayrshire council has been allocated £1.8 million to help fuel poor households living in `hard to treat’ properties (typically requiring external wall insulation).

Since the start of our ABS programme in 2013, we have invested £13.2 million in improvements benefitting over 2,800 fuel poor households in the North Ayrshire council area.

More than £210 million has been invested through our national Warmer Homes Scotland scheme since its launch in September 2015. This has helped over 32,000 households throughout Scotland to achieve an estimated average saving of £160 per year on their energy bills.

The Scottish Government has also established our Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF), working with trusted third sector partners to deliver direct emergency funds to people struggling to pay their energy bills, and who were at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing their energy use as a result. We have increased our overall funding to £30 million this financial year.

Section 8 and section 8A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) make provision for civil non-harassment orders (NHOs).

Since 2018-2019, we have included data in the Civil justice statistics in Scotland on all legal remedies (craves) sought in the courts, including craves for civil NHOs.

In 2021-2022, 12 civil non-harassment orders were sought in the sheriff courts where the NHO was the principal crave in the proceedings and 55 were sought in the sheriff courts as ancillary craves in family proceedings. The available data for 2020-2021 indicates that there were 32 prosecutions and 31 convictions where the main charge related to the breach of a civil NHO.

We have placed the available data about the numbers of civil NHOs granted where the NHO was the principal crave, and the numbers of prosecutions and convictions for breaches of civil NHOs since 2008-2009 in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under Bib. No. 64214.

The figures for the number of civil NHOs granted and for prosecutions and convictions for breaches of civil non-harassment orders are taken from the statistical information held by the Scottish Government. Figures in this area should be treated with caution as applications for civil non-harassment orders may be an ancillary crave in an initial writ and so may not always appear in the statistics. Section 3.2 of Civil justice statistics in Scotland 2021-22 (www.gov.scot) discusses the statistical approach to ancillary craves. In addition, there is separate provision for non-harassment orders to be issued in criminal proceedings.

As the answer to question S6W-15303 notes, the civil remedy of interdict, which can prohibit or restrain specified behaviour, is also available. In practice, interdicts are much more commonly sought than civil non-harassment orders. In 2021-2022, the most recent year for which we have published statistics , there were around 1300 craves for interdict in family procedure cases initiated in the sheriff courts.

The length of closures (in hours / minutes) of the A9 between Inverness and Perth due to an accident between 2018 and 2023 (to date), month by month are detailed in the following table:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17864 on 23 May 2023. 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

Official statistics covering processing times for Adult Disability Payment are published as a part of the regularly scheduled quarterly publication. The latest Adult Disability Payment statistical publication was published on 14 March 2023, covering up to end January 2023. Information on the median average processing time by month is included in table 9.

https://www.gov.scot/collections/social-security-scotland-stats-publications/#benefitsforcarersanddisabilityassistance .

The next publication will be published on 13 June 2023, and will cover up to end April 2023.

Processing time is the number of working days from part 2 of the application being received to a decision being made or the application being withdrawn.

Our systems and processes record the time taken to a decision, rather than only approvals, and as such we are unable to provide the longest time taken between a successful application for Adult Disability Payment being received and the first payment being made.

The Scottish Government supports a wide range of research projects which investigate Scotland’s resilience to water scarcity. The Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) funds the Centre of Expertise on Water (CREW), the James Hutton Institute and Scotland’s Rural College to conduct both short and long-term research projects.

There are ongoing and future research projects included in the 2022 RESAS funded 5-year strategic research programme, aimed at improving our understanding of seasonal water scarcity in Scotland and how we can change behaviours to build resilience to water scarcity. Many of these projects are at an early stage and the findings have not yet been published.

In addition, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR), and Scottish Water carry out their own complementary research into Scotland’s resilience to seasonal water scarcity.

Information on the (a) longest, (b) average and (c) median waiting time for answered telephone calls in 2023 to date is provided in the following table.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17864 on 23 May 2023. 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

A detailed update against each of the BAA recommendations was included in a recent NHS Lothian Board meeting, these can be accessed at NHS Lothian Board Papers 05 April 2023.pdf

NHS Lothian have confirmed that at the time of the BAA audit, the PCHI register had 643 patients recorded. 107 of those were aged greater than 18 years of age. As of 16 May 2023 there are 725 children on the PCHI register. This is a dynamic register adding children when hearing loss is diagnosed, and transitioning young people to adult care when exiting education.

Whilst it is possible for NHS Lothian to identify which local authority children on this register reside, this information is not routinely recorded and NHS Lothian have committed to provide this information which will be shared with the member when it is available.

NHS Lothian advise that behavioural testing is undertaken where part of the agreed clinical pathway. To date 89 children have attended for behavioural testing.

With regards to progress made on reviewing auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing undertaken in the previous five years, and when any report on this will be published. This work has been completed by the BAA with a review of all ABRs of all births back to 2017. The second report from the BAA will be made publicly available in July 2023 when all the reviews are completed.

NHS Lothian have confirmed that 147 children were identified by the BAA for clinical review.

As of 16 May 2023, there are 26 who have had a missed diagnosis, delayed management, or a change to their management since the recall process started. In some cases, the change to management was not as a direct result of the audit in isolation.

31 children have since been recalled by the service following the review of the permanent congenital hearing impairment (PCHI) record.