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Local police deployment is a matter for the Chief Constable and, while the Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally, Police Scotland has informed us that there are currently 118 full time equivalent police officers attributable to Local Authority Service Level Agreements on a full or part funded basis.

The Deputy Minister and I had a constructive meeting at the Bled Strategic Forum in August last year during which we discussed the priorities for Czechia’s EU Council presidency.

The subject of Scottish independence was not an agenda item in discussions. However, Scottish ministers will always be polite enough during international meetings to answer any questions put to them about the Scottish Government's stated policies, including a legal, constitutionally sound referendum, as set out in our Programme for Government.

We regularly discuss matters relating to the operations of the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) with the NLB and the UK Government and have discussed the issue of potential industrial action by NLB employees with both the NLB and UK Government counterparts. As an Arm’s Length Body of the UK Department for Transport, the NLB is responsible for the detailed negotiation of their annual pay remit, and is subject to the pay setting arrangements outlined in the UK Civil Service Pay Guidance.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. After clarifying the specifics of the question with the member, her response is as follows:

• How many items of contraband have been detected by the photocopying of mail?
• Photocopying of mail does not detect contraband. The process for establishments that have this in place is that original mail items are photocopied and the prisoner is given the copy with the option to destroy the original or have this placed in their property for issue upon release. If during the opening of correspondence an item is suspected to be suspicious then this is sent to security for testing on the rapiscan machine.
• How many items of contraband have been detected by the rapiscan machine since the introduction of this policy?
• Since the introduction of the photocopying of prisoners correspondence 2,677 items have tested positive on the rapiscan machine.

On 8 December 2022, the BMA Scottish Junior Doctor Committee (SJDC) officially announced their intention to ballot for industrial action. Since this date, the Scottish Government has exchanged correspondence with the BMA on the following dates:

• 12 and 15 December 2022

• 26 January 2023

• 9, 21 and 24 February 2023

• 16 and 17 March 2023

• 5 April 2023

Prior to the BMA SJDC officially confirming their intention to ballot for industrial action, the Scottish Government corresponded with the BMA SJDC on the subject of Junior Doctors pay on:

• 7 October 2022

• 11 and 30 November 2022

• 1 and 7 December 2022

I met with BMA on 11 April 2023 to discuss their concerns around pay and then again on 20 April when we entered into negotiations with Junior Doctors to secure a pay award for 2023-24.

The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit has been central to making Scotland a safer place since this government took office, with recorded non-sexual violent crime reducing by 25% since 2006-07. The work of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit is overseen by a governance board and is delivered through various programmes which are evaluated and measured for effectiveness. While progress has been made to reduce violence across Scotland, we recognise we must continue to do more.

Transport Scotland is undertaking a National Speed Management Review to support a range of policies that help our Government’s national outcomes and indicators. These include related policy drivers such as better road safety and health outcomes, promotion of active travel, climate change mitigation, place making and economic growth.

The review covers comprehensive analysis of all types of speed management policies and initiatives in Scotland as well as a review of what has been introduced in other countries throughout the world.

The process will also include a stakeholder and public consultation later this year to consider their views of whether any changes to speed limit policies, including HGV speed limits and speed management measures should be introduced as part of our speed management plan.

Circularity Scotland provides services to drinks producers and retailers to help them comply with their obligations under the Deposit Return Scheme Regulations.

By helping these companies do so, they will ensure the benefits of Scotland’s DRS will be achieved.

The first report of the independent review of incineration conducted a capacity analysis. It recommended that the Scottish Government ensure no further planning permission (i.e. beyond that already in place) is granted to incineration infrastructure within the scope of the Review, unless balanced by an equal or greater closure of capacity, subject to certain limited exceptions. Our response to the Review set out our intentions to set out in National Planning Policy that the Scottish Government does not support the development of further municipal waste incineration capacity in Scotland, with very limited exceptions. Following the adoption and publication of National Planning Framework 4 on 13 February 2023 that action is now complete.

To support future planning decisions, we accepted the review’s separate recommendation to develop an indicative capacity cap. However, it is important that any indicative cap is as robust as possible and developing such a cap will be a significant piece of work.

Where relevant consents and permissions have already been granted, the review noted that it is ‘unlikely that all facilities in the pipeline will be built, especially those that have not yet secured full financial backing’. The Review did suggest some principles, based on stakeholder feedback, that might be applied to determine which of the pipeline facilities would be best to build and which might be deprioritised, in light of the potential overcapacity predicted. These included:

• Proper appreciation of resource and waste management as a complex and interdependent system.
• Application of the proximity principle (that waste should generally be managed as near as possible to its place of production) at a sub-national level.
• Consideration of access to low-carbon transport, especially where longer distances are involved.
• Opportunities for synergy with other activities. For incineration, this should prioritise access to heat offtake and, in due course, carbon dioxide offtake options.
• Local environmental and social impacts.
• Wider environmental impacts, such as the carbon and other benefits from recycling to avoid virgin raw material production.

We would encourage those involved in the development of these facilities to take into account capacity and the principles set out by the independent review of incineration.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15873 on 24 March 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 .