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As stipulated under the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020, Circularity Scotland (CSL) is a private non-profit organisation and is not subject to the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. As such, no contractual obligations can be imposed.

Since the response to question S6W-15443 on 8 March 20232, further legal fee claims have been paid. As of 15 March 2023, £124,650 has been paid to 10 firms.

It is not appropriate to name the firms as to do so could be interpreted as guiding applicants to particular firms. Applicants are directed to the Law Society of Scotland for support in finding a solicitor. In addition, as some firms have a claim in respect of only one application there is a small risk of applicant identification if the full list is provided.

Table 1 : Breakdown of Legal Fees paid up to 15 March 2023

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. RPAS use, including training, is a matter for Police Scotland.

The Scottish Government holds some of the information asked for and this has been provided in the following table.

Table - The number of Significant Adverse Event Reviews commissioned for a Category I event – data held by Scottish Government .

The information has been provided with the following caveats:

• This table shows Category I adverse events receiving a Level 1 review, or Significant Adverse Event Review (SAER), as reported to Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) through the national notification system. This does not include ‘never events’ (defined as: “serious, largely preventable patient safety incidents that should not occur if relevant preventive measures have been put in place”).
• It covers the period January 2020 to February 2022. Prior to this date, this information was not collected centrally.
• The Scottish Government does not routinely request the information from HIS. Further information will be held by HIS.

Data on SAERs commissioned before January 2020 will be held by individual NHS Health Boards.

The Scottish Government is developing a new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy, which aims to ensure that everyone in Scotland receives well co-ordinated, timely, and high quality palliative care based on their needs and preferences including support for families and carers. We have appointed a National Clinical Lead for Palliative and End of Life Care to drive this, supported by a Clinical and Practice Advisory Group and a wide-reaching Strategy Steering Group. The Steering Group is currently reviewing the information and evidence we have and need to develop the strategy, including mapping services and support across Scotland across all care settings including people’s own homes. We will develop a strategy that reflects what matters to people experiencing serious illness, dying and bereavement, and are therefore also reviewing the information and evidence we have about people’s experiences of palliative and end of life care, and bereavement, in order to inform our strategy going forward.

The review of the adaptations system has begun. Adaptations are an integral part of support for independent living for older and disabled people. The scope of the review is to identify and overcome the barriers to a streamlined and responsive system where adaptations are planned for, funded and delivered in a timely and appropriate manner.

Officials have met with a number of stakeholders and will continue engagement with the newly formed Accessible Housing and Independent Living Stakeholder Group to ensure all those who have an interest and those with lived experience are able to contribute to the review. As the review is ongoing the list of consultees has not been finalised.

The initial review findings and recommendations are expected in the Summer.

Transport Scotland is currently developing a detailed programme and procurement strategy to deliver the improvements to the Old Military Road as quickly as possible. It is expected that these works will be carried out on a phased basis starting later this year. Once this work is complete I will share with the A83 Taskforce the estimated timescale for delivering Phase 1 of the medium-term solution. I share the urgency communities and businesses place in maintaining and improving connectivity of this vital route, and remain absolutely committed to ensuring continuity of access to Argyll and Bute so that the region remains open for business.

The Scottish Government is providing £11.6 million in grant funding to Energy Saving Trust (EST), an independent organisation working to administer the Scottish LEZ Support Fund.

The LEZ Support Fund for households is a part of this LEZ Support Fund, and does not have separate admin costs. The following table therefore represents the whole LEZ Support Fund, this similarly applies to PQ S6W-14972 and PQ S6W-14965.

The administrative costs (which include EST staffing costs) are set out below alongside the value of funds that EST are distributing and the outputs achieved.

Our Single Building Assessment programme includes 105 buildings. 27 buildings have started the Single Building Assessment process and 22 Single Building Assessment surveys have been commissioned. Remediation works have started linked to one of those Single Building Assessment.

We shared the results from the goose management policy questionnaire and discussed priorities at the National Goose Forum meeting on‎ 14 February 2023, however a draft report of the review of goose management policy was not ready in February to be shared.

We expect to consult further with stakeholders to allow them to comment on a draft of the report in April.