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Whilst this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable, I am pleased that Police Scotland has signed up to the Mental Health at Work Commitment, which prioritises mental health in the workplace. In addition to Trauma Risk Incident Management assessments and Occupational Health counselling, Police Scotland has invested £17 million to enhance welfare provision. This included a new 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, direct access to occupational health services and a greater focus on mental health.

This highlights the priority that Police Scotland places on supporting the health and wellbeing of the workforce, supported by a Health and Wellbeing Action Plan to underpin delivery.

There are no implications for the Peatland ACTION budget in the year 2026-2027 as a result of the carbon contracts pilot.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 provides the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland to issue property factor enforcement orders and to determine whether or not that Enforcement Order has been met.

A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a property factor enforcement order commits an offence. Any further action in relation to non-compliance with a property factor enforcement order (PFEO) is an operational matter that fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). These matters have been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 also provides that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland serves Notices to Scottish Ministers of a failure to comply with a PFEO. To date 79 Notice to Ministers have been received. This figure may not be fully comprehensive as information may not be available due to the Scottish Government’s data retention policy.

On receipt of a Notice, the first aim is to encourage compliance and address the issue. If this cannot be achieved, Scottish Ministers will remove registration as this will prevent the entity from legally operating as a property factor in Scotland. To date, the Scottish Ministers have removed registration from 3 property factors for failing to meet the requirements of the fit and proper person test, part of which included failing to comply with a PFEO. These property factors were removed in January 2015, January 2016, and April 2019 respectively.

Scottish Ministers have sought additional powers in the Housing (Scotland) Bill to obtain further information and to carry out inspections with a view to supporting compliance and providing information to fully re-assess the fit and proper person test, if required.

The EU published a recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive which came into effect on January 2025. Article 4, in particular places requirements in relation to Individual Systems – more commonly known as Private Wastewater Treatment Systems. The Scottish Government is reviewing its policies to establish how it should align with this Directive.

Serco NorthLink Ferries (SNF) carry out ongoing assessments to monitor capacity across the Northern Isles routes.

The peer review has now concluded and the feedback shared by the reviewers is currently under consideration by the research paper author, Malcolm McMillan. Once that process, and any further action has concluded, we will publish the paper and it remains that we expect to be able to do that no later than the end of this year.

As described in the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/pages/1/) and the answer to question S6W-35982 on 28 March 2025, the health and social care online app rollout will begin in Lanarkshire in December 2025 with an initial release (a minimum viable product approach), working with NHS Lanarkshire. The plan for rollout to the whole country, including the North East Scotland region, is currently being drafted in consultation with key partners including NHS Boards. The draft plan is scheduled to be approved and published in September 2025. 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.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a programme of Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus local area visits to Scottish territorial NHS Boards which provides an opportunity to explore the levels of peer support available for people living with HIV.

The visits have identified excellent examples of peer support for people living with HIV, including use of digital solutions to reach individuals in rural areas where access can be more challenging. We continue to work collaboratively with NHS Boards and actively promote the sharing of best practice to help address any gaps identified through these visits.

Work is progressing to implement changes through Energy Act 2023 to establish a better enabling environment for offshore wind development. Scotland’s strategic compensation policy, including amendment to the Habitats Regulations, is now at consultation until 1 September 2025. The changes proposed seek to increase the availability of compensatory measures and give clarity on the requirements around environmental compensation for offshore wind development. These reforms have been developed in partnership with the UK Government to ensure a consistent approach across the whole of the UK.

Scottish Government is also working to establish a Scottish Marine Recovery Fund to deliver Strategic Compensation and a more streamlined process for securing compensation for adverse environmental effects of relevant offshore wind activities. Scottish Government has published Scottish Marine Recovery Fund Interim Guidance (available on the Scottish Government website) and consultation on these proposals will be undertaken in due course.

The Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in Scotland, is also now at consultation and a series of engagement events have been held around Scotland. The plan will set a clear roadmap for the sustainable delivery of offshore wind in Scottish waters.

A programme of work to streamline the consent process, to meet and, where possible, reduce timescales in relation to application determination and post-consent approvals for offshore wind projects and associated infrastructure, has also been undertaken. Officials sought views from industry, regulators and other stakeholders on proposed improvements to the consenting and licensing process and intended updates to the guidance. Improvements have now been implemented through engagement with developers, updates to external guidance and updates to internal procedures including:

• Promotion of effective stakeholder engagement earlier in the process including updated guidance on pre-application engagement with stakeholders
• Front loading the consenting process and reduced post consent consultation and approvals by requiring certain information on mitigation with applications that was previously required post consent
• Supporting high quality applications through engagement with developers and updated guidance and checklist on information required to support applications for offshore renewable energy projects
• Improvements to planning authority consultation on applications, including clarifying timescales and provisions for planning authority consultation on applications

The Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Oversight Committee was established in May 2024.

Information about the group, including the minutes and membership are published here Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Oversight Committee - gov.scot.