As of Friday 9 June, 45 members of staff were working in the Deposit Return Scheme Division. The FTE is 43.2

We do not hold information on how many staff have worked on DRS each year since development began as DRS sat within a wider division with staff covering a range of issues. A separate division for DRS was created in March this year.

Marine Scotland has issued a total of 399 Fixed Penalty Notices between 2012 and June 2023. We do not have records of the number of Fixed Penalty Notices Issued between 2009 and 2012 due to a system change.

The following table details the number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued by year.

Prior to April 2023 the costs associated with the DRS were met from the wider Zero Waste budget. However, DRS formed a very small part of those budgets which, as a whole, support major circular economy delivery programmes.

Since April 2023 a temporary division has been set up to deliver DRS. The cost of civil servants working on the scheme from April to end of May 2023 was £319,901.

Independent reporters have decided on 493 wind turbine appeals since 2007. 222 of these have been allowed and 271 have been dismissed. The breakdown, in full, of planning authority areas and decision outcomes as requested, is a large statistical document. This information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under Bib. No. 64333.

Prior to 2017, reports of alleged illegal fishing held by the Scottish Government were routinely disposed of in line with data protection legislation where – following investigation - no offence was found to have been committed, such reports were otherwise found to be unsubstantiated, or where there were no other legitimate operational grounds for retention.

No information on reports of alleged illegal fishing are therefore held for the period from 1 January 2009 to 25 February 2017 inclusive.

Recognising increased public and parliamentary interest in such information, however, and in compliance with Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 the Scottish Government began the retention of some information relating to reports of alleged illegal fishing on a strictly limited basis.

In line with that, the following table shows the number of reports of alleged illegal fishing made to the Scottish Government between 26 February 2017 and 6 June 2023.

The following table illustrates the number of boarding's in Scottish waters by Marine Scotland Vessels each year since 2009.

The Scottish AI Alliance continue to align their work with the delivery of Scotland’s Digital Strategy and the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) programme, to realise potential synergies in areas such as infrastructure, skills, and investment. In particular, In July 2022, the Scottish Government awarded a five-year £42m contract to Codebase for the delivery of a national network of Tech Scalers. Tech scalers are a major piece of infrastructure designed to support the creation of more tech start-ups in Scotland, and to help them to grow to scale.

Similarly, while use of AI attracts a set of AI-specific ethical questions, the Scottish Government recognises that the ethical challenges and opportunities of using data and digital technologies are interlinked. Work is currently underway across several Government directorates to identify synergies and to explore how to bring the different aspects of ethics in the digital world together while ensuring responsible use of data.

We meet regularly with colleagues from across government and further afield to ensure our work is joined up and responsive.

We have committed to the development of a new National Pharmaceutical Agency (NPhA), to improve links between the life sciences industry and the NHS, and ultimately improve patient care. An intended launch date for the NPhA has not yet been set.

The Scottish Government last met with the Faculty of Dental Surgery on 6 May 2022 to discuss the Licence in Dental Surgery.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Faculty of Public Health, to discuss areas of mutual interest.