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Responsibility for developing the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy sits within the remit of the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.

The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition has not met with any organisations regarding the consultation on a national Litter and Flytipping Strategy.

We recognise that the physical impact of living with kidney disease can have a significant impact on a person’s mental health and wellbeing. Living with an incurable, long-term condition can be deeply distressing. The Scottish Government’s new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, due for publication shortly, will set out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

One of the key outcomes for the Strategy is to ensure people with mental health conditions, including those with co-existing physical health conditions, experience improved quality and length of life. In order to achieve this, we will work with partners to develop actions that will see improved provision of services, including talking therapies, and support to people with long-term physical health conditions for their mental health and wellbeing.

In addition to this, the National Education Scotland and Scottish Government developed The Matrix: A Guide for Delivering Evidence-based Psychological Therapies in Scotland to support NHS Boards in planning the range, volume and quality of psychological therapies required to meet Scottish Government commitments. The Matrix is due to be refreshed in 2023 but already includes a section specifically on chronic kidney disease and includes a recommendation for talking therapies for those with moderate to severe mental health problems.

The health and welfare of children waiting for paediatric appointment remains a priority for the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on blood tests, nor paediatric phlebotomy appointments. This information will lie with NHS Lothian.

We meet regularly with all Health Boards, including NHS Lothian, to discuss any challenges impacting activity and to provide any necessary support. As part of these discussions we have engaged with the Board on this issue. NHS Lothian are working to increase the number and timeliness of appointments available, while any urgent requests are addressed as a priority.

We continue to work closely with all NHS Boards to maximise capacity and reduce the time people are waiting for appointments and treatment. We have already seen a huge effort by our NHS to clear long waiting times, with the number of new outpatients and inpatient/day-cases seen in the quarter to March 2023 at the highest level since the start of the pandemic.

The Scottish Government is committed to reforming Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to ensure they drive the energy efficiency improvements we need and to incentivise zero direct emissions heating. In 2021, we consulted on the introduction of a new domestic EPC metric based on a dwelling’s energy use. Following feedback received through consultation, we have undertaken further work to develop options for EPC metrics, and wider reforms. We intend to publish a consultation on our final proposals for EPC reform this summer.

The Scottish Government has not recently assessed the level of safeguarding in place regarding named persons defined under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

The Act allows the patient to have a right to choose whether to have a named person or not. The purpose of a named person is to allow someone to look after a patient’s interests when they are subject to compulsory care and treatment. However, where there are concerns that a person is not suitable to act as a named person then the Act allows for action to be taken. People, such as a patient’s mental health officer, a welfare attorney, a guardian, relatives or anyone who has an interest in the patients welfare, can apply to the Mental Health Tribunal to have a named person removed from the role if they feel that they are unsuitable.

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review made a number of recommendations regarding the operation of the named person provisions under the Act which the Scottish Government will give further consideration to as part of our response to the Review.

An Estate Strategy and Carbon Management Plan for Scottish Government core buildings is under development to support our asset planning and the future investment decisions required to improve the energy performance of our buildings and deliver the Heat in Building Strategy and Net Zero targets.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering energy saving projects across its estate, such as reduced use of natural gas, improved insulation, more efficient boilers, and the installation of solar panels. In the last 18 months, two projects to remove gas heating, install insulation, install triple glazing and solar PV were completed at our Thainstone and Tweedbank buildings. Additionally, LED lighting was installed at Victoria Quay and SASA in Edinburgh. The EPC's for these buildings will be updated in due course.

Feasibility studies are currently being carried out for other owned buildings on our estate.

Scottish Government have recently appointed professional experts to prepare a scope for future surveys. Final security checks are currently being completed and thereafter it is anticipated that the 6 week programme to develop a scope will be completed by September 2023.

Following an open procurement exercise, in June 2022 the Building Research Establishment (BRE) was commissioned by the Scottish Government to develop potential options for new EPC metrics; model the Scottish housing stock against these new metrics, propose a system to map the new metrics to a 1-100 and A-G scale, and identify the improvement measures needed to retrofit dwellings to achieve high EPC ratings in the new metrics.

This work was concluded in March 2023 and we intend to publish BRE’s report alongside our forthcoming EPC reform consultation. The fee was £93,768.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how much money has been raised from fixed penalties issued for the offence of littering or flytipping.

This detailed information can be obtained by contacting individual issuing authorities.

The breakdown of funding across the How to Save a Life campaign costs is as follows:

• social media – £9,989
• bus stops advertising including billboards and print media* - £178,847
• radio – £243,152

*this figure also includes digital displays and print media on buses and trains.