Chamber and committees

Public Health Scotland have produced regular Official Statistics post introduction of NHS dental payment reform. The most recent version was published on 27 August 2024 and provides the activity levels for all treatment items, each month since introduction. Statistical information will form the basis of ongoing monitoring of dental sector activity.

The Scottish Government notes the University of Glasgow-led project and report ‘Welcoming Languages’, and officials are in contact with researchers from the University to consider the report’s findings and to ensure that learning from the project is shared with the education system.

The 1+2 Languages policy provides all pupils with an entitlement to learn additional languages from primary 1 (P1). Schools and local authorities make decisions on the specific languages taught based on the needs of their learners and local circumstances.

Currently, the first additional language, taught from P1, must be a language that can be taught to national qualification level (i.e. Cantonese, French, Gaelic (Learners), German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish and Urdu) which includes some of the most spoken community languages in Scotland. The SQA is responsible for establishing and maintaining all national qualifications, and a range of criteria would need to be met before establishing any new language qualifications.

The second additional language, taught from Primary 5 (P5), can be any language. The latest survey of local authorities, taken in 2023, showed that some primary schools, supported by Education Scotland and Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT), are already offering a wider range of second additional languages including Polish, Arabic and Ukrainian.

The Scottish Government continually reviews the support available to communities through the CARES scheme and uses this information to inform future support. An evaluation of the current contract, which is due to end on 31 March 2025, will be completed prior to the beginning of a new contract. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to input into this evaluation.

The Scottish Government has published an Invitation to Tender for the new CARES contract with a submission deadline on 26 November 2024. Ahead of publication, the Scottish Government gathered information from stakeholders via an in-person supplier engagement event and Request for Information. The feedback gathered from these engagements were taken into consideration when developing the new CARES Statement of Requirement.

Section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 introduces an offence of significant environmental harm and sets maximum penalties for convictions for this offence. As set out in the Scottish Government’s draft Annual Report on the Scottish Government's commitment to align with the European Union where appropriate that was laid on 31 October 2024, we are considering Directive (EU) 2024/1203 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on the protection of the environment through criminal law. As a part of our consideration of this Directive, we are assessing the provisions for qualified offences for conduct that causes widespread and substantial environmental damage to particular features of the environment, and comparing this with existing provisions in Scots law to protect the environment.

It is not possible to determine how many people contracted HIV in any given year as people may not be tested or diagnosed for a number of years after they contract HIV.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes an annual HIV in Scotland surveillance report which includes data on new diagnoses. The report includes indicators of recently acquired infections and late diagnoses since 2017, however this does not identify the year in which people acquired HIV. In addition to this there are a number of people who remain undiagnosed, which is why it is important that anyone who thinks they may have been at risk seeks a HIV test.

Data on the number of new HIV diagnoses in Scotland each year from 2014 to 2023 can be found in Table 3 of the latest HIV in Scotland report at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/29204/final-hiv-in-scotland-update-to-31-december-2023-1.pdf.

We want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. As part of our approach, we recognise that online platforms, including social media, can have both a positive and negative impact on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing and that it is important to support people to use social media in a healthy and balanced way.

Keeping children and young people safe online is a priority for the Scottish Government and while we recognise that regulation of the internet remains a reserved matter, we have successfully engaged with the previous UK Government to strengthen protections for children in its Online Safety Act. The Minister for Victims and Community Safety and I met with the online safety regulator Ofcom in August to discuss their strategy for online safety in Scotland.

Following the appalling acts of violence and disorder seen elsewhere in the UK over the summer, the First Minister wrote to social media companies Misinformation, racism and hateful material online: letter to social media companies - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) asking them how they are combating the spread of misinformation and steps being taken to address racist/hateful speech across platforms, and officials are considering responses. Our commitment to this work was further set out by the First Minister recently in response to a question on this issue in Parliament Written question and answer: S6F-03493 | Scottish Parliament Website

We have provided over £400,000 to children and young people’s organisations since 2020, to fund a range of initiatives including the Young Scot Aye Feel online hub and the Mind Yer Time resource, with some of the work focusing on addressing social media usage amongst children and young to help them navigate online spaces and use screen time in a healthy and positive way.

Additionally, our national resource for parents - Parent Club - has a range of information and advice to support parents to manage their child’s screen time, and to have informed conversations with their children on screen time, social media and internet use. The Scottish Government funded public awareness campaigns in 2022 and 2023 to inform parents and carers about the risks of online harm and how to protect their children online which linked to Parent Club resources. In addition, the Scottish Government has recently published guidance for schools on the issue of mobile phones in schools, which supports education authorities and schools in their consideration of limiting access to mobile phones in schools.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People: Principles and Standards of Care: Children and young people - national neurodevelopmental specification: principles and standards of care - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles receive support that better meets their needs. This recognises neurodevelopmental differences are estimated to affect around 10% of pupils in Scotland’s mainstream schools, and their additional support needs.

We are working with Health Boards and Local Authorities towards implementing the Specification in full. As part of this, we have provided over £1 million to fund five pilots which are focusing on various aspects of the Specification, including implementing our Getting It Right For Each Child approach and multi-agency working. We are working to share the learning from these with all appropriate stakeholders to support wider implementation of the specification across Scotland and inform future service improvements.

More broadly, every child and young person should be able to access support for their mental health and wellbeing when and where they need it. Since 2021, we have provided local authorities with £15 million per annum to deliver community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for 5-24 year-olds and their families.

The Scottish Government is complying with its duty to maintain a register of captive bred schedule 4 birds held by keepers in Scotland, as required under the Wildlife and Countryside (Registration and Ringing of Certain Captive Birds) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) carry out this function for Scotland with the agreement of the Scottish Ministers.

Having considered the circumstances and in response to the damage caused by unconsented activity in the area of the Parallel Roads of Lochaber Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Scottish Ministers have begun drafting a Nature Conservation Order (NCO). This is being developed in parallel with enforcement action being taken by The Highland Council and Scottish Forestry and an ongoing Police Scotland investigation.

Taxis and private hire cars (PHCs) are a vital part of transport networks for citizens, businesses and visitors across Scotland, and all taxi and PHC drivers should be able to go about their work without the threat of any violence and abuse from their customers.

Taxis and PHCs are licensed under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (“the 1982 Act”). While the Scottish Government has responsibility for the overarching legislation, the day to day administration of the licensing regime, as set out in the 1982 Act, is devolved to independent licensing authorities – in effect the 32 Scottish local authorities.

Within this context, any reports of non-payment of fares, and/ or abuse of drivers would be directed to the local licensing authority and the local police. The Scottish Government does not hold data in relation to the non-payment of taxi and PHC fares or abusive conduct towards taxi and PHC drivers.

The Scottish Government recommends that licensing authorities should actively promote and facilitate good links between the taxi and PHC trades and the local police force, including active participation in any crime reduction initiatives.

Owners and drivers of vehicles will often want to install security measures to protect the driver. Licensing authorities may consider that this is a matter best left to the judgement of the owners and drivers themselves. However, it is recommended practice for licensing authorities to consider, as part of their licensing policy under the legislative framework of the 1982 Act, sympathetically, or indeed actively encourage, their installation.

Further information about security measures in vehicles is available in the taxi and PHC licensing best practice guidance document published by the Scottish Government, in conjunction with Transport Scotland, last year: https://www.gov.scot/publications/taxi-private-hire-car-licensing-best-practice-licensing-authorities-taxi-private-hire-car-operators-3rd-edition/pages/7/.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. However, the information in this report https://www.gov.scot/publications/miscarriage-care-facilities-scotland-scoping-report-national-overview/ which details the findings of a scoping exercise to enable better understanding of miscarriage care in Scotland nationally may be of interest.