Clinical decisions taken in NHS Scotland hospitals are not a matter for the Scottish Government.

Decisions must be taken in line with established professional accountabilities which are in place for NHS Scotland.

Decisions to discharge any patients from medical care in a hospital setting are subject to individual clinical decisions based on an appropriate risk assessment. The wishes of the patient must be considered with regards to informing relatives of their reason for admission.

In 2023 six game bird premises were declared with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Scotland. These were:

• Near Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, confirmed 08 August 2023 (AIV 2023/29)
• Near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, confirmed 14 August 2023 (AIV 2023/41)
• Near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, confirmed 14 August 2023 (AIV 2023/42)
• Near Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, confirmed 14 August 2023 (AIV 2023/43)
• Near Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, confirmed 17 August 2023 (AIV 2023/44)
• Near Forfar, Angus, confirmed 18 August 2023 (AIV 2023/45)

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a long term medical condition or additional support needs are supported as they study in further and higher education. Colleges and universities are autonomous bodies with responsibility for the management of their own student support services.

The Scottish Government is committed to doing everything in its power to reduce smoking prevalence in Scotland, lowering smoking rates in our communities to 5% or less by 2034.

We are taking part in a UK-wide consultation on creating a smoke-free generation and tackling youth vaping, which includes the proposal on raising the age of sale for tobacco products by one year each year for those born on or after 1 January 2009.

Any decision to allow members of the Government a free vote would be a decision taken by Cabinet collectively, following analysis of the consultation responses and once a decision on next steps is taken.

Safe access zones have been established by national legislation in Northern Ireland, and in some local authority areas in England using Public Spaces Protection Orders. The Scottish Government has given careful consideration to both approaches, and has engaged with officials from these administrations to learn from their experiences of implementation. Officials also continue to engage with UK Government counterparts as they work to bring national legislative provisions into force that will establish safe access zones in England and Wales, as well as with officials from the Republic of Ireland, where a bill to establish zones is currently making its way through the National Parliament (Oireachtas).

This consideration and engagement has informed the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill; however, the Bill reflects Scotland’s particular circumstances and requirements.

In March 2023, the Scottish Government ran an endometriosis public awareness campaign in partnership with Young Scot, targeted primarily at increasing young people’s awareness of the condition.

Following the campaign a post-evaluative survey ran to measure the impact of the information on the audience. Key statistics are as follows:

• 82% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they are more informed about the symptoms of endometriosis
• 71% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they are more informed about how to support someone with endometriosis
• 74% of young people agreed or strongly agreed that they would know where to get support or what steps they could take if they thought they may have endometriosis
• 97% of young people who visited young.scot/Endometriosis found it useful or very useful

The Scottish Government is unable to provide a detailed explanation of the selection process. As a Parliamentary Commissioner, the selection of the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Bill states that the Commissioner will be “appointed by His Majesty on recommendation of the Scottish Parliament”. This process is covered by Rule 3.11 of the Parliament’s Standing Orders. Selection will be carried out by a “selection panel” comprising the Presiding Officer, the convener of the relevant Committee and between 4 and 7 other cross-party MSPs selected by the Presiding Officer. Any member of the selection panel may propose that Parliament nominates the person recommended by the panel.

Our emergency planning portal; ready.scot, was updated in June 2022 to include a new ‘Learn’ section to support the public, community groups and Voluntary Sector partners, by raising awareness of emergency resilience structures and processes, and to strengthen understanding of how they might participate in an effective and joined-up response to an emergency. Between March and April 2023 a series of four online community resilience workshops took place, joined by approximately 240 participants. We will continue to work with the sector, and in particular Local Authorities who have the lead role on engaging with local communities, to understand their training needs and to provide any additional resources required.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

On 09 October 2023, there were 36 cells, containing two or more individuals across the prison estate, which had a living space of less than 7m²: 1 cell at HMP Dumfries and 35 cells at HMP Edinburgh.

Freight Sailings from Aberdeen