Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not yet committed further funding for the pilot Pancreatic and Hepatocellular Cancer Pathway Improvement Project. Initial evaluation is scheduled to take place over the summer with outputs due to be reported in September 2023. Decisions on long term funding will be made as the pilot’s impacts and outcomes are fully evaluated.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17658 on 18 May 2023. 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/questions-and-answers .

The recently published Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy places strong focus on prevention, early intervention and recognises the importance of a diversity of service provision.

Later this year we will publish the accompanying Delivery Plan and the Workforce Action Plan. Thereafter, we will publish actions to support students.

Under the Animal Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 (the “2006 Act”), Scottish SPCA inspectors have certain powers to investigate relevant offences relating to animals which are suffering and in the control of a person.

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill contains an enabling power to allow the Scottish Ministers, by way of subordinate legislation, to extend the powers of inspectors authorised under the 2006 Act to investigate relevant offences relating to wild animals, as set out in section 8 of the Bill, should they deem it appropriate to do so in the future.

This is unlikely to include environmental destruction, disturbance or harm to a wild animal as a result of environmental destruction would constitute a wildlife crime and would be investigated as such by Police Scotland.

In his answer, the First Minister identified a need to understand the scale and scope of the problem before discussions on any fund that might or might not be necessary. This remains the case.

We are engaging with public sector organisations to seek reassurance of both their awareness and any action identified on this issue.

Scottish Government has made no recent assessment of the merits of introducing national guidance on liver disease to address the specific epidemiology of liver disease in Scotland.

However, there are policy initiatives to address the main risk factors associated with chronic liver disease, such as alcohol use, obesity and hepatitis C.

These policy initiatives include Minimum Unit Price for alcohol, Scotland’s diet and healthy weight delivery plan to address obesity and effective elimination of hepatitis C by 2024.

Scottish Ministers discussed reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete at a Building and Fire Safety Ministerial Working Group meeting on 21 June. Agreed minutes of the meeting will be published on the Building and Fire Safety Ministerial Working Group website.

The following organisations have contacted The Scottish Government on the presence or suspected presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete within their building estate:

• NHS Scotland
• Police Scotland
• Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• East Lothian Council
• West Lothian Council

We are in the process of contacting other public bodies to seek reassurance of both their awareness and of any action identified on this issue.

The Scottish Government regularly discusses net zero policy and progress towards targets with the UK Government. The primary vehicle for our engagement with the UK Government is the Net Zero Inter-ministerial Group (IMG), which meets regularly and involves all four governments of the UK. In the last year, the Net Zero IMG has met on 26 October 2022, 27 April 2023 and 28 June 2023.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government regularly corresponds with the UK Government regarding net zero issues to assure continued progress in achieving our gas emission targets. For example, I recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport, on 12 July 2023 to highlight the role Scotland could play in the production of Sustainable Aviation (SAF) - which could help to significantly reduce emissions - and to ask whether the UK Government intends to provide a form of price support mechanism for the substantially higher costs of SAF. Likewise, the Circular Economy Minister recently met with the Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience in June 2023 to discuss the future of deposit return schemes (DRS) across the UK following the UK Government’s decision to refuse an exemption for Scotland’s DRS from the Internal Market Act.

Throughout our engagement with the UK Government, the Scottish Government continually advocates for the greater ambition required in reserved areas in order for both UK and Scottish emissions targets to be met. The Scottish Government agrees with the Climate Change Committee’s recent UK progress report, which emphasises that greater urgency is required from the UK Government if emissions targets for 2030 and beyond are to be met. We support the Committee’s calls for further and faster UK Government action in a range of crucial reserved areas such as hydrogen, electricity grid upgrades and decarbonisation of the gas network. We will continue to press for more ambitious action in these areas in our discussions with the UK Government.

For the period 2007 to 2020 our records show the number of Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) Grants made by NHS Boards as follows: