Chamber and committees

Following the successful completion of a two-year Scotland-wide pilot in 2022, the new fast-track Prescribed Blue Badge model for people with motor neurone disease (MND) was launched on 9 May 2022 via the provision of updated guidance for local authorities.

MND specialist nurses in Scotland now have the power to prescribe a Blue Badge for people with an MND diagnosis should their MND specialist nurse deem them as meeting the eligibility criteria. This means that such applicants can bypass the Local Authority assessment process and experience significantly shorter waiting times.

The Women’s Health Plan focusses on a specific set of priorities including enhancing care and support for those with endometriosis. Whilst chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) are not specifically mentioned in the priorities for this iteration of the Plan, we recognise that many women are significantly affected by the condition.

In addition, we have commissioned the Health and Social Care Alliance to take forward a programme of work on lived experience in order to put the voices of women at the heart of the Plan.

We recognise that research is essential if we are to increase our understanding of endometriosis and develop new and effective approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of this debilitating condition. That is why we are jointly funding a £250,000 research project with Wellbeing of Women, which aims to develop improvements into treatment and management options for the condition.

We will raise awareness and support the implementation of the new Endometriosis Referral Pathway for NHS Scotland developed by the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme. The Pathway aims to ensure those with endometriosis receive individualised treatment in relation to their symptoms by improving earlier intervention and support within primary care, streamline referrals to secondary and tertiary care where required.

Our Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan, backed by £70m investment, was published on 30 November 2021 and focusses on key areas such as Balancing Demand and Capacity; Workforce Training and Development; and Infrastructure Innovation and Redesign. This will be achieved through the implementation of key actions that are focused on reducing the waiting times back to the 6-week target during the life time of this Parliament.

In addition, in July last year, we introduced ambitious targets for NHS Scotland to address the backlog of planned care, undoubtedly exacerbated by the pandemic. We are working intensively with NHS Boards to maximise capacity and to clear remaining waits as soon as possible, with a specific focus on specialities and areas where there are larger amounts of people waiting, including Urology.

The Scottish Government drew on data from Wood Mackenzie and other organisations in developing the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

As we committed to in the Bute House Agreement, the Scottish Government is undertaking in-depth analysis work to better understand Scotland’s energy requirements as we transition to net zero, ensuring an approach that supports and protects our energy security and our highly skilled workforce whilst meeting our climate obligations.

This work has already provided evidence which was used to underpin elements of the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan relating to the oil and gas sector, together with other commercially available data.

The independent report on the analytical work we have commissioned will be published in full, once it is complete and following independent panel review. We expect publication during the consultation period for the draft ESJTP.

The CDO Advisory Group have met on four occasions from October 2022 to December 2022. The minutes from the Advisory Group workshops, and copies of all papers provided to the group, are publicly available and can be viewed online at: Updated 17/01 – CDO Advisory Group – Meeting Papers | Scottish Dental .

A working draft of a revised Determination I of the Statement of Dental Remuneration (NHS care and treatment items), which has been developed by the Scottish Government following the advice of Advisory Group members, is also available online at: Reform of NHS Dental Services – Determination I Working Draft | Scottish Dental .

All children and young people living in Scotland are entitled to an education whatever their immigration status. We are proud of the welcome that Scottish local authorities have given to displaced people from Ukraine, welcoming more than 3,000 children and young people into Scottish schools over the last year.

The Scottish Government set out in a joint letter with COSLA in August 2022 the sources of advice and support available to local authorities to help displaced children and young people from Ukraine.

We also established the Ukraine Education Partners Group, jointly chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA, with representation from ADES, Education Scotland, the Scottish Refugee Council and individual local authorities, to help co-ordinate work on this issue.

Firearms holders must be licensed by Police Scotland and may only shoot over land where they have permission, and where it is safe to do so without risk to public safety or the peace. Most firearms licensing law is reserved and Police Scotland are responsible for its enforcement. Any concerns about reckless or unsafe shooting should be reported to Police Scotland in the first instance.

The legislation underpinning Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) requires that NatureScot identifies any activities that are likely to damage the natural features for which the site is designated. These activities are listed for each site as ‘Operations Requiring Consent’ (ORC).

Before a private owner or occupier of a SSSI carries out any activity listed on the ORC list, permission must be sought from NatureScot and a consent issued. A SSSI Consent may be required by the landowner/occupier to undertake wildfowling on a specific SSSI if ORC 10 ‘The killing or removal of any wild mammal, bird, fish or invertebrate’ is in place for the SSSI in question, as this indicates that such activity has the potential to adversely affect nationally important bird populations. Further information on ORC can be found on the NatureScot website .

Most, if not all National Nature Reserves (NNRs) are also SSSIs, and so the provisions above for ORC would also apply. There is also provision in the underpinning legislation for NNRs for the creation of bye-laws to prevent damaging activity.

Where wildfowling takes place on Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) local authorities have powers to make bylaws to protect the interests of LNRs.

The Deposit Return Scheme is an industry-led scheme, delivered by industry, led by the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd. The Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations were laid in 2020 and businesses have now had three years to prepare for the launch of the scheme.

There are many companies providing these services in Scotland, and an assessment is not considered to be necessary or appropriate for Government to carry out.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Information on entrants and enrolments at Scottish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is collect by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Between 2018-19 and 2019-20 HESA introduced a new subject classification system moving from JACS over to HECOS. As such, a continuous time series can not be provided and information has been put into two different tables below.

First degree entrants to pre-clinical medicine courses at Scottish HEIs, JACS subject classification