Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is clear that hate crime and prejudice, including Islamophobia, will not be tolerated.

Our new Hate Crime Strategy will set out our priorities for tackling hate crime in Scotland and will support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

Hate crime legislation sends a message to victims, perpetrators and wider society that hate crime is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. Once in force the Act will build on and strengthen existing protections, including through the creation of new stirring up of hatred offences that will apply to all listed characteristics, including religion.

The Ministerial led Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group has been established to take this work forward and brings together a range of public and third sector partners. The Terms of Reference have been agreed and published on the Scottish Government’s website: The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We continue to engage with Muslim communities across Scotland as we develop the strategy which will consider how we best tackle Islamophobia in Scotland, including whether a definition of Islamophobia would be helpful.

Tackling hate crime remains a priority and we encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate crime to report it to Police Scotland or through a third party reporting centre.

Further to the answer to question S6W-02452 which provided information on the number of people screened for diabetic retinopathy in each month between January 2019 and July 2021. 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/written-questions-and-answers The following table provides information on the number of people screened for diabetic retinopathy, in each month of the period that followed, from August 2021 to June 2022:

We will engage with a wide range of stakeholders, such as the Armed Forces Families Federations, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, Forces Children Scotland and the Napier University’s Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement, as well as schools and local authorities to ensure that the views and needs of children and young people from Armed Forces and veterans families are taken into account in development of future versions of the UK-wide Strategy For Our Veterans as well as our own Veterans Strategy Action Plan. We intend to publish imminently our latest Strategy Action Plan, during the development of which we engaged with the Families Federations.

Approaches to address the specific needs of the children of serving families are currently being considered through the work being undertaken jointly by the UK Government, Devolved Administrations and third sector on the development and implementation of the Ministry of Defence’s Families Strategy.

Any decision on whether or not to introduce a new national screening programme in Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy. In 2017, the UK NSC recommended against the introduction of a Group B Streptococcus (GBS) screening programme. If a recommendation is made by the UK NSC to introduce GBS screening then the Scottish Screening Committee, in consultation with medical experts in this field, will advise Scottish Ministers on the most appropriate course of action for Scotland.

The GBS3 clinical trial , run by the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit, is looking to gather evidence on whether a universal screening programme would be both clinically and cost effective. The UK NSC will review the evidence for screening once findings from the GBS3 clinical trial are published and the Scottish Screening Committee will give careful consideration to any recommendation the NSC makes. All NHS Boards have been made aware of the opportunity to participate in the GBS3 trial.

The Scottish Government has provided £9,144,964 to Health Boards for the provision of smoking cessation services.

This funding is calculated on the basis of smoking rates and deprivation and is used to provide the free Quit Your Way service. This service includes an interactive website, offering expert advice and support to those seeking to quit tobacco products. Local support services and access to a range of free medications and products are provided to help people stop smoking.

Litigation is ongoing and external costs will be published on a regular basis. We will publish initial data on spending in September, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, until the conclusion of the litigation.

As outlined in the Programme for Government 2021 – 22 A Fairer, Greener Scotland: Programme for Government 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) published in September 2021, the Scottish Government is committed to establishing a dignified and compassionate miscarriage service. As part of this, the Scottish Government wants to ensure that NHS Boards are able to provide dedicated facilities for women who are experiencing unexpected pregnancy complications.

This aligns with the commitments set out in Womens-Health-Plan-2021-2024 in regards to women experiencing miscarriage and unexpected pregnancy complications.

We welcome the report by ASH Scotland on smoking and mental health and aim to discuss with them details of their report findings. Smoking prevalence among those experiencing mental ill-health is higher than the national average. Finding solutions to this is an important step and one currently being considered as part of our revised Tobacco Control Action Plan.

Medicated grit can only be used under licence administered by a veterinarian. A veterinary prescription is required to purchase flubendazole coated medicated grit and it is recommended following predetermination of worm levels in grouse .

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the competent authority in the UK responsible for the testing of food producing animals for residues of authorised veterinary medicines products and prohibited substances. The National Residues Surveillance Programme is carried out by VMD in accordance with The Animal and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations of 2015. Food Standards Scotland collect samples on behalf of VMD in approved game handling establishments.

The testing of red grouse for the presence of anthelmintic compounds authorised for use in medicated feed, such as flubendazole, has been carried out since 2016 and VMD publish its annual figures on gov.uk.

Scottish Government funding for active travel in Edinburgh and other local authority areas is channelled through a number of programmes overseen by Transport Scotland. The single biggest programme is the Places for Everyone (PfE) programme, run by Sustrans with grant funding from Transport Scotland. From PfE, City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has an indicative amount of £52,129,410 allocated to active travel projects over the next four years.

In addition, CEC receives £3,378,467 of Cycling Walking and Safer routes funding directly from Transport Scotland from a £35 million annual pot distributed pro rata to all 32 local authorities in Scotland. There are also various other partner delivered programmes which CEC can bid into for active travel projects, including the Smarter Choices Smarter Places fund for behaviour change projects, run by Paths for All.