Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the newborn hearing test and newborn infant physical examination. These would need to be requested from health boards directly.

Further to the answer to question S6W-02448 which provided information on the number of babies screened using the bloodspot test in the newborn screening programme for 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 babies screened using the bloodspot test in the newborn screening programme, for each month in the period that followed from August 2021 to June 2022:

Official statistics from our national skills agency, Skills Development Scotland show that there were 26 Modern Apprentice (MA) Starts, in the 16-19 age grouping, who were recorded as having a hearing impairment and were recorded as being school pupils prior to commencing their apprenticeship. This data covers MA starts from 1 September 2020 to 31 March 2022 and further apprenticeship data will be available when the Quarter 1 2022-23 report is published, which is expected in August 2022. These figures are on the basis of self-declaration and therefore may be higher than this.

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.

Cabinet last met on 28 June 2022 in Bute House, Edinburgh. The programme of travelling Cabinets was paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and there are currently no Cabinet meetings planned in the Highlands and Islands region.

The Government produces quarterly statistics, available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which show how many parliamentary questions were cleared after the substantive date and those still outstanding at the time of audit.

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.

Further to the answer to question S6W-02451 which provided information on the number of samples collected within the cervical screening programme from January 2019 to August 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 for each of the months that followed from September 2021 to June 2022.

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:

As the programme managers and project owners, the details of any such exercises lie with Sustrans and City of Edinburgh Council (CEC). We understand that a value engineering exercise was undertaken by CEC and Sustrans in view of escalating cost pressures and timescales for several Places for Everyone projects. Places for Everyone is an active travel infrastructure programme run and programme managed by Sustrans with grant funding from Transport Scotland.