Chamber and committees

As referred to in response to S6W-08593 on 1 July 2022, we were pleased to receive the report and recommendations from the National Partnership for Culture, and recognise that the broad themes in the report align with our priorities across Scottish Government. Scottish Government officials are working together across the Health and Culture portfolios to review the Health and Wellbeing recommendations. Our response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations will be published shortly.

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 first phase of a rail decarbonisation scheme to electrify the Fife route (Haymarket to Dalmeny section), is moving to construction.

Work on this estimated £55 million scheme will begin in June 2022 with the section between Haymarket and Dalmeny. It is due for completion by December 2024.

This scheme forms part of a rolling programme that is expected to see electrification extended to Dundee and Aberdeen.

Beyond this, further development work on the business cases for decarbonising the Borders Line has been approved to progress to the next design phase for partial electrification of the route using battery electric multiple units.

This continues the Scottish Government’s rolling programme of railway electrification, with work already in delivery on the East Kilbride and Barrhead routes.

Approval has also been given for a procurement competition to identify a preferred manufacturer and financier for new trains to operate decarbonised rail passenger services on the Fife and Borders routes .

Action 12 of our Learning/Intellectual Disability and Autism: Towards Transformation Plan committed to explore the establishment of mandatory autism and learning/intellectual disability training for all NHS staff. We will consider how this applies across multi-disciplinary settings and use the evaluation findings from the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training pilot to inform our approach to learning disability and autism training in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop the NES autism training framework as a tool for services and learners, alongside funding a Learning Disability Team at NES to improve the knowledge and skills of the health and social care workforce.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

A 2018 report by the Mammal Society under contract to Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage, which reviewed the status of British mammal populations including the red fox, is the most recent survey to have been carried out.

The full report can be found at: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5636785878597632

Shortages of medicines are an ongoing part of the day to day management of the NHS. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) medicines and all other medicines experience supply issues for varying times and for varying reasons, including difficulty in sourcing core ingredients, divestment by pharmaceutical manufacturers and international market volatility. Many shortages are short in nature.

There are over 70 HRT products available in the UK. There have been ongoing supply problems with some products, some are irregular supply while others are a longer term shortage. The Scottish Government first issued (26 August 2019) NHS Circular PCA(P) (2019) 18 on HRT supply issues. Regular Medicines Supply Alert Notice (MSAN) are issued for any HRT product experiencing supply problems. All MSANs are published at SHOW - Scotlands Health On the Web - Publications

A serious of UK wide Serious Shortage Protocols (SSP)were introduced for the following HRT products

Premique® low dose 0.3mg/1.5mg modified release tablets

Oestrogel® pump-pack 750mcg/actuation gel,

Ovestin® 1mg cream,

Sandrena® 0.5mg and 1mg gel sachets,

Lenzetto 1.53mg transdermal spray

Each SSP is individually developed and authorised clinically, to enable community pharmacists and dispensing doctors to dispense a different strength or formulation or alternative medicine or appliances in accordance with the protocol, rather than having to refer prescribing decisions back to the original prescriber. These protocols are time limited. SSPs can be found at SHOW - Scotlands Health On the Web - Publications .

We continue to press the UK Government to seek a lasting resolution to HRT supply issues as quickly as possible.

We are working closely with NatureScot and Scottish Forestry in exploring the best approach to develop a new National Register of Ancient Woodlands. A new National Register of Ancient Woodlands is part of a suite of initiatives that will be underpinned by a new biodiversity strategy which will be published in Autumn 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08565 on 1 June 2022. 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

Figures for the number of Modern Apprenticeship starts in construction and related frameworks since 2008-09 is set out in the following table.

Other opportunities to train in construction trades will have been made available in other educational and training settings.

In 2019, there were 191 unexplained deaths. In 2020, there were 202 unexplained deaths.

This information is published annually in the Vital Events Reference Tables published by National Records of Scotland. Data for 2019 and 2020 can be found in table 6.01 here: Vital Events Reference Tables 2020 | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk)

Please refer to the cause of death category "R96-R99 - Other ill-defined and unknown causes".

Data for 2021 is not yet published. The Vital Events Reference Tables for 2021 are due to be published in June and will be available on the NRS website.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the north and east of Scotland, including improving the A96 corridor and will take forward an enhancements programme that improves connectivity between surrounding towns, tackles congestion and addresses safety and environmental issues.

The current plan is to fully dual the A96 route between Inverness and Aberdeen, however the Scottish Government has agreed to conduct a transparent, evidence-based review of the programme which is already underway and will report by the end of 2022. Effective stakeholder and public engagement is an essential part of the review and an initial public consultation survey was launched on 12 May 2022.

The A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme, which runs from Inverness to Hardmuir, is separate from the wider A96 corridor review process which is currently being undertaken and we continue to progress the preparation stages of the scheme with a view to completing the statutory process.

Delivery of the scheme can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.