Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that improving children’s dietary health and increasing levels of healthy weight are complex issues that require a range of collaborative actions by governments and stakeholders.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving adolescents’ diets including through range of actions, for instance strengthening the provision of balanced and nutritious school meals food to children and young people. Eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to Secondary 6 can benefit from free school meals in Scotland.

In addition, the Scottish Government initiated a partnership between Young Scot and the Scottish Grocers Federation to explore and pilot use of the Young Scot National Entitlement Card to buy healthier options.

The Scottish Government continues to focus on improving the food environment to support young people to make healthier choices including future regulation of promotions of foods high in salt, sugar and fat. We also welcome the UK Government's move to introduce legislation to restrict advertising of less healthy food and drink and will be supporting its implementation in Scotland.

There have been no recent discussions with the UK Government regarding upgrades to the A77 trunk road.

Although this is an operational issue, ScotRail confirmed that there was a recent challenge in recruiting new permanent staff, which led to the closure of the ticket office on a number of occasions. The vacancies have now been filled and it is expected that the new staff will take up positions in February and March.

Staffing at railway stations is an operational matter for ScotRail. I have been informed that Troon Station ticket office has recently closed on a number of occasions due to staff shortages. The vacancies have now been filled and it is expected that the new staff will take up positions in February and March.

I also spoke with ScotRail management at the official opening of the award-winning refurbished and rebuilt Troon station on 13 November 2024. They confirmed that the new Changing Places facilities at the station would remain open even if the ticket office is closed during operational hours.

Additionally, ScotRail’s passenger assistance service is designed to help those who need support when traveling on the ScotRail network. Our vision is for all older and disabled individuals to travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity, and opportunity as other citizens.

The Scottish Government believes that all women in Scotland should have access to abortion services, available free from stigma.

In the 2023 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government committed to undertake a review of the law on abortion to ensure that it is first and foremost a healthcare matter. That review is now underway.

As part of the review, the Scottish Government has convened an expert group chaired by Professor Anna Glasier, the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Champion. The expert group is reviewing the existing law on abortion in Scotland and will produce a report for the Scottish Government this Summer.. If the group considers that the law could be changed for the better, the report will include recommendations for reform.

The Scottish Government will consider the expert group’s report and take into account views of other stakeholders and other relevant considerations too. Any proposals for changes to abortion law would be subject to a public consultation.

Details of the expert group, including minutes of their meetings are published on the Scottish Government website here: Abortion Law Review Expert Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

There is currently a moratorium on new apprenticeships in Scotland while work is ongoing with the Scottish Government’s post-school education and skills reform programme.

However, one of the key recommendations of the Allied Health Profession (AHP) Education and Workforce Review is to develop earn as you learn routes, which may in the future include apprenticeships. We are currently working closely with partners including Higher Education Institutions, Health Boards, Further Education and the Scottish Funding Council to progress this issue.

Progress has already been made to tackle workforce shortages in podiatry through the creation of a collaborative earn as you learn route at Glasgow Caledonian University. Health Boards are able to identify and send employees to train to become a podiatrist whilst remaining in the workforce and receiving full employee benefits of their local Board area.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government is currently collaborating with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and wider stakeholders on the development of Next Generation HNC for AHP subjects. This work is providing the opportunity to take forward initial developments across three AHP professions and potentially offers a first step towards a recognised earn and learn progression route. It is currently in its early stages of development.

The Scottish Government supports and works closely with Food Standards Scotland, who have previously run national campaigns over winter months to raise awareness of vitamin D and encourage people to take a daily vitamin D supplement to maintain bone and muscle health.

The campaign primarily focuses on online advertising and social media posts. A campaign toolkit has also been developed and shared with a wide range of stakeholders to help support efforts to raise awareness of vitamin D, with graphics, web text, and social media posts available in nine languages (https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/publications-and-research/publications/vitamin-d-campaign-toolkit).

Information on vitamin D is also available and promoted through a range of resources. Dedicated public advice on vitamin D is available on NHS Inform, including a general information leaflet highlighting the importance of vitamin D, which is available in a range of formats and languages (https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/food-and-nutrition/eating-well/vitamin-d).

Additional information can be accessed through our Parent Club (https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/eating-well-at-home) and Ready, Steady Baby! (https://www.nhsinform.scot/ready-steady-baby) resources, Food Standards Scotland

(https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/consumers/healthy-eating/nutrition/vitamins-minerals/vitamin-d) website and

Eat Well, Your Way (https://www.eatwellyourway.scot/what-is-a-healthy-balanced-diet/vitamin-d/).

The Scottish Government supports and works closely with Food Standards Scotland, who have previously run national campaigns over winter months to raise awareness of vitamin D and encourage people to take a daily vitamin D supplement to maintain bone and muscle health.

Since April 2017, Scottish Government has provided free Healthy Start vitamins for women for the whole of their pregnancy. These were developed to meet their nutritional needs, and include vitamins C, D and Folic Acid. Since Jan 2021, Health Boards have provided free vitamin D to all breastfeeding mothers and children under three years.

The Scottish Government believes that all women in Scotland should have access to abortion services as part of routine healthcare, and understands that the choice to have a surgical abortion is important. The 2021 Women’s Health Plan sought to achieve the overarching priority that ‘all women will have a choice about how and where they access abortion care’. We intend to build upon this as we move into the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan, and have been doing significant work with NHS Boards and other stakeholders to deliver these commitments.

The Scottish Government continues to work with Health Boards to understand surgical abortion capacity. In late 2024, all territorial Health Boards were asked to complete a survey setting out their surgical abortion availability, along with other information on overall demand for abortion services.

From this survey, it is apparent that bed space can be a contributing factor to limited surgical abortion provision, but is unlikely to be a significant factor. Theatre availability and clinical training are more significant barriers, and the Scottish Government is working with Health Boards and other key stakeholders such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to improve training opportunities to increase provision of these services.

The Scottish Government has also raised the importance of access to early surgical abortions with NHS Board Chief Executives. The information gathered through the survey will be presented back to Board Chief Executives in due course, to help inform Boards’ decisions on where surgical abortion provision could be increased.

Cervical self-sampling is not yet recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), the independent expert advisory group which advises all four UK nations on screening policy, and therefore is not currently offered within the cervical screening programme. However, the UK NSC are currently consulting on whether cervical self-sampling should be offered to under-screened people eligible for cervical screening.

In preparation for a positive UK NSC recommendation, Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland are re-establishing the self-sampling working group, whose remit will include assessing implementation options in light of new evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches, and ensuring that communications around a potential roll-out are inclusive and supportive.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government and its partners continue to explore alternative interventions that seek to encourage increased uptake of cervical screening, particularly among under- and never-screened populations. We published the Equity in Screening Strategy in July 2023 that outlines a strategic approach to identifying, addressing and removing barriers to participants across the screening pathway, and ensuring that professionals working within screening are knowledgeable of and use effective interventions to reduce these inequalities. To support this, the Equity in Screening Network was also launched in July 2023, allowing individuals that work across screening to share evidence, best practice and learning around screening inequalities.

Finally, as part of the Scottish Government’s work to eliminate cervical cancer, an expert group on cervical screening is exploring the effectiveness of a range of strategies to increase cervical screening uptake, and are currently considering how different media interventions could remove stigma and fear for all participants.