Chamber and committees

All women diagnosed with pre-eclampsia should receive monitoring and management of their condition in line with local NHS Board clinical pathways for both antenatal and postnatal care.

The Women’s Health Plan 2021-2024 recognises the need to address inequalities for women with heart disease and includes an aim to provide opportunities to optimise cardiovascular health and risk reduction across a woman’s life course.

The Women’s Health Champion, Prof. Anna Glasier, has identified improving cardiovascular care for women who have experienced pre-eclampsia as an area she is keen to progress. She will work with stakeholders, including women with lived experience, and our heart health working group to identify opportunities to drive improvement in this area.

The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership to work with local authorities, empty homes officers and private owners to return homes to active use. The range of tools available to help incentivise owners to take action include the council tax premium, VAT discounts and grant funding through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme for acquisitions, key worker housing and the Rural & Islands Housing Fund.

As we move into phase two of the Partnership project we want to develop a more strategic approach to bringing empty homes back into use and embed this within the Partnership and its delivery partners. This will help us deliver on our aims of making best use of existing stock and increasing the supply of affordable housing for those that need it. An independent audit is also underway to gather evidence about the effectiveness of our current approach and help with thinking on options for future policy and funding.

The Scottish Government’s Youth Employment Strategy – Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) has, since its inception in 2014, remained committed to supporting young people by ensuring that a wide range of pathways and routes into apprenticeships are open to young people. As part of that, we created Foundation Apprenticeships (FAs), with partners across the education and skills system. FAs provide a combination of qualifications and work-based learning for young people in the senior phase of school.

Since their introduction in 2016, 15,371 school pupils have enrolled on an FA and they are now available across all Local Authorities. FAs are now recognised by all Colleges and Universities in Scotland and Scottish Government worked with the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) to ensure that FAs have UCAS tariff points for universities. Work has also been undertaken to ensure that FAs at SCQF Level 6 are appropriately recognised in schools metrics.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) undertakes activities to support greater parity of esteem and to encourage pupils to take up apprenticeships. SDS careers advisors deliver information sessions on apprenticeships to all pupils in S2 and S3 as they approach option choices. SDS engages directly with parents and teachers to raise awareness of apprenticeships. FA webinars were held in January and March 2023 with a panel of apprentices, employers and teaching staff to share their experiences. Apprenticeship teaching resources are available on SDS’ My World of Work, this includes an FA Schools Toolkit for teachers and a refreshed apprenticeship CPD module for teachers.

SDS also lead on the annual Scottish Apprenticeship Week campaign, which includes a wide array of school activity, with the aim of promoting Modern, Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeships to young people.

DYW Regional Groups also work with SDS, colleges and training providers to highlight the importance of vocational pathways, including apprenticeships to help young people develop key skills and transition to work. This work is enhanced through the placement of DYW School Coordinators in every mainstream secondary school, to highlight work-based learning and help people take that path that is right for them.

Apprenticeships are a vital resource for employers to invest in their workforce and for people to develop their skills. Investing in skills across people’s lifetimes is critical to our future productivity and success, underlining our commitment to a skilled workforce set out within the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Our priority is for high quality apprenticeships that provide sustainable jobs and careers, supporting our transition to net zero.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have issued contract awards to support up to 25,500 new Modern Apprenticeship starts in 2023-24. This builds upon the 25,000 Modern Apprenticeship starts which Ministers asked SDS to deliver in 2022-23. SDS previously issued contracts in March for over 39,000 Modern Apprentices in training for 2023/24, supporting businesses and individuals across Scotland.

In terms of Graduate Apprenticeships (GA), the Scottish Funding Council published its indicative University Funding Allocations on 13 April 2023 and it is expected that 1,378 GA places will be delivered in 2023-24. This maintains comparable levels of GA starts of that in 2022-23.

Arrangements where a person occupies accommodation as their only or principal home are not considered short-term lets. Interpretation and application of the licensing scheme to specific circumstances is a matter for licensing authorities. We continue to monitor operation of the scheme as a whole, taking a responsive approach. We have also committed to undertaking a review in 2024.

The Scottish Government commissioned The Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) to adapt the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) diagnostics guidance, to inform a Scotland-specific approach on placental growth factor (PlGF) based testing which was published on Thursday 23 March 2023. The report highlights the potential benefits to pregnant women and their families and demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of testing.

On the day of the SHTG report’s publication, the Scottish Government wrote to NHS Boards asking all NHS Boards in Scotland to take note of the SHTG Recommendations and work to ensure that all pregnant women who need PlGF testing are able to access it as part of their routine maternity care. My officials will continue to work with The Scottish Perinatal Network as it takes forward its work to support NHS Boards in implementing PlGF testing locally.

This is a matter for NHS Ayrshire and Arran. The information requested is not held centrally.

The role of specialist endometriosis centres in Scotland is to provide coordinated, multidisciplinary treatment to individuals with complex symptoms of endometriosis and to those requiring complex surgery. Most individuals with endometriosis can be treated by a gynaecologist with training of endometriosis within secondary care.

From 2014-2016 a specialist working group of expert clinicians and representatives from patient groups and Endometriosis UK was established to consider how service provision for endometriosis might be improved. The group recommended the optimal approach for effective treatment of people in Scotland with complex endometriosis was three specialist endometriosis centres. The three centres are in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow and are operational.

The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission recently investigated the use of electronic dog training collars at our request. We will consider their findings carefully as part of our ongoing commitment to improve and enhance animal welfare.