Chamber and committees

Public Health Scotland does not hold the information requested to answer this question.

NHS Scotland does not currently hold information on prescriptions based on patients’ ethnicity.

Through the Women’s Health Plan, we are determined to ensure that all women are able to access the care and support they need for menopause, be that through primary or specialist care. A range of treatments to manage menopause symptoms, including Hormonal Replacement Therapy (HRT), are available on the NHS in Scotland free of charge.

David Lowrie was appointed last year as the interim CEO on a temporary basis. The recruitment process for a permanent Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Rail Holdings will commence in the coming period.

NHS Lanarkshire identified that the current performance of the ventilation system within Ward 16 (haematology) does not meet the recommendations of the current Scottish Healthcare Technical Memorandum (SHTM). The health board is currently undertaking a project to upgrade the ventilation system within Ward 16, in line with SHTM requirements. A number of mitigations have been implemented to address the performance of the ventilation system in Ward 16 whilst the works are being developed and clinical teams continue to closely monitor patients with patient safety remaining at the centre of all decisions.

The Scottish Government engages continuously with the UK Government about energy costs in Scotland and the specific difficulties experienced by some Scottish consumers throughout the cost of living crisis. These costs can be even more pronounced for those living in our more remote areas where there may be fewer energy supply options and the climate can be more severe.

We are disappointed that the UK Government’s Spring Budget didn’t deliver an extension to the Energy Bills Support Scheme or any progress on targeting support towards those who need it the most – both of which we have been calling for on a regular basis.

Preparatory work pre-consultation involved gathering, analysing and commissioning academic evidence. We also commissioned projects with Young Scot and the Youth Parliament to ensure that young people’s voices were central to our proposals.

We have not done any preparatory work on implementation as no decisions have been taken on scope or on the type of restrictions that might be taken forward, our next steps depend entirely on the responses to the consultation itself.

Scottish Government officials are currently identifying representatives according to the draft terms of reference and will proactively publish the agreed membership in due course. There may also be opportunity to extend the participants list further as the meetings progress if required.

The Scottish Government will agree the date of the first meeting in due course, following confirmation of representatives and proposed structure.

The Programme for Government sets out that a Circular Economy Bill will be introduced in 2022-23 and we remain on track to meet that deadline. Further, the Deposit Return Scheme remains on track to go live in August 2023.

All applicants were advised to demonstrate and evidence how their proposal would deliver against all four areas of action for the fund, and that these were the criteria against which their application would be assessed. The criteria are:

• tackling poverty and inequality, including child poverty
• developing and sustaining place based approaches
• community-led regeneration
• ensuring a just transition to net zero

All applications were assessed equally against the criteria and organisations were advised that previous support through ICF did not guarantee a future award.