Chamber and committees

No NHS Forth Valley buildings have been assessed as containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. The NHS Scotland Assure survey programme has identified eight buildings in the NHS Forth Valley estate with two or more characteristics consistent with the presence of RAAC. These buildings were included in the list of NHS Scotland buildings which was provided in the response to answer S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023. This list has also been made available on the NHS Scotland Assure website: RAAC -List of Properties v1 Jul 23 (nhs.scot). This list forms the NHS Scotland Assure RAAC survey programme, which commenced in July 2023.

No NHS Lanarkshire buildings have been assessed as containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. The NHS Scotland Assure survey programme has identified eighteen buildings in the NHS Lanarkshire estate with two or more characteristics consistent with the presence of RAAC. These buildings were included in the list of NHS Scotland buildings which was provided in the response to answer S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023. This list has also been made available on the NHS Scotland Assure website: RAAC -List of Properties v1 Jul 23 (nhs.scot). This list forms the NHS Scotland Assure RAAC survey programme, which commenced in July 2023.

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 present state of the pandemic has been transformed by science, moving away from population level restrictions to strong programmes of vaccination and therapeutics.

As part of our enhanced surveillance systems, we continue to monitor, assess and be ready to respond to COVID-19 and other health threats. Any response including change to guidance on use of face coverings or face masks will be driven by the data and evidence gathered as well as expert advice as illustrated in the answer to question S6W-18103 on 31 May 2023 from Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour.

A risk-based approach to face coverings and face masks is in place across all settings with respect for those who may be unable to or wish to wear a face covering.

There are currently no general Covid-19 restrictions in place but the advice remains the same – please take up the offer of vaccination when invited, and try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have symptoms of a respiratory infection. If you have symptoms but do need to go out, wear a well-fitting face covering if possible.

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

I have portfolio responsibility for hospital arranged post mortem examinations. These are undertaken for deaths in hospitals to establish the medical cause of death and require consent from the individual or the family.

Separately, post mortems can be carried out under the direction of the Lord Advocate as part of an investigation into a death. These are a matter for the Lord Advocate and the Scottish Government does not comment on or get involved in these.

We are making good progress on this commitment and since 2017 headcount has increased by 291 with a record 5,209 GPs now working in Scotland.

We have increased medical undergraduate intake by 448 places, and created an additional 135 GP training places since 2016. 100% of training places advertised so far this year have filled successfully with a further round of recruitment in February 2024.

We have also established a GP Retention Working Group that will report to me by the end of October with its findings and recommendations.

Chemicals regulation in the UK engages a complex mix of devolved and reserved competence. Scottish Government works with the Welsh and UK Governments (the “appropriate authorities”) under the UK Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (UK REACH) Regulation to ensure the risks posed by chemicals and chemicals in products, including period products, are adequately controlled for people and the environment across Great Britain.

During preparation of the 2022/23 UK REACH work programme officials considered a number of potential chemical risks for further investigation and, where necessary, control under UK REACH. One such case was hazardous substances in period products (See Rationale for prioritising substances in the UK REACH work programme, 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ). Based on evidence presented by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the appropriate authorities concluded that no further investigation was necessary because existing evidence suggests such chemicals are either not measurable, or the levels present are too low to present a risk to human health. As with all previously considered cases that were not taken forward, this conclusion will be kept under review.

The conclusion was based on the findings of a study into feminine hygiene products by the French Chemicals Agency (see ANSES OPINION on the safety of feminine hygiene products & Feminine hygiene products: composition and toxic shock syndrome, our recommendations | Anses - Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail ) which did not find any risk associated with the presence of the substances tested for, and a related study by the Swedish Chemicals Agency (see kemi.se/download/18.6df1d3df171c243fb2331064/1589120703821/report-8-18-survey-of-hazardous-chemical-substances-in-feminine-hygiene-products.pdf & New report: No reason for concern about chemicals in menstrual products - Kemikalieinspektionen ) that concluded that the risk to human health of the 61 substances that were identified was low (although investigated, no per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, were found). The French study recommended that manufacturers improve the quality of these products in order to eliminate or minimise the presence of chemicals.

With regard to PFAS, in April 2023 the HSE published a Risk Management Options Analysis ( UK REACH: Regulatory management option analysis (RMOA) (hse.gov.uk) ) recommending several actions to better protect people and the environment from this group of chemicals. Scottish Government strongly supports regulatory action on PFAS as a priority and we expect these recommendations to be taken forward without delay under the UK REACH Regulation.

The membership of the Cabinet Sub-Committee for the Promise will be drawn from key members of the Cabinet with a portfolio interest relevant to the matters under consideration. The first meeting of the Sub-Committee will take place when the membership and remit have been confirmed.

Scotland’s flagship 1140 policy is the most generous childcare offer in the UK, delivering high quality early learning and childcare to thousands of families.

PHS publishes information on COVID-19 hospitalisations on their interactive dashboard ( COVID-19 & Respiratory Surveillance (shinyapps.io) ) which is updated weekly on a Thursday at 9.30am. Data can be downloaded from here and filtered to the desired timeframe. Since 1 January 2023 to 10 September 2023, there were a total of 8,076 acute COVID-19 hospital admissions in Scotland (as reported on the dashboard on Thursday 14 September). Note that data for the most recent week is provisional and may be subject to change.

The Menopause Specialist Network, chaired by Dr Heather Currie, has been meeting on a quarterly basis since 2021. A peer support group, the Network includes representatives from all the mainland Health Boards, providing consistent advice and peer support to healthcare professionals. The Network supports primary care teams by providing access to a menopause specialist for consistent advice, support, onward referral, leadership and training.

We have also recently established a Menopause Clinical Reference Group. Issues raised by the Network are fed into the Group which then considers potential Scotland wide approaches.

Information on the activity of the Network can be found in the Women's health plan: progress report published in January 2023 and the Womens-health-plan-interim-progress-update published in August 2023.