Chamber and committees

We have no plans at this time to consult on introducing an independent regulator for Scottish football. However, I am hosting a round table meeting on the subject of Enhancing Scottish Football on 8th May and I look forward to on interesting discussion on a range of topics.

We will set out the high-level principles of ADT, including how it will support emissions reductions in due course.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) figures are available publicly on the Risk Management Authority (RMA) website. The OLR sentences made in the last 5 years are as follows:

In order to maximise defibrillator availability, they are usually best mounted on the outside of buildings and placed in unlocked cabinets.

We accept that it is likely that locking defibrillator cabinets introduces an additional delay for bystanders attempting to retrieve a defibrillator and lowers the likelihood of successful application prior to arrival of emergency services.

It is the decision of the defibrillator guardian whether to place their device in a locked or unlocked cabinet. There is limited evidence as to whether using locked cabinets will affect the likelihood of vandalism, however, we understand that communities who fundraise to purchase and place a defibrillator wish to safeguard this important investment. The British Heart Foundation has helpful information online your-guide-to-being-a-defib-guardian.pdf (bhf.org.uk) about being a defibrillator guardian and steps individuals can take to look after their device.

If guardians do purchase a locked cabinet, it is vital to ensure that the local ambulance service knows the access code, and this can be supported by registering the defibrillator on The Circuit - the national defibrillator network .

The Save a Life for Scotland (SALFS) Partnership support defibrillator awareness inclusion in CPR training sessions. More information on CPR training provided in Scotland can be found here: Learn CPR - Save a Life for Scotland .

The Scottish Government published Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: guide to public access defibrillators - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) in March 2018. The guide provides practical advice to those considering a purchase and installation of a defibrillator including information on safety and maintenance checks (page 3).

In introducing dental payment reform from 1 November, we have rightly sought to place greater focus on preventive treatment, including detailed clinical advice on the importance of self-care for good oral health.

During routine check-ups, and where a dentist deems it clinically appropriate, an individual may receive enhanced preventative advice as part of a treatment plan. This must include a physical demonstration of toothbrushing techniques and has been introduced to better support individuals in maintaining their own oral health between appointments. This activity attracts a claimable fee for dentists – to cover the costs of their time and any equipment used to teach patients – and therefore there is a related charge for those patients who are not eligible for free NHS dental care.

The Scottish Government funds a range of projects throughout Scotland that deliver on recommendation 1 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) to create connected neighbourhoods. This includes funding provided to local authorities via the Sustrans Places for Everyone programme, the new Active Travel Infrastructure fund, and directly through the Cycling Walking Safer Routes (CWSR) grant.

All active travel grants are assessed and awarded against the criteria set in the Active Travel Framework | Transport Scotland . Programmes delivered by partners are monitored and evaluated against the framework using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods to evidence the impact and confirm delivery of Active Travel outcomes. This includes monitoring the growth in active travel within the study area.

The Scottish Government collects information on the property type that the main applicant making a homelessness application to a local authority became homeless from. This includes a category for those who have been ‘long-term sofa surfing’. This is defined as where an applicant has been moving between homes for a period of six months or more. Where only one or two different homes have been used for most of the period, another appropriate property type should be selected e.g. friends or relatives.

This data is collected from all local authorities as part of the homelessness application (HL1) data collection. Annual totals of long-term sofa surfing, reported by applicant households, are published in the data tables accompanying the main publication Supporting documents - Homelessness in Scotland: 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Data is not gathered for anyone with experience of sofa surfing who does not make a homelessness application to a local authority in Scotland and for this reason the statistics do not necessarily cover the entire homeless population. Those people who are experiencing homelessness but who do not appear in official statistics are often referred to as ‘hidden’.

It is not currently possible to estimate the scale of hidden homelessness in Scotland because of known complexities in reaching this population group. We are collaborating with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) researchers who are carrying out research which has potential to improve data collection in Scotland and across the UK on hidden homelessness, information available at "Hidden" homelessness in the UK: evidence review - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) .

In response to the UK Climate Change Committee’s recommendation, by the end of 2024 we will publish an Implementation Plan identifying the key actions to be taken to deliver our Vision for public EV charging.

The Scottish Government is reviewing options in relation to collecting data on secondary breast cancer in Scotland. This includes consideration of the NHS England audit, data available in Scotland, clinical time required, other cancer data priorities and how it can be used to improve services.