Chamber and committees

SPS has always been clear it is taking an open and transparent approach to the introduction of this policy which is evident in all they have put in the public domain. The SPS policy for the management of transgender people in custody was published on 5 December 2023, with operational guidance and an evidence paper published on 26 February. As these additional documents were intended for publication, they did not need to be released prior to that under freedom of information requests.

The SPS Chief Executive made this clear at the Criminal Justice Committee on 11 January, where she said: “Implementation will therefore commence from 26 February this year. In addition, at that time, we will publish our operational policy guidance, our gender diversity guidance and an evidence review document, which will all underpin the policy that was published last year”.

Data from the Scottish Health Survey did not inform the development of ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scotland's Long Covid service’, published on 30 September 2021. This is because the results of the Scottish Health Survey 2021, which included questions on long COVID for the first time, were published on 8 November 2022.

Responsibility for service delivery rests locally with NHS Boards who configure services taking into account local circumstances and the reasonable needs of their patient populations.

On 22 February, the Under-Secretary of State for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business stated that the UK Government would introduce legislation to reverse only the convictions of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses convicted in courts in England and Wales. This followed the Scottish Government making clear on 10 January in a letter from the First Minister to the Prime Minister that UK-wide legislation would be the appropriate response to this issue. The position of the Scottish Government was also made in further letters from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs.

Following the UK Government announcement on 22 February, I wrote to the Minister the following day to make clear that the Scottish Government remained of the view that the best way to ensure a solution that treats all affected sub-postmasters across the United Kingdom equitably is for the Westminster Parliament to legislate to overturn the convictions of those affected across the whole of the UK, and asking the UK Government to reconsider its approach on this matter.

On 13 March, the UK Government introduced its Bill to reverse the convictions of affected sub-postmasters and post office employees convicted in courts in England and Wales. The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations on 14 March urging him to make good on the commitment he made at the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee on 12 March to consider extending the Bill to cover convictions in courts in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This reflects the fact that the cause of these wrongful convictions, wherever they occurred, is the defective Post Office Horizon IT system and the failure of the Post Office to disclose relevant information about it to prosecutors.

However, if the UK Government maintains its position that it will legislate only to reverse convictions of sub-postmasters convicted in England and Wales, we will introduce legislation in the Scottish Parliament to reverse the convictions of affected sub-postmasters in Scotland. Any such Bill will have to be passed after the equivalent UK Bill to ensure that the approach is compatible with the approach taken in the UK Bill and sub-postmasters convicted in Scotland whose convictions are reversed can access the Horizon compensation scheme operated by the UK Government.

Scottish Government officials are continuing to engage with UK Government officials on this matter.

The Scottish Government is aware of the reported comments by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales.

Any expedited process for hearing appeals is a matter for the judiciary, who are independent of Scottish Ministers. This process would also only be able to consider those cases which have been referred back to the courts and would not be able to address, for example, any cases where consideration by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has been delayed by difficulties in obtaining timely information from the Post Office, or where no person has approached the Commission for their case to be reassessed.

Given that the UK Government has introduced legislation for England & Wales the Scottish Government plan to ensure, insofar as possible, equal treatment for Scottish sub-postmasters. Any Scottish solution will need to be compatible with both the proposed UK Government legislation and the UK compensation scheme in which the Scottish Government has no locus.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with the UK Government regarding electricity networks in Scotland. The Scottish Government is represented on the Electricity Networks Delivery Forum, which has been established to oversee the implementation and delivery of the UK’s Transmission Acceleration Action Plan (TAAP) and the Connections Action Plan (CAP). The first meeting of the Electricity Networks Delivery Forum was on 30 January, and it is expected it will meet on a quarterly basis. We are continuing to use this forum, and our wider engagement with all relevant stakeholders, to continue to push for reform and ensure that the proposals in the TAAP and the CAP are robust, fit for purpose and work for Scotland.

Staffing levels are an operational matter for Scotrail, however the Scottish Government appreciates the importance of staff being visibly deployed appropriately in stations and across the network to enhance the passengers experience, including safety and control of antisocial behaviour.

NHS National Services Scotland, National Services Division (NSD) and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHS GGC) are working to improve waiting times for access to the highly specialist Complex Mesh Surgical Service. The ongoing need for service recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic, across all areas of need in terms of women’s health, has resulted in waiting times which are disappointing, and the frustration felt by women facing significant waits is wholly understandable. For this we apologise.

However, patients are being seen, surgeries carried out, and efforts are being made to increase capacity.

The Service now also writes to patients once they are added to the outpatient waiting list, advising that their referral has been received and offering an estimated waiting time for their first appointment. This letter provides a QR code that links to the recently upgraded Complex Mesh Surgical Service Website where patients can access information about what patients can expect during their visit.

Waiting times from decision on treatment to surgery are now generally within the 12 week treatment time guarantee.

More generally, the Scottish Government is committed to eradicating long waits and we’ve already seen a significant reduction in the longest waits (over 2 years) since targets were announced. We are committed to providing further reductions through our £1bn NHS Recovery plan to increase health service capacity. We are also working closely with Health Boards to support implementation of alternative pathways and initiatives to support people being seen more quickly and increase capacity to ensure sustainability.

The Scottish Government remains committed to co-designing a National Care Service (NCS) which fits the needs of our unique communities and considers the needs of people who face additional barriers to engaging with us.

We’ve heard from thousands of people already and our focus remains on ensuring that those with lived experience and stakeholders will continue to be at the heart of developing the National Care Service. A new Expert Legislative Advisory Group will be established to supplement, rather than replace, the extensive engagement which is underway.

We are engaging with people with lived experience of accessing and delivering social care support through the Social Covenant Steering Group, which advises on how we can engage people in co-design in a more accessible and inclusive way.

We also continue to work closely with stakeholder groups, organisations with close ties to ‘seldom heard’ communities who have had less opportunity to engage in the co-design work to date, and with people through last year’s regional forums, the National Forum and opportunities offered by the Lived Experience Experts Panel.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25624.on 18 March 2024. 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 Scottish Government budget 2024/25 , published on 19 December 2023 set out that it would make funds available for stroke and thrombectomy services in 2024/25, up to £17.5m. This budget line will be utilised to further develop the national thrombectomy service and support delivery of the Stroke Improvement Plan and wider development of stroke policy.