Since 2018, NHS boards across Scotland have had a legislative duty to provide children and adults who have lost their voice or have difficulty speaking with communication equipment and support, necessary to meet their requirements.

As such, this information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as it is for local NHS Boards to determine the levels of funding required for services providing Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), based on local priorities and clinical needs.

Teachers in Scotland are directly employed by local authorities, who will have their own local payroll arrangements; therefore provisions relating to the backdated payment of pay awards will differ between authorities. The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of teachers in Scotland who have received backdated payments, because this data is held locally by Councils as the employer of teachers.

On 2 October 2024 the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) issued a joint circular to local authorities regarding the agreed 4.27% pay increase for teachers, at all points in the SNCT pay scales, to be backdated to 1 August 2024.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. We are currently analysing bids to the School Meal Debt Fund and following up with local authorities on the information provided.

Management of the NHS clinical waste contract is a matter for Health Boards, and management of the NHS’s relationship with the clinical waste contractor is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland’s (NSS) National Procurement and Logistics Service.

Information regarding contracts tendered by NSS is publicly available and can be viewed on the Public Contracts Scotland website - Home - Public Contracts Scotland.

Since 2018, NHS boards across Scotland have had a legislative duty to provide children and adults who have lost their voice or have difficulty speaking with communication equipment and support, necessary to meet their requirements.

To support and monitor the delivery of this duty, a National Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) advisory group with representation from AAC Executive Leads across all NHS boards including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, was established. Its membership brought together knowledge and influence, as well as specialist expertise to enable best practice to be shared to drive improvement.

In February 2020, the Provision of Communication Equipment and Support Progress Report was published, informed by contributions from the National AAC Advisory Group members, local government, people who use AAC and third sector providers. The report set out progress in the implementation of the legislative duty since commencement in 2018, which included:

• The publication of guidance on the Provision of Communication and Support,
• The development of a National AAC core pathway
• The development of AAC topic related learning modules

More information can be found in the report: Provision of Communication Equipment and Support : Part 4 of the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 (www.gov.scot).

Reporting will be considered as part of the grant award process.

Today we published the Women’s Health Plan 2021 – 2024 Final Report on the Scottish Government website to mark the progress achieved in the three years since the publication of Scotland’s first Women’s Health Plan.

This final report sets out the progress made against the 66 short, medium and long term actions to improve health information, services and outcomes for women and girls in Scotland.

Key achievements include the appointment and work of the first Women’s Health Champion Professor Anna Glasier, development of a women’s health information platform on NHS Inform and this Parliament passing The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024.

Alongside this report, a Women’s Health Plan: Review of the Data Landscape has been published setting out the routinely published data on women’s health currently available and highlighting the key data gaps.

An amendment to the New Build Heat Standard will shortly be laid in Parliament. This will demonstrate we have heard and responded to the concerns raised earlier in the year about the reliance on woodburning stoves and bioenergy, particularly in rural and island areas.

The review involved full consideration of previous and new evidence submitted, and a series of individual and group workshops with key stakeholders, and two Ministerial roundtables. The Standard will be subject to the usual Parliamentary process and remains an important and positive step in our journey to decarbonising buildings.

Information on waiting times for occupational therapy for all conditions is not held centrally but can be provided by NHS Boards.

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

HMP Highland will have a design capacity of 200 prisoner places which includes 12 cells designed to accommodate two people.