Chamber and committees

The Scottish Law Commission is currently undertaking a project to consider homicide law reform. The Scottish Law Commission's homicide law project has been continued into their 11th Programme of Law Reform. In 2021, the Commission published their discussion paper on this subject. Scottish Government officials have recently engaged with the Scottish Law Commission who advise they hope to be in a position to publish their final report during 2024. The Scottish Government will consider carefully their final report and recommendations carefully when published.

The Scottish Government welcomes Food Standards Scotland’s Our Food 2022 report and the wide ranging recommendations.

We are aware of workforce shortages, such as veterinarians and environmental health officers, and the fundamental role these have to safeguard animal health and welfare and the safety of food in Scotland. The Scottish Government continues to promote the role of veterinarians in public health. This includes through initiatives, such as the Scottish Veterinary Delivery Landscape Project which brings together public and private sector veterinary employers, academia and veterinary industry bodies. We have also set up the Environmental Health Policy Co-ordination Group to consider solutions to the EHO vacancies across Scotland and work with key stakeholders to gain further insight on this issue.

Furthermore, we are committed to protecting Scotland’s consumers and businesses through robust biosecurity controls. Since EU Exit, Scottish Government officials and Ministers have been engaged in discussions with the UK Government around the introduction of import controls, resulting in the recent publication of the Border Target Operating Model.

We will continue to work with Food Standards Scotland and other partners on the issues raised within the report.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22774 on 21 November 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.

I welcome the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA’s) recent extension to the licence for Kaftrio ® and Kalydeco ® to include children aged two to five years old which will help address the unmet needs of younger children with cystic fibrosis in Scotland. I can also confirm that, while the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) multiple technology appraisal (MTA) is ongoing, all existing and new patients in Scotland who are on, or who are started on, a CF medicine, including Kaftrio ® , will continue to have access to that CF medicine after NICE and the SMC issue their final recommendations. This will be irrespective of the outcome of the appraisal and will cover any need to subsequently switch to a different CF medicine.

As part of work being undertaken to develop the new Palliative Care Strategy, we are gathering and analysing evidence to tell us what actions should be taken to achieve the aim of ensuring that everyone in Scotland receives well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care, care around death, and bereavement support based on their needs and preferences.

We have set up a number of working groups, bringing together stakeholders with expertise in priority areas for action, and these groups are developing recommended actions for inclusion in the strategy for discussion with the Strategy Steering Group (SSG) at its next meeting.

At the September meeting of the SSG there was discussion on the progress of the working groups and work being done to better understand people’s lived experiences of palliative care, as well as the proposed structure and timeline for the Strategy. A minute of the meeting will be available on the SG website, at https://www.gov.scot/groups/palliative-and-end-of-life-care-strategy-steering-group/ , once this has been agreed by the group.

The 2022 teacher census total was 54,193 teachers, which indicates an increase of 1,946 from the baseline, as measured by the 2019 census.

To inform decisions on future education workforce planning I have commissioned an external modelling and research exercise which will allow all of the issues around workforce planning to be considered holistically and will help ensure we will have an education workforce in place that enables us to progress our commitments to reducing teachers’ class contact time, raising attainment overall, closing the poverty related attainment gap and improving additional support for learning, while delivering maximum value for money during an era where budgets continue to be under pressure as a result of UK Government austerity measures.

In developing narrower proposals on alcohol marketing the Scottish Government will take account of both the potential public health benefits as well as potential impacts on industry, business and consumers. The next phase in this work will be targeted engagement early in 2024, which will include engagement with a range of stakeholders including those representing business and consumer interests.

Financial planning to address the significant challenges our public finances face took place in advance of the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance's update on the 2023-24 in-year budget changes on 21 November.

The difficult decisions which have had to be taken, have allowed us to help balance the Scottish Government's budget, while still progressing implementation of our mental health and wellbeing strategy from a revised direct budget of £260.3 million.

As set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual grant payments should not be made in advance of need.

Increasing the availability of long acting reversible contraception (LARC) is identified as a priority in both the Women’s Health Plan (2021) and our recently published Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan. The Scottish Government is committed to working with Health Boards and the Women's Health Champion to improve access to LARC.

The effectiveness of the Brush Up campaign will be assessed using an on-line questionnaire of patients. Questions will focus on patients’ awareness of both the campaign itself and the accompanying dental reform.

The total budget for the Take Hold marketing campaign is £200,000.