Chamber and committees

To make it easier for families to access the free reusable nappy kit that is included with the Baby Box, we are working with our Baby Box Managing Agent, APS Group Scotland, to include an electronic QR code option on the reusable nappy voucher. We anticipate the QR code being included on vouchers from September 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 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 timeline for MAT standard 7 ‘Primary Care’ has not been amended this year – it remains at full implementation to be completed by April 2025 as per the 2022 National Benchmarking report published by Public Health Scotland.

The MAT Implementation Support Team (MIST team) within Public Health Scotland provide support to local areas to engage with their primary care providers and will continue to do so.

The Local Partnership Forum North last met on 15 June to discuss a range of measures to enhance safety across the north of Scotland. Since then a range of additional targeted safety camera resources have been deployed at locations across the region, including the North Coast 500, to encourage good driver behaviour and enhanced levels of speed limit compliance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 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 Scottish Government has not fully assessed the level of awareness of MAT standard 7 among healthcare professionals working in primary care settings. Local services are being supported to implement the MAT standards by the MAT Implementation Support Team (MIST) which includes healthcare professionals with experience in primary care.

The National Mission benefits from the expertise of a Clinical Advisory Group of healthcare professionals and the implementation of the standards is also supported by NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) which has primary care professionals on its MAT team.

Given the involvement of this support for implementing the standards and through their ongoing engagement with services all healthcare professionals working in primary care settings that have contractual arrangements in place to provide medication assisted treatment should be aware of MAT standard 7.

In January 2023, in the Cross-Government Plan published by the Scottish Government included a commitment to ring-fence £30 million of the funding available to General Practice to encourage more primary care providers to take on Enhance Service provision to support people impacted by drugs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 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

There have been no such discussions held by the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19744 on‎ 17 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 Scottish Government meets with the Culture Conveners from local government to discuss ways of working together, in line with shared priorities for the Culture sector.

There have been four meetings of the Culture Conveners since the publication of our Culture Strategy. These took place in November 2020, March 2021, December 2021, and January 2023.

The next Culture Conveners meeting is scheduled to take place with myself in early autumn.