The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA) and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 is the legislation which identifies categorised responders, and their duty to prepare for civil emergencies within Scotland.

The CCA divides responders into two categories, category 1 and category 2. The CCA imposes a set of duties on each category of responders. It does not confer any powers upon the categorised responders.

Under the terms of the amendment regulations, the structure which supports multi-agency co-ordination is the Regional Resilience Partnership (RRP). Currently there are three such groups in the North, West and East of Scotland. Within each RRP area are a number of Local Resilience Partnerships (LRPs) determined by the RRPs themselves.

The RRPs and LRPs bring together all the relevant organisations in an area to develop an effective approach in dealing with emergencies in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to review the accompanying regulations to the CCA to include MSPs as a categorised responder under the CCA.

Any decision to introduce changes to a national screening programme in Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four UK nations on screening policy. The UK National Screening Committee is expected to make a recommendation on the use of cervical self-sampling in the screening programme later this year.

The Scottish Government recognises the potential of cervical self-sampling to improve uptake of cervical screening. In Scotland, a working group has been established to consider potential models to understand any changes that would be required to the screening programme to support an initial roll-out. This work will be influenced by the on-going work of the UK NSC and emerging global research.

As of 1 November 2023, we have introduced significant dental payment reform with the aim of encouraging dentists to provide more NHS dentistry. Official statistics from Public Health Scotland published in February 2024 and reflecting system activity following reform show that nearly 400,000 patients were seen by an NHS primary care dentist in November. This is an early indication that the system changes have been received favourably by many NHS dentists. In addition to improving conditions for existing workforce through reform, we are also continuing to work with our counterparts across the UK and devolved governments to expedite process and bolster the number of dental practitioners working in Scotland now and into the future with a view to supporting greater availability of appointments.

The official measure of participation is the number of patients that have been seen in the last 2 years, and official statistics show that before the pandemic, participation was around 70%. Participation provides an indication of patient contacts within the system at a point in time but is not, in itself, an indicator of access noting that there may be many reasons why registered patients do not attend the dentist. We therefore use a range of data to understand the position in NHS dentistry, including regular qualitative discussion with NHS Boards to support local and national interventions to improve patient access.

The Scottish Government has provided a total of £755,626 to epilepsy charities between March 2017 and March 2024.

The main construction works at Lochmaddy to accommodate the new Little Minch vessels are complete. Some minor port interface items have still to be progressed, for example changes to navigational aids. The vessels are expected to be delivered in June and October 2025.

Transport Scotland, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, and CalMac continue to review the potential operating parameters of the new vessels alongside options for maximising efficiencies, reliability, and resilience over the longer term. This includes consideration of the potential benefits and costs of bringing forward a linkspan replacement at Lochmaddy, and delivering shore power infrastructure at each of the three ports on the Little Minch routes. Neither of these considerations will impact initial vessel deployment plans.

Funding provided to NHS Boards for the delivery of Childsmile covers the full programme, and we do not separate the cost of certain aspects of the programme, such as the fluoride varnish element.

My answer to the Member’s separate question (reference S6W-26265 on 15 April 2024) sets out how much the Scottish Government has spent on the Childsmile programme in the last five years.

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 .

Modelling undertaken by Sheffield University looked at how alcohol consumption in Scotland changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the longer-term implications over 20 years of these changes for public health. This found that on average, people in Scotland who were drinking within the UK low-risk drinking guidelines of 14 units/week reduced their alcohol intake in 2020, while those drinking above the guidelines increased their drinking by an average of 2 units/week.

The modelling then explored 4 illustrative scenarios for how these changes in drinking persisted, or not, from 2022 onwards and compared these to drinking having remained at pre-pandemic levels throughout. In the best-case scenario where it was assumed that alcohol consumption reverts to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, it was estimated there would be an additional 663 deaths, 8,653 hospital admissions, 22,122 years of life lost and £10.9million in NHS hospital costs over 20 years. Where it was assumed that consumption changes during the pandemic would persist in the long-term, it was estimated there would be an additional 7,924 deaths, 91,332 admissions, 239,002 years of life lost and £111.2million in hospital costs over 20 years.

This harmful health impact of the pandemic on alcohol-related outcomes was estimated to fall disproportionately on the most deprived groups, further increasing existing inequalities in health.

The Public Health Scotland (PHS) evaluation into the impacts of Minimum Unit Pricing found the largest estimated reductions in deaths and hospital admissions, during the study period that were wholly attributable to alcohol consumption were seen in men and those living in the 40% most deprived areas.

• The evaluation found the largest estimated reductions in deaths and hospital admissions, during the study period that were wholly attributable to alcohol consumption were seen in men and those living in the 40% most deprived areas

Following the 2024-25 budget settlement, the Scottish Government reviewed a number of budget lines in Education and Skills. In relation to Gaelic the outcome of this review is that there will now be no reduction to the MG ALBA funding for 2024-25. There will also be no reduction of the Gaelic, Education and Culture budget line which would have had an impact on the funding of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Storlann and other organisations and the Scottish Government has now provided additional funding to enable Bòrd na Gidhlig to continue its support for the Gaelic Officers’ Scheme in 2024-25.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26587 on 15 April 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 .

SEPA’s 2018 National Flood Risk Assessment set out the numbers of properties at risk of flooding now and in the future. The numbers have not changed since that assessment, which are that 284,000 properties are at risk of flooding now and by the 2080s this number is expected to increase by 110,000 through climate change.

Improving resilience to flooding is a priority for the Scottish Government and we continue to work with, and support, local authorities to fulfil their obligations to deliver flood risk management. To support flood protection measures, the Scottish Government provides £42 million each year to local authorities. In August 2020, the Programme for Government also committed an additional £150 million over 5 years to support flood risk management actions.

It is clear that climate change must become a core consideration in decision making for our places and communities if they are to achieve a level of flood resilience. We will consult on a Flood Resilience Strategy for Scotland this spring. The Strategy will initiate a transformational change to flood management to adapt our places and set Scotland on a long-term course towards a sustainable level of flood resilience.