Chamber and committees

We continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme, of which public education and empowerment is a key work-stream. We launched a new campaign – Be the Early Bird – in March 2023 to empower those with possible symptoms to act early. This included sharing stories of those that have been diagnosed and successfully treated with ovarian cancer via press and digital channels, to prompt others to take early action.

We will continue to work with the Scottish Cancer Coalition – which Target Ovarian is a member of - as well as the primary care community across NHS Scotland, to raise awareness of possible symptoms. Work is also underway to redesign DCE’s website (getcheckedearly.org) – this will reflect ovarian cancer content, including additional survivor stories and signposting to Target Ovarian for more information.

The Scottish Government has not had specific conversations with trade unions regarding self-driving buses but we are aware that concerns have previously been raised about the possible future impact on jobs. Whilst the longer term impact of the adoption of CAV technologies on jobs is uncertain, Scotland will not be isolated from this and our involvement in Project CAVForth ensures we are at the forefront of developing the technology.

Even in a future that has fully autonomous vehicles, the work to date of my officials with partners on Project CAVForth supports the view that bus operators must continue to provide a focus on customer experience to provide assistance, ensure appropriate personal safety and comfort. This will be delivered during the CAVForth trial by the provision of both the legally required safety driver and an additional ‘Bus Captain’. The safety driver will be ready to take over the driving task at any time, whilst the Bus Captain will provide support and assistance to customers e.g. ticketing, travel advice etc.

The Scottish Government believes that the development and deployment of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles has the potential to bring transformative change to peoples’ lives, not just in how we travel, but in how we work, where we live, the environment, and road safety. Our National Transport Strategy 2 highlights that we will use beneficial innovation to improve our transport system and seek to make Scotland a market leader in the development and early adoption of beneficial transport innovations. This Government wants Scotland to be at the forefront of developments in CAVs and we are excited to see how this technology can help to support our vision for a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system.

71 GP practices in Scotland are currently staffed by a single GP.

There are no sewage discharges into Peterhead Lido, designated bathing water. The recent Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of Scottish Water’s published Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) spill data stating that ‘sewage was discharged for a staggering 483 hours last year, totalling 337 separate sewage dumps onto the beach’ and widely reported in the media is incorrect.

Peterhead Lido is located within Peterhead Bay Marina harbour walls, which is situated within Peterhead Bay again protected by a second set of harbour walls. Peterhead Wastewater Treatment Works short sea outfall CSO, as highlighted by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, is located 1 km south around a coastal peninsula outside both sets of harbour walls away from Peterhead Lido. Given its location it cannot discharge sewage into Peterhead Lido or impact on its bathing water quality.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for monitoring, classifying protecting and improving water quality at designated bathing waters. Peterhead Lido is currently classified as having excellent bathing water quality. Overall, 98% of bathing waters currently meet the bathing water standards with more beaches being classified as excellent than ever before.

I can confirm that 28 of 32 local authorities charge citizens for technology-enabled care equipment as part of their telecare services.

The Data collated in 2022 also identified that charges range from £1.48 to £8.40 per week for telecare. An annual survey to ascertain current charging levels will be issued to local authorities, via COSLA, during the summer of 2023.

As Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees, I have portfolio responsibility for older people and this Scottish Government remains committed to delivering access to opportunities and services people need to ensure they are healthy, happy and secure in older age.

We will continue to work closely with the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum to review progress on the 2019 “A Fairer Scotland for Older People: framework for action” to ensure it remains fit for purpose.

The Scottish Government's "A Fairer Scotland for Older People: Framework for Action" outlines the steps we are taking to ensure Older People are healthy, happy and secure. As part of the Framework Scottish Government is working to ensure access to measures to improve community safety and reduce vulnerability to scam callers and other kinds of elder abuse.

There is no mandatory curriculum within Scottish schools and local authorities have the flexibility to decide upon the content of their lessons at the local level taking account of the needs and circumstances of children and young people in attendance at their schools.

However it is important that we all know how to stay safe in and around Scotland’s waters. We are fully aware that conditions in open water sites change constantly and can be dangerous. Indeed, there is a significant difference between swimming in a heated indoor swimming pool and a cold open water site such as a loch. Therefore issues such as the importance of floating to live or the dangers of cold water shock also must be communicated in order to prevent drownings.

Water Safety Scotland and Education Scotland have launched a full progression pathway for water safety education for schools in Scotland. This pathway focuses on the provision of age and stage appropriate water safety education to support all children and young people aged 3-18 to develop valuable lifesaving knowledge, skills and understanding.

This pathway is available for use by all school practitioners when delivering water safety education, and it is available on Education Scotland’s website through the following link: Water Safety | Learning resources | National Improvement Hub (education.gov.scot) .

Furthermore, the Scottish Government will continue to work with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sportscotland and Scottish Water to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers.

The Scottish Government remains fully committed to supporting carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) and we have set out a positive vision for this in our Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. Since taking up office, I have held a roundtable with the Scottish Cluster to seek industry’s view on how best we can support, accelerate and scale up CCUS following recent UK Government announcements. I have also met with the UK Government Minister Andrew Bowie to discuss the Energy Bill, to ensure this vital piece of enabling legislation best reflects Scotland’s interests. Yesterday I also met with the Carbon Capture and Storage Association to discuss the opportunities around Track-2 and the development of the sector.

We remain wholly committed to supporting the advancement of the Scottish Cluster and CCUS, and also stand firmly behind our commitment to make available £80 million of financial support. We continue to urge the UK Government to provide a clear timetable for when the Scottish Cluster will be awarded.