As announced in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will work with COSLA in the coming year to prepare schools and infrastructure for the expansion of universal free school meal provision to Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils. Expansion will take a phased approach, rolling out first to those in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, before expanding to all Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils in 2026.

I wrote to NHS National Services Scotland on 16 June 2023 to request that an evaluation of post COVID services (including long COVID clinics) in comparison to pathways in Scotland was added to the long COVID Strategic Network’s workplan for 2023-24. Consequently, the Strategic Network has contracted the University of Leeds to support the initial evaluation of long COVID services in Scotland.

The University of Leeds is currently the only institution in the UK evaluating long COVID services under the LOCOMOTION study, which includes NHS Highland as a pilot site. The University of Leeds also collaborates with ELAROS which has produced the C19-YRS digital tool which has been procured for use within NHS Scotland to monitor long COVID services. This partnership will also enable Scotland to benefit from the lessons already being learned from NHS England’s long COVID services.

As part of the evaluation, the University of Leeds will provide an: analysis of demand and capacity within Scotland’s long COVID services; analysis of longer-term outcomes for long COVID patients assessed within NHS Health Board services; and where possible, compare differences in service models.

An assessment was made of any potential impact of short term let licensing on the workload of local authorities and this information can be found in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for Short-term lets: licensing scheme and planning control area legislation published in November 2021 - Link . We are working with stakeholders including local authorities and the industry to monitor implementation and will provide an update on this in 2024.

In appointing the membership of the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill Steering Group, we aimed to ensure that all key groups of partners, in public, private, community and third sectors were represented.

Membership of the CWB Bill Steering Group can be altered over time, as different expertise may be required as development of legislative proposals is progressed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20927 on 19 September 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 .

Patient care and service delivery are the statutory responsibility of local healthcare providers. NHS Boards are responsible for working with their partners to plan and provide health services which meet the needs of their populations.

When a patient has an experience that does not meet their expectations, they should contact their local Health Board at NHS Inform.

The Scottish Government remain committed to supporting all Boards to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We have allocated £48.6 million of supplementary funding to Boards this year via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. This is in addition to the £36.7 million directly allocated to Health Boards via the Outcomes Framework in 2022-23, and to the total package of core funding that Health Boards receive.

In Scotland it is illegal to ride an electric scooter on a public road, pavement, cycle paths, shared paths or any public place. Enforcement of this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, with oversight provided by the Scottish Police Authority.

More broadly, the Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland’s road travel safe for everyone. The Scottish Government published a Road Safety Framework to 2030 in 2021. The framework sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050.

The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group was established to ensure a multi-agency, strategic approach towards the development and delivery of Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy .

Members are drawn from the following organisations:

• Age Scotland
• BEMIS
• CEMVO
• COPFS
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• Equality Network
• Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA)
• Interfaith Scotland
• Police Scotland
• Respectme
• YouthLink Scotland
• Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (observer)

Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) (observer)There is currently no expectation in the Terms of Reference for the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group that individual names of members from attending organisations will be published.

The Scottish Government is increasing the number of pharmacist pre-registration training places from 200 by an additional 120 places over 5 years from December 2019, to create the opportunity for more pharmacists to enter the profession. To date we have increased places by 76, with the remaining 44 places due to be available by 24/25.

The deployment, working conditions and health and wellbeing of officers are matters for the Chief Constable. There are processes and mechanisms in place for the Scottish Police Federation to raise any concerns or suggestions for change with Police Scotland through the Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee (JNCC), whose membership includes staff associations and trade unions.

I have three scheduled meetings per year and met with the Scottish Police Federation on 21 December 2022, 10 May 2023 and is scheduled to meet them on 21 September 2023. The Federation also meet regularly with senior Scottish Government officials. During these meetings matters of interest and concern to federation members are discussed.