There have been 91 NHS buildings surveyed under the RAAC survey programme (as at 19th September 2023).

The Scottish Government has been actively engaging with local authority partners, who have statutory responsibility for school buildings in Scotland, for some time.

Those schools where RAAC has been identified are taking mitigation steps in line with guidance from the Institute of Structural Engineers which has not changed. Any local authority which deems it necessary to close a school in their authority, in whole or in part, is empowered to do so. For example, Riverside Primary School in West Lothian fully closed its building over the summer holidays and moved pupils in to alternative provision.

COSLA have confirmed that safety is the central consideration and there is robust guidance which is followed by every local authority to ensure these settings are safe for the pupils, staff and the public to be in.

The list of buildings to be surveyed was included in the answer to question S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023. NHS Scotland Assure published the list of buildings to be surveyed on the 15th September 2023: RAAC -List of Properties v1 Jul 23 (nhs.scot) . In response to part (b) of the Question; there have, as of the 19th September 2023, been 14 properties confirmed to contain RAAC, these will also be published in due course. 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 .

Public sector organisations may occasionally commission external consulting support where this provides value for money and there is a requirement for a specific skill or service that cannot be delivered within existing capacity.

As public bodies make their own independent arrangements with external contractors, the information requested is not routinely gathered or held centrally by the Scottish Government. Information of this nature can be attained by approaching individual public sector organisations accordingly.

Since December 2022, the Scottish Government has allocated over £896,000 to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) to support work to improve their adult and young people’s gender identity services.

NHS GGC is using this funding to recruit to its Young People’s Service multidisciplinary team; contact those currently on the waiting list to identify unmet needs; and improve support for those waiting.

The Scottish Government has engaged with NHS England on the developing plans on clinical research, and the Scottish Government/NHS Scotland will join the planned NHS England study development process as an observer.

s set out in our answer on 21 June, decisions on prescribing are for clinicians to make in consultation with the patient, following individualised assessment, and they are subject to regular monitoring. The Scottish Government remains proactive in its commitment to help to deliver high-quality healthcare to children and young people in that sensitive field of medicine.

The Scottish Government has also committed to support the establishment of a nationally commissioned young person’s gender identity service. Work is underway with NHS National Services Scotland on how best to sustainably provide gender identity healthcare for young people in Scotland in the long term. This process includes considering existing and future treatment pathways.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02957 on 12 October 2021. 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 schedule NHS Scotland buildings included in the on-site phase of the survey programme was submitted as part of the answer to question S6W-19366 on 21 July 2023 and was published on the NHS Scotland Assure website on the 15th September 2023: RAAC -List of Properties v1 Jul 23 (nhs.scot) . 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 MAT Implementation Support Team (MIST) was established to work with and support local areas to build improvement-based capacity and capability so that they would be able to implement and sustain the MAT standards locally.

MIST support is provided through networking and regular support visits with a range of stakeholders including ADPs and local Health Boards to facilitate improvement work such as the sharing of good practice. Ministers have commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to run a national learning system for implementing the standards which is mainly aimed at providing support to ADPs and Health Boards by sharing best practice.

So, MIST and HIS work together on this to support local areas. The HIS learning system includes networking and webinars as well as providing insights and materials such as case studies, resources and news stories which are shared across ADPs and Health Boards.

Local areas report regularly to Ministers on progress towards implementation of the MAT standards. Public Health Scotland publishes progress in an annual National Benchmarking Report each June based on the work of MIST, and in the second annual Report published in June this year included good practice case studies provided through the HIS learning system.

MIST are also holding thematic groups for each of the standards to bring stakeholders together, and there is a planned in person work shop for MAT Standard 3 – Assertive Outreach taking place in the Autumn.

The Daily Mile Foundation have developed their 'The Daily Mile Scotland Strategy 2023 - 2026' which was published in August 2023 to align with the start of the new academic year. Scottish Government are working closely with the Foundation to support the delivery of the strategy.

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 .