Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government engages closely with NHS Highland on dental service delivery matters and has put in place a framework of support to facilitate local solutions.

This includes Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) grant support, which pays out a potential £100,000 for the first surgery, and £25,000 per additional surgery to practices setting up a new practice, or extending an existing practice; and making available recruitment and retention allowances with payments of up to £37,500 over a three year period. Both mitigations apply across the whole of the Highland Health Board area.

In this particular case the Board is working with the practice to facilitate recruitment resting on the incentives available. In the meantime a locum dentist will provide cover at the practice, pending recruitment.

Unregistered patients can access emergency and urgent dental care via the Public Dental Service, Argyll & Bute Dental Helpline.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17667 on 17 May 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 next set of affordable housing investment benchmarks will be included in an update to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme process and procedures guidance, which is in the process of being finalised. We expect to publish this guidance shortly.

The Scottish Government has undertaken a range of measures to promote the guidance for displaced people from Ukraine. At the point of publication, the guidance was issued via direct mailing to a wide range of stakeholders and delivery partners, including local government and third sector. It has also been promoted on Scottish Government social media channels including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We have engaged with external stakeholders such as ScotHosts, Help Ukraine Scotland and Barnardo’s to have the guidance promoted directly on their social media channels. This ensures the guidance is sent directly to Ukrainians as well as Hosts who support Ukrainian families.

In addition, Scottish Government subsequently published a stakeholder toolkit to support our partners to further promote the guidance. This, too, was issued to a wide range of stakeholders and delivery partners. The toolkit, which is available online to download, contains information on the guidance alongside a range of assets for use, including key messages, social media posts and videos focusing on accommodation, showcasing Scotland, and rights and protections.

The Scottish Government has produced posters promoting the guidance and worked closely with local authorities and our partner organisations such the Scottish Refugee Council, Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain and Volunteer Edinburgh to have the posters displayed at arrival points, in welcome accommodation, or other places where our partners meet with people displaced from Ukraine.

The guidance was also promoted in Scottish Government’s Scottish Government: ‘Supporting Ukraine’ monthly newsletter, with a call to action for those subscribers to share the content widely.

We are grateful to our partners for their work in helping to ensure displaced people from have access to the guide and we are committed to continuing to work in partnership to further promote it widely.

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.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data. Guidance was issued to Health Boards in April 2022 setting out our expectation that Health Boards will ensure Ukrainian refugees have access to GP practices.

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.

The following table includes data on the number of Gastroenterology trainees who have completed training and attained a CCT (Certificate of Completion of Training) in each year since 2019. Trainees must obtain a CCT in order to practice as a consultant.