Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is aware of the points raised by the Church of Scotland (hereinafter ‘CoS’) and has been in regular and ongoing contact with CoS on these matters.

Officials met with representatives including the Church of Scotland in August last year, and I subsequently met with them in September. I did this to hear directly from CoS and others about their concerns and proposed solutions. Letters were sent to the Church of Scotland on 1 November 2022, 2 December 2022 and 17 January 2023 and, most recently, I wrote to CoS on 16 February.

The RCI was introduced on 1 April 2022, with unanimous cross-party support. Key stakeholders, including religious bodies, were involved in developing these regulations. Officials have thoroughly reviewed all of the options available to address the issues raised by the Church of Scotland, which arise primarily due to the large amount of property they own.

The Scottish Government introduced legislation to the Scottish Parliament on 23 January 2023 with the intention (subject to Parliamentary approval) of extending the transitional period by 12 months before offence provisions take effect. This decision was taken in response to the concerns raised by the Church of Scotland and others, fully understanding the current challenges in which all organisations including the charitable, third sector and faith and belief community are operating, owing to Brexit, Covid, and inflationary pressures. Should the Parliament approve the draft proposals, those in scope will have a further 12 months to comply with the requirements, in addition to the initial 12 month transitional period.

Stakeholders are encouraged to engage with the process as early as possible, and give themselves plenty of time to register. The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to continue raising awareness and help support stakeholders through the process. This will include a programme of additional awareness raising and reviewing the existing guidance.

The Scottish Government has offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials should they wish, to discuss how they can be supported to achieve compliance.

Ensuring the safety and supporting the wellbeing of those fleeing the illegal war in Ukraine is central to our Scottish response. Even before arrival in Scotland, our National Services Scotland engage with applicants to identify and triage people ensuring those with pre-existing or identified health needs are supported on arrival. In addition all people receive information which signposts mental health support and trauma informed care services when they arrive.

We are working closely with our partners including Heads of Psychology Scotland, NHS Scotland, COSLA, local authorities, the Scottish Refugee Council and others, to further develop our wellbeing packs for displaced people from Ukraine. These online packs include specific psychological wellbeing information for services supporting Ukrainian families, host families, and professionals: Ukraine Refugee Psychological Wellbeing Pack: Guidance for services - www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-psychological-wellbeing-advice-pack-guidance-ukrainian-arrivals/ . 

Last year, the Scottish Government amended legislation so there will be no charge for NHS Scotland services for people who have fled Ukraine, including mental health services. 

We are still considering the feasibility of a grant scheme or other assistance to help displaced Ukrainians into private rented sector accommodation (PRS), and working through options for this in partnership with COSLA, local authorities and the third sector.    

A number of Scottish local authorities already have rental guarantee schemes in place. Officials are working to understand their effectiveness and opportunities to support or expand them as may be most beneficial. We are also exploring a number of opportunities to broaden housing supply and, where possible, to relieve market pressures.  

As research, analysis and assessment is ongoing and necessitates close cooperation with local government stakeholders and other partners, no timeline has yet been placed on this activity.

Improving access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis is one of the priorities set out in the Women’s Health Plan for 2021-24.  

To ensure that those with endometriosis are receiving consistent and appropriate care we will help to support implementation the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme’s (MPPP) new Integrated Endometriosis Referral Care Pathway for NHS Scotland, which is now approved and will be circulated to all NHS Scotland Health Boards this year.  

In August 2021, we published an NHS Recovery Plan which set out our plans and ambitions over a five year period and is backed by more than £1 billion of funding. The plan supports an increase in inpatient, day case, and outpatient activity to address the backlogs of care, which will be supported by the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.  

In recognition of the pressure faced by colposcopy services, last year we provided over £660,000 additional funding to NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Highland, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside to support capacity. The funding was used to enhance capacity through recruitment and additional clinics, including at weekends, to allow increased activity and reduce demand on consultant time.  

Every child growing up in Scotland, regardless of their background, should have an equal chance of attending university and participating in higher education.

More students than ever have a place at university, and will benefit from free tuition – saving them up to £27,750 of student debt, compared with their counterparts in England. We continue to invest nearly £2 billion per year in Scotland’s colleges and universities, enabling them to continue to deliver high-quality education and training.

Average student support provided per full-time student was £6,140 in 2019-20 (the latest data available), an increase from £6,010 in 2018-19.

Latest HESA statistics demonstrate the continued strength of our university sector with record numbers of Scottish Students in 2021-22.

Once again, we have a record high number of students from deprived areas with 5,595 Scots entering university (+80 on previous year) - up 41% since the establishment of the Commission on Widening Access by this Government. This illustrates the important work achieved in supporting people into Higher Education.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in placement of students in accommodation or in the provision of student accommodation, whether that is university halls of residence, private purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) or private rented tenancies.

However, we are determined to improve supply, accessibility, affordability and standards across the private rented sector; and our review of purpose built student accommodation, which is looking at issues including supply and affordability, is nearing conclusion. We look forward to receiving the recommendations of the cross-sectoral PBSA Review Group in due course.

We are also committed to introducing new prevention of homelessness duties as part of a forthcoming Housing Bill. The bill will include new duties on public bodies to ‘ask and act’ about housing situations. We are exploring what is possible in relation to colleges and universities to be part of this. It will also include changes to existing legislation to allow local authorities to intervene at an earlier stage to prevent homelessness.

Whilst Scottish Government do not hold the information requested centrally, we are progressing work to allow Boards to automatically gather this.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collect data on the ethnicity of people participating in clinical trials in Scotland.

In the last three financial years, Food Standards Scotland has coordinated the response to eighteen food/feed safety incidents which have been investigated by Dumfries and Galloway Local Authority. Three of these incidents have related to the detection of Listeria Monocytogenes.

The Scottish Government has continuous engagement with Health Boards and has had recent contact with NHS Ayrshire & Arran on the provision of Out of Hours services.

The Board has advised that the medical workforce across Ayrshire Urgent Care Service (AUCS) has stabilised over recent years, establishing a core multi-disciplinary team using a mixed model of GP/Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) for Out of Hours patient care.

Despite the system wide pressures, NHS Ayrshire & Arran continue to deliver a primary care out of hours service for the provision of urgent care when GP Practices are closed. Although the figures published on 14 February 2023 report a decline in the number of GPs working in the service it is important to note that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

It is also important to note the increased number of other professions which reflects that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

FSS use the following to define an incident.

“any event where, based on the information available, there are concerns about actual or suspected threats to the safety, quality or integrity of food and/or feed or fraud that could require intervention to protect consumers’ interests”.

Only notifications meeting this criteria are recorded as such.

All incidents reported to FSS are classified using the FSS Incident Classification Matrix. The matrix is used to help assign a level to the incident to determine the appropriate response.

The coordination of food/feed incidents will continue until the identified risks have been appropriately mitigated.

Whilst FSS maintain the coordination role providing guidance, assistance and advice, Local Authorities as the competent authorities will routinely carry out the investigations. Local Authorities will report incidents to FSS dependant on the food law code of practice which stipulates which incidents need to be reported to FSS.