Chamber and committees

The right to health is a fundamental human right and means the right of everyone to have the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

Menopause care and support is a top priority in the Women’s Health Plan, through which, we are working to improve access to menopause care and treatment for all women in Scotland.

The Women’s Health Plan is underpinned by an intersectional approach which recognises that minority ethnic women and girls can face multiple and often overlapping disadvantages and barriers to accessing good healthcare, including menopause care.

As set out in the Women’s Health Plan, it is important that all health and social care professionals approach people from all cultures with openness and without judgement and are responsive to the individual needs of their patients and community.

Menopause is an important transition in women’s lives, but one that many know little about. It is important that all women are able to make informed choices about their health. The menopause resource on the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform has been translated into five languages, BSL and easy read.

In addition to the work of the Women’s Health Plan, there is a Scottish Government Racialised Health Inequalities in Health & Social Care in Scotland Steering Group developing an action plan to address racism and racialised health inequalities in health and social care.

The working capital loan made available to Ferguson Marine is expected to be used to ensure that Ferguson Marine has the necessary cashflow to make payments in relation to salaries and VAT as required while they await repayment from BAE Systems for services rendered in line with the terms of the contract.

Scottish Government has followed Scottish Public Finance Manual procedure with regards to the interest rate and is satisfied that the loan will be repaid, should the facility be drawn upon. The loan follows standard practice for working capital requests from a public body.

The rate of interest and repayment date are not disclosed due to commercial sensitivity.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15776 answered on 28 March 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 LEZ Retrofit fund has recently closed for new applications in financial year 2022-23.

As we review budgets for 2023-24, we ask that taxi owners who are interested in applying for future funding should register their interest via the Energy Saving Trust website.

Today a document has been laid in Parliament [ref: SG/2023/43] outlining our response to this CCC advice and associated legislation which has been brought forward to adjust our interim statutory target for 2020s for technical reasons.

Scottish Ministers note the CCC advice highlights this is a technical revision - the need for which is anticipated in the Climate Change (Scotland) 2009 Act - and as such does not impact the scale of ambition required to achieve our targets, which from 2030 and beyond remain unchanged.

I will be writing to the Convenor of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee outlining this response to the CCC and the associated legislation that has been brought forward. I will provide a separate response to the CCC’s December progress report.

The independent Scottish Sentencing Council's guideline for sentencing young people took effect from 26 January 2022. The development of a sentencing guideline has 8 stages associated with it. Stage 8 is monitoring and review once a guideline is in force. It is for the Sentencing Council to decide how best to monitor and review the operation of their guidelines. Further information is contained on the Scottish Sentencing Council website. https://www.scottishsentencingcouncil.org.uk/sentencing-guidelines/methodology/stage-8-monitoring-and-review/ .

The Scottish Government plans to consult on extending the animal licensing framework introduced in 2021 to a number of animal care services, including commercial dog walking. We expect to launch a public consultation on our proposals in early summer this year.

The SPCB offers a range of benefits to SPCB staff and similar or identical benefits also underpin the employment relationship between MSPs and their staff.  These benefits include generous annual leave, sick pay and maternity, paternity and adoption pay entitlements which exceed statutory provisions and which are competitive when compared with other public sector employers.  Other benefits include pension schemes with employer contributions, a cycle to work scheme, interest free season ticket loans and discount schemes for selected retailers. 

The roll-out of Webex, the new phone system being used to replace our aging phone system at Holyrood, began for MSPs and their staff in February.  While it is still in the early stages, so far feedback from offices using the new system, has been very positive.  I do appreciate however that a very small number of offices in the initial phase have been rescheduled while a solution which meets their needs can be delivered. 

The First Minister confirmed in the Chamber on Tuesday that the Bute House Agreement will continue. The Scottish Government is committed to working with the Green Party in the coming years to continue to focus on delivering our net zero targets and protecting the people of Scotland from the harm inflicted by the cost of living crisis.