Chamber and committees

Following careful consideration of the Reporter’s findings, conclusions and recommendations, I have determined that the Orders for the A9 Dualling Killiecrankie to Glen Garry scheme should be made. A decision letter in relation to the Orders is being issued today to all those who made representations to the draft Orders. I want to thank everyone who did so and give an assurance that those representations have been carefully considered.

This significant decision now clears the way for publication of the Made Orders for this scheme. Subject to there being no challenge to Made Orders, we will then be in a position to complete the statutory process for the scheme and acquire land required to build it.

This significant milestone for our ambitious programme to dual the A9 between Perth and Inverness means that 92% of the programme now has Ministerial decisions to make Orders and complete the statutory process.

Road users on the A9 are already benefitting from the dualled stretches between Kincraig and Dalraddy and Luncarty and Pass of Birnam, which opened in September 2017 and August 2021, respectively. Procurement for award of the construction contract for the section between Tomatin and Moy, which will be subject to our normal tender evaluation and business case approval processes, is underway. I expect to be able to update Parliament shortly on the progress of this section.

When completed the A9 Dualling programme will bring many benefits to local communities, businesses, visitors and road users living, travelling and working along the corridor including reduced journey times, improved journey time reliability, improved road safety and opportunities for active travel.

Today the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has issued a Caution in Use Notice alert, reporting that a number of injectable naloxone kits have been supplied across the UK, including Scotland, which may have missing needles.

The product, Prenoxad ® , is an injectable form of naloxone. A pack normally contains two needles. The problem emerged when it was reported that a very limited number of Prenoxad ® packs in a batch marketed in France were missing needles. This was the case in three packs out of a batch of 9,000.

Although I have received no reports of UK packs with missing needles to date, the potential for packs to contain fewer than two needles in all distributed batches cannot be ruled out. We do know, however, that kits from batches that could potentially be affected have been distributed in Scotland and we are therefore advising people to check their kits and to replace any that are incomplete.

In response to the Caution in Use Notice, the Scottish Government has taken immediate action to advise healthcare professionals on how to identify and replace kits which may have been supplied without needles.

In addition, we have issued guidance on this to third sector partners who have been distributing kits to individuals. We are also working with stakeholders to produce clear, illustrated guidance on how people can check their kits, for third sector partners and others to share with people who carry their own naloxone kits.

I am acting quickly to ensure that kits are complete, because the wide supply and carriage of naloxone is a key part of our National Mission to improve and save lives. Naloxone remains a safe medication to use in response to a life-threatening overdose and I am determined that this potential defect should not disrupt its use in Scotland or reduce public confidence in the naloxone programme.

The member can find details on the progress of the High Level Masonry inspections and the reopening of sites on the Historic Environment Scotland website at – https://www.historicenvironment.scot/conservation-works-happening-at-our-sites/

Historic Environment continues to review the budgetary requirements as the inspections programme delivers its findings, considering both capacity needed as well as funding. Against a challenging financial backdrop, the Scottish Government will continue to support Historic Environment Scotland to maintain Scotland’s heritage and historic environment, and I will continue to engage regularly with Historic Environment Scotland to discuss the closures and restrictions.

Each local authority was awarded an allocation of funds, to be used in the last financial year, ending 31 March 2022. Where it has not been possible to spend this in full, local authorities can continue to use their allocation in 2022-23 until fully spent.

Existing funding has not been exhausted and there are no plans to provide additional funding at present. However our emergency budget review, published on 2 November 2022, has outlined significant funds to help those most affected by the cost of living crisis. The Scottish Government will continue to do everything within our resources and powers to help those most affected by the cost of living crisis.

We have approached local authorities seeking data covering quarters one and two of the current financial year, or confirmation that the fund has been used in full and is now closed. This information is currently being quality assured before it is published on the Scottish Government website.

Local authorities, as both the statutory housing and planning authority, are responsible for assessing housing requirements.

The Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) process seeks to use the best available data to reach robust and credible outputs.

The HNDA Tool which forms part of the assessment enables the use of quality assured recognised national datasets. The HNDA tool also provides flexibility to incorporate a variety of types of housing need where there is robust local information and evidenced policy drivers.

Any decision by a local authority to use local information should weigh the value of the data with sourcing, cleaning and inputting the data into the HNDA process bearing in mind HNDAs aim to provide a broad range of housing estimates rather than a single precision, or actual, housing estimate. The methodology used by local authorities should be included in the HNDAs allowing for transparency.

Consideration for temporary releases will be undertaken by a multi-disciplinary Risk Management Team consisting of appropriate officials from SPS, Justice Social Work and key stakeholders. Temporary release and home leave form part of a phased reintegration programme which provides an opportunity to work towards safe re-integration, using a robustly risk assessed process, involving multiple key stakeholders.

Decisions as to whether or not to recommend a life sentenced prisoner for temporary release are informed by a range of assessments, including risk of serious harm assessments, where required. The risk of serious harm assessment examines the risk of serious harm that the individual would present in the community. It does not, in itself, recommend whether they should be released.

Decisions as to whether to release a life sentenced prisoner on parole are a matter for the independent Parole Board for Scotland. The Parole Board may take into account any matter which it considers to be relevant in their decision making process.

The Scottish Government is refreshing the non-statutory guidance for Local Child Poverty Action Reports (LCPARs) to support local authorities and health boards to deliver focused reporting on their actions to support priority families. CRER and other stakeholders representing priority families have been consulted in drafting the guidance. This is part of our work with stakeholders to strengthen targeted action for priority groups. We welcome the opportunity to work with CRER to enable a greater focus on BME families in our national and local practice and reporting.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with other national partners, review LCPARs and engage with local authorities and health boards, offering feedback and sharing learning across areas. This process provides a further opportunity to support local focus on the six priority family groups.

The non-statutory guidance also highlights that the intersectional approach needed to support priority families is best served by person-centred, holistic action. We will continue to support local leads to engage directly with priority families in their areas who have direct experience of poverty to understand, design and deliver the tailored support needed.

This government welcomes CRER’s assessment of Local Child Poverty Action Reports (LCPARs) which recognises the vital role which local authorities, health boards and local partners play in our national mission to tackle child poverty.

Tackling child poverty is a national mission for this government and our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ focuses on the six priority family types at highest risk of poverty, including minority ethnic families. We know we cannot tackle child poverty without a clear focus on supporting priority families, including minority ethnic families, to increase their income from employment and benefits, and reduce their living costs.

We are refreshing our non-statutory guidance for LCPARs to support local authorities and health boards to deliver focused reporting on their actions to support priority families. CRER and other stakeholders representing priority families have been consulted in drafting the guidance.

This is part of our wider programme of work supporting local action to tackle child poverty. Through our partnership with the Improvement Service and the peer support network for child poverty leads from each Local Authority and Health Board we will continue to encourage and support local action to tackle child poverty amongst priority groups.

We expect clinicians to adhere to current guidelines from authoritative sources such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The NICE quality statement on surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma, published in 2017, states that adults with cirrhosis should be offered six monthly surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma. The European Association for the Study of the Liver published updated recommendations in the Journal of Hepatology in 2020.