Chamber and committees

The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed by an overwhelming majority of the Scottish Parliament, with support from members of all parties. The UK Government's use of section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to prevent the Bill proceeding to Royal Assent represents an unprecedented challenge to the Scottish Parliament's ability to legislate on devolved matters.

The Scottish Government has provided detailed responses to questions from the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee in a letter of 5 February, is now considering the reasons given by the UK Government for its use of the section 35 power, and will update Parliament on next steps in due course.

We note the Committee has expressed disappointment that the Secretary of State for Scotland made little attempt to answer directly any of the questions it raised.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) along with partners in the UK Clinical Research Recovery, Resilience and Growth programme considers it important that clinical trial populations reflect the populations that could benefit from the treatments as closely as possible. For this reason, a theme of this programme is the widening of opportunities for people to participate in clinical research. CSO is working with partners on the UK-wide Be Part of Research initiative and invests in the Scottish Health Research Register and Biobank (SHARE) with this aim. CSO is also funding a research project looking at ways to support ethnic diversity in clinical trials populations.  

The Statutory Guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund sets out the responsibilities for Local Authorities in their administration of the Fund, including promotion and raising awareness across all potentially eligible individuals. This includes providing information on the Fund and making clear guidance available on how to apply for a grant. Local Authorities are also required to ensure that other services which have contact with people in crisis have up to date information about the Fund, including promotional posters and leaflets.

As recently indicated by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government in correspondence to the Committee for Social Justice and Social Security, the Independent Review of the Scottish Welfare Fund is due to publish soon and will inform next steps across a range of areas, including accessibility and promotion.

We know that endometriosis can have a significant impact on people’s lives, and that support for those with the condition is required while we work to improve waiting times.  

To ensure those with endometriosis are receiving consistent and appropriate care we will help support The Modernising Patient Pathways Programme (MPPP) to implement the new Integrated Endometriosis Referral Care Pathway for NHS Scotland, which has now been approved and will be circulated to all NHS Scotland health boards this year.  

We have invested in research into endometriosis, which is vital to help us achieve better care for those with the condition. We are jointly funding a £250,000 endometriosis research project with Wellbeing of Women and the recipient of the grant will be announced later in March. The research aims to develop improvements into treatment and management options for the condition.  

To ensure that people with endometriosis have access to the most accurate and relevant information and links to further support, we updated the NHS Inform endometriosis page. This includes videos to support those with the condition and to provide information about symptoms and treatment options available.  

The supply of medicines is a reserved matter for the UK Government. Scottish Government officials are regularly updated on any supply disruptions which may arise and will provide advice to the NHS in Scotland on options to address any shortages.      

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.

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.  

Taking all 32 authorities into account, there is no median or average loss at 80% performance. In both situations, a saving has been projected. This is further increased when the scheme achieves it 90% target.

The Scottish Government does not hold the date range of local authority input data however; 27 Local Authorities used their own data to complete the modelling and 4 used national waste composition data based on their recycling performance at the time of modelling.  

The Best Start North review was commissioned jointly by NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney and NHS Western Isles. NHS Tayside now also participates in this work. The Best Start North review was commissioned jointly by the original five participating NHS Boards and is led by those NHS Boards. The Scottish Government understands that the primary focus of this work is collaboration towards continuous improvement of services in the North, support for the effective implementation of the recommendations in The Best Start and to work together on midwifery workforce and education. This work sits within the existing regional planning partnership, under the sponsorship of NHS Board Chief Executives, and was both established and operates at the regional level. You may therefore wish to direct specific queries regarding the work of the Best Start North group to the Nurse Director at NHS Shetland and Chair of the Best Start North group and the Director of Midwifery at NHS Highland.

The producer registration remains open for producers to register ( https://circularityscotland.com/producers/registration/ ).

Any producers who have not yet registered are encouraged to do so and can upload product details as part of the registration process.

Producers who have already completed the registration process will be able to add or amend product details using a self-service portal which will be available late Spring, well in advance of the scheme start date. This portal will remain open to allow producers to amend product details going forward.