Chamber and committees

The first phase of a rail decarbonisation scheme to electrify the Fife route (Haymarket to Dalmeny section), is moving to construction.

Work on this estimated £55 million scheme will begin in June 2022 with the section between Haymarket and Dalmeny. It is due for completion by December 2024.

This scheme forms part of a rolling programme that is expected to see electrification extended to Dundee and Aberdeen.

Beyond this, further development work on the business cases for decarbonising the Borders Line has been approved to progress to the next design phase for partial electrification of the route using battery electric multiple units.

This continues the Scottish Government’s rolling programme of railway electrification, with work already in delivery on the East Kilbride and Barrhead routes.

Approval has also been given for a procurement competition to identify a preferred manufacturer and financier for new trains to operate decarbonised rail passenger services on the Fife and Borders routes .

Animals protected under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 are defined as those that are: (a) of a kind which is commonly domesticated in the British Islands; (b) under the control of man on a permanent or temporary basis; or (c) not living in a wild state.

The Scottish Government considers that the sheep on St Kilda, for the purposes of welfare legislation, should be regarded in the same way as an unowned and unmanaged population of wild deer or other wild animals. This position was first communicated in correspondence in February 2020, and was the Scottish Government position prior to that date.

From the outset, the Scottish Government’s decision-making on the COVID-19 vaccination programme has been guided by the expert advice provided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and senior clinicians.

It is presently anticipated that spring boosters will continue to be offered to those currently eligible according to JCVI guidance until 30 June 2022. On 19 May 2022 the JCVI issued interim advice regarding the autumn 2022 COVID-19 boosters.

Prioritising those most at risk has been our approach from the outset. The JCVI interim advice is to offer the autumn 2022 vaccination to the following individuals:

Residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults;

Frontline health and social care workers;

All those 65 years of age and over; and

Adults aged 16 to 65 years in a clinical risk group.

This is based on an ongoing review of all the available evidence including infection rates, hospitalisation, mortality data and evidence of vaccine waning.

There is a clinical referral route available for clinicians to refer anyone who they identify as requiring additional dose(s) of vaccine or a different dosing schedule for clinical reasons (in keeping with eligibility as recommended by JCVI), on a case by-case-basis.

This is interim advice and the JCVI will continue its ongoing review and provide the eligibility criteria for the autumn 2022 booster in the near future and we stand ready to implement any further decisions on eligibility made by the JCVI.

All farmed fish, including cleaner fish, are protected by the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, which places a duty on fish farms to ensure their needs are met. The Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate inspects the legally required veterinary and mortality records held by fish farms. Significant cases of poor welfare observed during inspection are reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

The Farmed Fish Health Framework Steering Group, which includes fish vets, regulators, sector representatives and Scottish Government officials, and which is chaired by the Scottish Government Chief Veterinary Officer, provides the appropriate forum within which future policy relating to the health and welfare of farmed fish will be developed.

Currently, there are no plans to introduce further legislation relating to the use of cleaner fish in Scottish aquaculture.

Action 12 of our Learning/Intellectual Disability and Autism: Towards Transformation Plan committed to explore the establishment of mandatory autism and learning/intellectual disability training for all NHS staff. We will consider how this applies across multi-disciplinary settings and use the evaluation findings from the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training pilot to inform our approach to learning disability and autism training in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop the NES autism training framework as a tool for services and learners, alongside funding a Learning Disability Team at NES to improve the knowledge and skills of the health and social care workforce.

The symptom list on NHS Inform focuses on the early symptoms of sepsis. It highlights the importance of a high or low temperature, which can encompass a wide range of sources of infection that may potentially cause sepsis.

On 27 May 2022, Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s (HIS) Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) issued a statement regarding the Society of Critical Medical Care’s Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) Statement on the initial antimicrobial treatment of sepsis. The statement outlines the SPSP’s revised approach to the identification and management of adults with sepsis.

Furthermore HIS’s Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) are currently reviewing SIGN Guideline 139 – Care of Deteriorating Patients to include an updated section on sepsis addressing Primary and Secondary Care considerations.

The requested information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) has advised the most accurate data source on NHS Scotland waste performance are the annual Public Sector Reports on Compliance with Climate Change Duties which are available for each Health Board. These reports are published on the Sustainable Scotland Network website ( Sustainable Scotland Network - The Sustainable Scotland Network ) and are available from the period 2014-15 to 2020-21.

We have outlined clear actions within the upcoming NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability strategy to manage the risk of environmental harm from our activities, promote good environmental stewardship and reduce the impact of our waste. This includes working to improve data recording of waste collections and reporting against the national waste target of recycling and composting 70% of all Scottish waste by 2025, and sending no more than 5% to landfill.

Sepsis improvement is a well-established part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s (HIS) Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP). The SPSP launched a revised deteriorating patient driver diagram and change package in 2021 which includes sepsis as a core part of recognising and responding to deterioration.

On 27 May 2022, the SPSP issued a statement regarding the Society of Critical Medical Care’s Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) Statement on the initial antimicrobial treatment of sepsis. The statement outlines the SPSP’s revised approach to the identification and management of adults with sepsis.

Furthermore the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) are currently reviewing SIGN Guideline 139 – Care of Deteriorating Patients to include an updated section on sepsis.

Clinical guideline implementation is the responsibility of NHS Boards. The ultimate decision about a particular clinical procedure or treatment will always depend on each individual patient’s condition, circumstances and wishes and the clinical judgement of the healthcare team.

We were pleased to receive the report and recommendations from the National Partnership for Culture, and recognise that the broad themes in the report align with our priorities across Scottish Government. Scottish Government officials are working together across the Health and Culture portfolios to review the Health and Wellbeing recommendations. Our response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations will be published shortly.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00456 on 18 June 2021. 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