Chamber and committees

We are working closely with NatureScot and Scottish Forestry in exploring the best approach to develop a new National Register of Ancient Woodlands. A new National Register of Ancient Woodlands is part of a suite of initiatives that will be underpinned by a new biodiversity strategy which will be published in Autumn 2022.

The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to develop an online platform for members of the public to access information on the average waiting times for a range of treatments within their health board area. We expect the platform to be available this summer.

Patients will continue to receive communication from their Health Boards when they are added to a waiting list which will provide details of their point of contact for updated wait times should they be unable to access the online platform.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the north and east of Scotland, including improving the A96 corridor and will take forward an enhancements programme that improves connectivity between surrounding towns, tackles congestion and addresses safety and environmental issues.

The current plan is to fully dual the A96 route between Inverness and Aberdeen, however the Scottish Government has agreed to conduct a transparent, evidence-based review of the programme which is already underway and will report by the end of 2022. Effective stakeholder and public engagement is an essential part of the review and an initial public consultation survey was launched on 12 May 2022.

The A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme, which runs from Inverness to Hardmuir, is separate from the wider A96 corridor review process which is currently being undertaken and we continue to progress the preparation stages of the scheme with a view to completing the statutory process.

Delivery of the scheme can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory procedures and thereafter a timetable for progress can be set in line with available budgets.

As referred to in response to S6W-08593 on 1 July 2022, 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.

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

In 2019, there were 191 unexplained deaths. In 2020, there were 202 unexplained deaths.

This information is published annually in the Vital Events Reference Tables published by National Records of Scotland. Data for 2019 and 2020 can be found in table 6.01 here: Vital Events Reference Tables 2020 | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk)

Please refer to the cause of death category "R96-R99 - Other ill-defined and unknown causes".

Data for 2021 is not yet published. The Vital Events Reference Tables for 2021 are due to be published in June and will be available on the NRS website.

To date, Scottish Ministers have delegated regional marine planning powers to three Marine Planning Partnerships, which are required by the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 to include in their governance arrangements representatives with an interest in; the protection and enhancement of the region, its use for recreation and its use for commercial purposes.

The Scottish Government will shortly publish its response to the inquiry of the Scottish Parliament’s former Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee into the development and implementation of regional marine plans in Scotland. This response will include recommendations to support partnerships to identify opportunities to improve community representation in regional marine planning and marine licensing decisions.

Following receipt of the reprimand letter, the Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland immediately began addressing the recommendations set out by the ICO. Action was taken against every recommendation and the Permanent Secretary wrote to the ICO on behalf of both organisations on 28 March, inviting the ICO to review the improvements made.

The ICO Director of Regulatory Assurance has now concluded that no further investigation or action from the ICO is required following the ICO investigation of the NHS Scotland Covid Status app and the resultant actions taken by the Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with the ICO to ensure we uphold information rights and data privacy of individuals.

NHS Borders, Fife, Forth Valley, Highland, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside have all been receiving enhanced support to meet the waiting times standard and eliminate long waits by end March 2023.

We will shortly be writing out to all Boards to inform them about our programme of support for the next 6-12 months, including those which will be offered additional support.

From our £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal fund, we have allocated around £40 million to NHS Boards to improve CAMHS. £4.25m of that allocation is directly focussed on offering treatment to those already on their CAMHS waiting lists.

We have also provided an additional £9m to NHS Boards in 2021/22 to address waiting lists for Psychological Therapies with further investment being planned for 2022-23.

There is currently no formal plan to review the labelling requirements within the Honey Regulations (Scotland) 2015. However, as the body with policy responsibility for these regulations, Food Standards Scotland continues to monitor the effectiveness and suitability of the legislation through communication with its stakeholders, such as Local Authorities, businesses and consumers, as well as discussions with other Scottish and UK Government departments.

It should be noted that FSS and the wider Scottish Government have a responsibility to conduct a formal post-implementation review within 10 years of the respective regulations coming into force. With regard to the Honey Regulations this is due to be factored into business planning at a point up to and including 2025.

While there is no evidence that any honey on sale in Scotland or in the UK is unsafe, it is a product that is frequently described as being at risk of fraud.

The volume of blended product required for the honey market and the availability of plausible adulterants (such as sugar syrup), in addition to the price premium associated with higher value honey products, mean that it is a realistic possibility that adulterated or misrepresented honey is present within world honey supplies.

Consumers or businesses who have concerns or suspicions around the authenticity and/or the mis-labelling of honey can report the circumstances to the Scottish Food Crime Hotline in partnership with Crimestoppers at 0800 028 7926, which is a free and anonymous service. They can also speak directly to trained staff at the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit at Food Standards Scotland to discuss their concerns in the strictest of confidence via the [email protected].

The Scottish Government welcomes Coeliac Awareness Week and remains committed to enhancing diagnosis and care for people with coeliac disease in Scotland.

We have developed a new Scottish Coeliac Disease Pathway (2020) in partnership with people living with the condition, the charity Coeliac UK and clinicians. This has been shown to accelerate correct diagnosis and access to appropriate treatment (gluten-free diet and lifestyle) as detailed in the Coeliac Disease Pathway Report . It is our expectation that all Health Boards will fully implement this pathway in order to improve services and ensure that, with dietetic person-centred support, people with coeliac disease take control of their condition and manage its impact on their health and quality of life.

We have also invested £70 million in support of our Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan . This includes a commitment to promote and implement guidelines for non-biopsy diagnosis for coeliac disease, which is expected to reduce waiting times for diagnosis for this condition.

The new pathway embeds the successful Scottish Gluten-free Food Service, which is unique in the UK. The service provides gluten-free food prescriptions and also annual coeliac disease health checks via community pharmacy. Annual coeliac disease health checks have re-commenced now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted. They provide pharmacy, general practice and patients with an efficient and safe means of referral back to coeliac services for dietetic and clinical advice as required.

Primary care teams are further supported through information resources on NHS Inform which have been co-produced by people with coeliac disease, clinicians and Coeliac UK.