Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomes the recommendations made in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland’s (HMICS) Assurance Review of Police Scotland Strategic Workforce Planning. I look forward to discussing the recommendations with both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

The recruitment and deployment of police officers and staff in Scotland is a matter for the Chief Constable, who along with the Scottish Police Authority, will continue to ensure the capability and capacity of Police Scotland to improve and maintain the safety and wellbeing of people, places and communities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to ban disposable barbeques.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are clear to encourage anyone using one to act responsibly both when using and disposing of the barbeques in line with their #safersummer campaign.

Across the devolved benefits, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring we minimise as far as possible any burden on clients, and to ensuring we put in place the appropriate mechanisms to maximise uptake.

We have already automated several payments. Child Winter Heating Assistance is paid automatically based on entitlement to the qualifying benefits, and Carer’s Allowance Supplement payments are made automatically to carers living in Scotland and getting Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Additionally, by the end of the year, we will award Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment automatically to eligible families in receipt of Scottish Child Payment, without the need to apply.

We continue to explore further opportunities to automate social security payments.

The Scottish Government has issued guidance to Health Boards setting out our expectation that Ukrainian refugees in Scotland will have access to all primary health care services along with vaccinations including those for COVID-19.

Any form of human trafficking is completely unacceptable.

Action Area 2 of the Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy is led by Police Scotland’s National Human Trafficking Unit and membership includes a range of law enforcement partners, including the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. The group is focused on the identification of human trafficking and exploitation perpetrators with the intention of disrupting their criminal activity. Key areas of focus include the development of local, national and international intelligence sharing and utilising all available powers at the disposal of prosecuting authorities to bring offenders to justice.

This includes the National Human Trafficking Unit within Police Scotland enhancing its investigative capability and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service maintaining its internal structure of local lead human trafficking prosecutors as well as reviewing and updating training for prosecutors and case preparers.

Decisions in relation to prosecution are taken independent of Government by the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, in line with the published Prosecution Code. The guilt of accused persons is determined by a Sheriff or Jury having heard and considered all of the evidence in each case. Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court.

We know that alcohol misuse and obesity are the two main risk factors (together with blood borne viruses) that cause liver disease.

Research by the British Liver Trust shows that alcohol-related liver disease accounts for 60% of all liver disease. The latest alcohol-specific deaths statistics published by National Records of Scotland in August 2022 show that in 2021 alcoholic liver disease caused 795 deaths which is an increase of 36 compared to the previous year.

Living with obesity or being overweight is also linked with an increased risk of developing a non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease (NAFLD). According to the 2019 Scottish Health Survey , two-thirds of adults in Scotland were living with obesity or being overweight. Obesity prevalence in Scotland has remained relatively stable since 2008.

The Scottish Government has not carried out a specific assessment of the impact of either alcohol misuse or obesity on liver disease mortality rates in the West of Scotland.

However, we are determined to address Scotland’s problematic relationship with alcohol and unhealthy diet. We are in the process of reviewing the Minimum Unit Price and Alcohol Brief Interventions policies with an intention to consult on a range of potential alcohol marketing restrictions as we continue to implement the 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan .

Delivering on our 2021 Programme for Government commitment, the Scottish Government consulted on proposals for legal services regulation reform. An independent consultation analysis report was published in July 2022.

The report highlighted that all respondents, regardless of affiliation, shared as a common aspiration, the need for any future model to be transparent, open to public scrutiny and efficient to ensure that justice remains accessible to all.

The Scottish Government will respond to the consultation analysis report later this year. We continue to engage with stakeholders to collaboratively consider reform of the regulation of legal services, to provide for a modern regulatory framework for Scotland that will best promote competition, innovation and the public and consumer interest in an efficient and independent legal sector.

From 29 August 2022, eligible groups of women over the age of 71 will be able to register for self-referral appointments by contacting their local breast screening service.

Invitations will begin issuing to the eligible groups from 26 September, with appointments commencing from 24 October.

At this stage, the eligible groups being prioritised for self-referrals are women aged 71 to 74 (+364 days), and women over 75 with a history of breast cancer who have completed their hospital follow up. This phased approach allows self-referrals to restart in a way we hope will not unduly impact on waiting times for women aged‎ 50-70 for whom screening is recommended.

The impact of the restart on programme capacity and wait times will be monitored closely. At the same time, the programme will continue to look for opportunities to increase the number of available appointments.

The public health response to the current monkeypox outbreak in Scotland is being led by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and delivered in partnership with local NHS Health Protection Teams (HPTs) in each of the NHS Boards of Scotland. PHS has established a national Incident Management Team (IMT) who meet weekly and whose membership includes representation from experts in clinical infectious disease, sexual heath, infection prevention and control, health promotion, immunisation and health protection.

The response is on a four nations approach and PHS work closely with the other UK public health agencies.

Monkeypox is a notifiable disease under the provisions of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 and as such, all medical staff across Scotland report any suspected or confirmed cases to their HPTs. PHS undertake epidemiological analysis on the data gathered to better understand: who is affected; trends over time; and any risk factors; in order to plan measures to limit onward transmission. Case numbers are published regularly on the PHS website and PHS also contribute to a more in-depth analysis at a UK level.

PHS has produced guidance and resources throughout the response to provide evidence based advice on steps for HPTs and others to take to limit transmission of monkeypox. The core guidance for HPTs sets out the public health actions in relation to contact tracing, follow-up of cases and contacts, post-exposure vaccination and other approaches. These actions are undertaken by HPTs and aim to interrupt any onward transmission once a case is identified, or limit the health impact of any subsequent transmission. This guidance is supplemented by resources such as infection prevention guidance for healthcare settings, produced by Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection Scotland (ARHAI) and leaflets including advice for people with monkeypox.

PHS is also working with SG and NHS Boards to undertake the rollout of vaccination for those considered to be at highest risk of contracting monkeypox. More details on the vaccination Programme are available on NHS Inform.

Relevant public information is kept up to date on NHS Inform including advice on: monkeypox symptoms, transmission and treatment; and monkeypox and safer sex. In addition the Scottish Government has recently funded further targeted health promotion messages which is collaborative work between experts in sexual health, PHS and third sector partners.

The Breastfeeding etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 has shaped our policies to raise awareness of and protect the rights of parents to feed their babies in public. Scotland is the only country in the UK to introduce legislation which specifically protects breastfeeding. It has enabled a more robust response to negative attitudes as we work to normalise breastfeeding.

The Scottish Government carried out a Maternal and infant nutrition survey in 2017 and asked questions on experiences of feeding babies outwith the home. Of those who responded, one in ten felt uncomfortable breastfeeding in public.

We used this evidence to launch the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Scheme in 2019, where private businesses and public organisations can sign up to offer a supportive environment for babies to be breastfed. This scheme makes clear it is illegal to prevent someone breastfeeding a child in public in Scotland.

We also restated the importance of the protection offered by this legislation in the 2019 Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland report.

Breastfeeding rates in Scotland have continued to increase year on year, with more than half of all babies (55%) being breastfeed at 10-14 days of age.