Chamber and committees

The Empire, Slavery and Scotland's Museums steering group is finalising its recommendations and we understand these will be published in June 2022, although the final decision on the publication date is for the group to take. The Scottish Government will then consider the recommendations and provide our response.

The recruitment and deployment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable.

We recognise that Police Scotland are undertaking a wide range of actions in response to the increase in officers choosing to retire including the recruitment of 300 new officers each quarter to help return officer numbers to appropriate levels.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and empowering women and girls to reach their full potential through our sustainable and inclusive economic growth ambitions.

In our recently published Best Start, Bright Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26, we committed to building on existing work to remove barriers to employment, taking a strategic and intersectional approach to tackling employment inequalities. We know that the voice of lived experience is vital in developing and implementing policy to tackle poverty, and will continue to work with partners in the delivery of this plan.

To incorporate understanding of women’s experiences, we will be working in partnership with our key stakeholders and partners, as well as key advocacy groups who work directly with parents in the priority families groups outlined within the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. We have committed to establishing a Parental Lived Experience Panel in Summer 2022, to help inform our activity around employability. This will build on the on the success of our existing Lived Experience Panel, which has been invaluable in co-designing No One Left Behind, and aligns with our wider commitments to embedding the Scottish Approach to Service Design in employability. Work is also underway to develop a lifetime skills offer to support individuals and businesses to develop the skills needed now and in the future, and as these proposals are developed, we will link with key expert groups to inform the process.

The Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums steering group is an independent group and the Scottish Government is not, therefore, able to comment on its discussions.

NHS Scotland expenditure on mental health, including children and adolescents, is reported in the Scottish Health Service Costs , published annually by ISD Scotland.

Expenditure in financial years 2016-17 to 2020-21 in NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Dumfries and Galloway, identified as relating to mental health services delivered in hospitals or in the community aimed specifically at children and adolescents, is shown in Table 1. The financial resource allocated to reduce waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is not held by Public Health Scotland.

Table 1:

In 2019, we introduced a uniform approach to recording and monitoring bullying incidents in schools, supported by guidance. All local authorities and schools are expected to be using the new approach.

It is the responsibility of school staff and local authorities to decide how to address bullying in their schools. We expect that all local authorities have an anti-bullying policy that covers all of their schools and each school should develop and implement an anti-bullying policy in line with this. The policy should indicate how incidents will be dealt with and recorded.

Therefore, this information would need to be requested from each local authority directly.

The Scottish Government is aware that changes to officer pensions have resulted in an increase in the numbers currently retiring.

The recruitment of police officers is a matter for the Chief Constable, who is actively managing workforce challenges and is committed to recruiting 300 new officers each quarter to help return officer numbers to appropriate levels. Implementation began in April when a larger than usual intake of approximately 300 probationers joined the service.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on incidents or crimes of animal theft. The data we receive from Police Scotland is a count of the number of crimes and offences recorded by the police, split by local authority, and the number cleared up by the police. The Scottish Government does not receive further details on the characteristics of these crimes. This means we are unable to identify how many reported thefts involved animals being stolen.

Engagement is ongoing with industry, academia and other interested stakeholders in the expansion of NHS Scotland capabilities for genomics. Over the coming months we will be expanding the membership of our Scottish Genomics Leadership Group (SGLG) and relevant work streams to include a wider pool of stakeholders than those currently on the SGLG. This expanded structure will consider the recommendations from the Genetic Major Service Review as well as considerations for further genomics expansion.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) currently provides early information to National Services Division (NSD) on cancer medicines in clinical development that are expected to require a companion diagnostic through regular horizon scanning reports; these are also discussed at regular meetings between the SMC and NSD. To support financial and service planning, the SMC also provides Health Boards – in confidence - with information on medicines that may require a companion diagnostic through regular forward look reports which include emerging new medicines, including Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs).