Chamber and committees

During the time of the offer passengers could purchase tickets via a dedicated telephone line as well as the ScotRail website and app, and ScotRail staff were briefed to ensure they could assist passengers wanting to access the offer.

Online offers such as the recent one, enable ScotRail to undertake detailed analysis, which, if successful, can be rolled out on a wider basis. It is right and prudent that such offers not only give passengers discounts, but that as far as possible they offer value for the public sector particularly in the current financial challenges.

There were no substantive changes made to the draft of the Temporary Measures Agreement (TMA) shared with Serco Caledonian Sleepers Limited (‘Serco’) on 25 February 2022.

The changes amounted to the correction of one typographical error, and the inclusion of a minor drafting clarification.

Local authorities across Scotland have a range of approaches to the provision of technology in schools, including some councils who have undertaken to provide cohorts of their school population with devices using their own budgets.

The latest information we have from councils indicates that almost 280,000 devices have been, or are in the process of being, rolled out to learners across Scotland. This includes the 72,000 provided as a result of Scottish Government funding. We do not have additional information regarding device rollout in either South Ayrshire or East Ayrshire beyond that included in the answer to S6W-06933.

In the period between 2012 and 2021 there have been 72,683 hernia mesh repairs. Rectopexy mesh analysis is not currently produced. Public Health Scotland are in the process of developing the correct codes to use for future analysis.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on whether, and if so how, to introduce mandatory calorie labelling in the Out Of Home Sector in Scotland. The consultation closes on 1 July and can be found at: https://consult.gov.scot/population-health/mandatory-calorie-labelling/ .

The consultation encourages those who may find calorie information upsetting – for example, people with disordered eating, eating disorders, distress around eating, or people with a higher weight – to comment on the proposals.

Responses to the consultation will help inform the further development of policy proposals as well as impact assessments. We are aware of concerns expressed by those affected by eating disorders and are taking those seriously as part of the impact assessment process. Officials engage regularly with Beat, the leading charity for those with an eating disorder, to ensure that we fully understand the nature of its concerns and to share any supporting evidence where available.

In addition, officials, in collaboration with Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland colleagues, are conducting a Health Inequalities Impact Assessment. This includes, among other things, direct engagement with those who have clinical expertise in relation to eating disorders as well as weight stigma experts.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08695 on 7 June 2022. 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 .

Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution.

This model will aim to reduce stigma and criminalisation experienced by women and encourage better access to services.

There are several considerations which must be made in designing the model, including ensuring its alignment to the Equally Safe Strategy and our unique legal landscape in Scotland. The model must operate effectively not only to hold those who buy sex to account, but to deter them from purchasing sex. Any changes proposed to the current criminal law would require legislation to be brought before Parliament in the normal way in due course.

The criminal law is only one aspect of the model and it is vital that a package of measures is developed in parallel to underpin any changes which are brought forward.

Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution.

The Scottish Government funds a range of services aimed to address commercial sexual exploitation and to support those who may be exploited through it. This includes over £400,000 through the Delivering Equally Safe Fund to projects tackling commercial sexual exploitation. Sacro’s Another Way works to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of women affected by commercial sexual exploitation. The Women’s Support Project supports the Scottish Government and Equally Safe partners to tackle commercial sexual exploitation.

In addition, through our Victim Centred Approach Fund, we are providing the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance with £622,000 this year to support women trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 gives police and prosecutors greater powers to detect and bring to justice those responsible for trafficking as well as strengthening protections for survivors.

Police Scotland actively investigate any reports concerning human trafficking and exploitation, and continue to work closely with partners across the UK and beyond to share intelligence and coordinate work to tackle human trafficking.

Under our super sponsor scheme, displaced people from Ukraine are accommodated safely in temporary accommodation until disclosure and property checks have been completed.

The safeguarding checks which are carried out interrogate both national and local systems, and have been designed to maximise opportunities to identify and remove host applicants who may be considered to have ulterior motives.

The Scottish Government has also published Public Protection guidance to support all operational partners involved in safeguarding, this will help identify and respond to risk and need for all people fleeing Ukraine arriving in Scotland.

The guidance was developed with stakeholders and takes into account the needs of women and girls.

The final formal meeting of the short life working group was held on 19 April 2022. The insights from the group and it’s reference group are being taken into account in the drafting of the fundamental principles, with further targeted stakeholder engagement planned prior to their finalisation, including further discussion with the short life working group planned for later this month. The principles will be published later this year.

We want disabled people in Scotland to have choice, dignity and freedom to access suitable homes, built or adapted to enable them to participate as full and equal citizens.

Our Housing to 2040 strategy sets out a vision for housing in Scotland to 2040. This includes housing for disabled people.

We are working to increase the supply of accessible and adapted homes. Whenever possible, all new affordable homes are designed to be flexible so that they meet people’s needs as they change over time. We are also delivering a programme to retrofit homes in the social rented sector to make them more accessible.

We know that there are issues with the way in which adaptations are being accessed and delivered locally, so we are considering how the process can be streamlined and made easier for people who need adaptations.

In our consultation on a draft rented sector strategy ‘A New Deal for Tenants’ we sought views on how we can further protect and strengthen the rights for people living in the rented sector in Scotland and improve accessibility, affordability choices and standards across the whole rented sector in Scotland. We worked with Disability Equality Scotland (DES) to help increase accessibility to the consultation. The results of the consultation are currently being analysed and will inform future policy development.

We are also reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide to help provide homes that are easy for all to access and navigate, and to improve their flexibility to adapt to meet changing health needs. We have engaged with Disability Equality Scotland regarding the upcoming consultation on the Housing for Varying Needs review and plan to work with them to gather feedback on the proposed updates.