Chamber and committees

Following treatment for breast cancer, women are followed up by the symptomatic breast service annually, commonly for at least 5 years. After that, women who are aged between 50 and 70 years are invited to attend the Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) every 3 years. Women who are aged 71 years or over following discharge from symptomatic breast cancer treatment and follow up appointments can ordinarily self-refer to the SBSP once every 3 years; however, self-referrals for women in this age-group are currently suspended due to capacity challenges in the programme associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of women who had breast cancer and self-referred into the SBSP following treatment is not routinely collected or reported, and therefore the Scottish government cannot provide this information.

The scope of legal aid will be considered as part of the development of a Bill, and I refer to my response to S6W-04609 on 8 December 2021 which provides information on the Scottish Government’s plans to reform legal aid. The Scottish Government has previously committed, in its response to the Independent Review on Legal Aid by Martyn Evan, that legal aid will continue to be available for a wide range of cases and proceedings.

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

The Scottish Government was pleased to work with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and partners to deliver the Glasgow Climate Dialogues, and its communique which set out recommendations for COP26 from four thematic dialogues.

The Scottish Government has already advanced communique recommendations for our climate justice work, including our announcements on funding to address loss and damage, and – following the evaluation of the Climate Justice Fund - by committing to ensure communities themselves are central in future project design. The final Glasgow Climate Dialogues meeting, to take place in January, will discuss post-COP26 actions.

There is no system of coroners' inquests in Scotland unlike England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The responsibility for the investigation of any death that requires further explanation rests with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Any sudden, suspicious, unexpected or unexplained death and any death which has occurred in circumstances which give rise to public concern, can result in a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) a public examination of the circumstances of that death conducted before a sheriff.

Legal aid is available for relatives participating in an FAI on the same basis as for civil proceedings and the same statutory tests must be met.

Civil legal aid has generous financial eligibility thresholds and those who are entitled to participate in an FAI, such as family, are assumed to have probable cause. In terms of assessing ‘reasonableness’ the Scottish Legal Aid Board expects that the Procurator Fiscal will usually be able to represent the interests of the relatives. However, where a relative of a person who died in prison or police custody applies, SLAB will look favourably on the application.

SLAB holds data in respect of applications from 2012 only. In respect of FAIs I can confirm that since 2012 there has been a total of 134 applications received, of which 111 were granted. That is a grant rate of approximately 83%.

In the financial year 2012-13 90% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2013-14 78% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2014-15 71% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2015-16 93% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2016-17 88% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2017-18 87% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2018-19 79% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2019-20 81% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2020-21 86% of applications received were granted.

Legal aid is currently available to meet the costs of mediation where appropriate. Again, interaction between mediation and legal aid is a matter that will be considered a part of development of a Bill and I refer to my response to
‎ S6W-04609 on 8 December 2021. In the meantime, the Scottish Government is actively working with stakeholders to expand the availability of mediation and arbitration services within the civil justice system to give our citizens, businesses and organisations access to flexible, affordable and less stressful means of settling disputes, benefitting them and saving time in courts.

The Scottish Government is making available £2.332 million to the Scottish Legal Aid Board in 2021-22 to support projects offering in court expert advice and representation to help people tackle and resolve a wide range of problems including debt, housing, homelessness and small claims court actions.

The Scottish Government is also making available £100k to Scottish Mediation and £115k to the Scottish Arbitration Centre in 2021-22 to promote and expand the provision of Mediation and Arbitration services in Scotland.

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

Substance misuse services (often catering for drugs and alcohol misuse) are accessible either by open access or through GP referral to these services for review and support. These vary across Health boards with regards to support and resource available and mode of initial access.

This information is not held centrally.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

As was the case for the disposal of the former HMP Peterhead site, SPS will dispose of the site at HMP Barlinnie in accordance with Scottish Government policy which is set out in guidance within the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Thereafter, it will be for any potential purchaser to determine the future use of the site in conjunction with the relevant Planning Authority.

Local Authorities are responsible and are indeed best placed to make decisions regarding waste services and each authority chooses a collection and management strategy suitable for them.

However, we recognise that Covid-19 has impacted the amount of waste created in Scotland, and disposable face coverings contribute to this as they cannot be recycled. Therefore, Scottish Government’s Coronavirus (COVID-19): public use of face coverings guidance includes information on the appropriate disposal of face coverings and information encouraging the use of reusable face coverings. Disposable face coverings should be disposed of in residual (black bag) waste or litter bins.

Additionally, Zero Waste Scotland launched their communication campaign on 2 December, Face It: Reuse Beats Single Use , to encourage the public to wear reusable face coverings. The campaign includes further information on disposal of face coverings and has a communications toolkit for stakeholders to download and use.

As we committed to in Housing to 2040, the Scottish Government will shortly be publishing a consultation on a draft rented sector strategy. Our strategy will seek to improve accessibility, affordability and standards across the whole rented sector in Scotland. The draft strategy will also set out how we will deliver a new deal for tenants – giving them more secure, stable, affordable tenancies with improved standards of accommodation, new controls on rent and more flexibility to personalise homes.

We aim is to publish a first draft of the strategy, for a full 12 week public consultation, by the end of this calendar year and to publish a final version of the strategy in the second half of 2022. Any legislative aspects identified will be included in a housing bill in this term of parliament and other legislation, as appropriate.

Our vision is for people to have equality of outcomes no matter what tenure they live in and we recognise that greater flexibility to keep pets is important for wellbeing, and for being able to consider a tenancy a settled home. That is why it is a commitment in the Shared Policy Programme, and we will set out more detail in the draft strategy when it is published for consultation.