Chamber and committees

The following electric vehicle charging points have been installed at Core Scottish Government buildings or premises in each of the last four financial years, including 2021-22 to date

2018-2019

Dumfries

2 x wall mounted smart sockets

Thurso

2 x wall mounted smart sockets

Bonnington, Edinburgh

8 x wall mounted smart sockets

Saughton House, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual charging post

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual charging post

2019-2020

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

6 x 7kW dual outlet

1 x 50kW triple outlet

1 x 22kW dual outlet

Saughton House, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual outlet

4 x 7kW dual outlet

Marine Lab, Aberdeen

4 x 7kW dual outlet

2 x 22kW dual outlet

Faskally

1 x 7kW dual outlet

Cameron House, Oban

2 x 7kW dual outlet

1 x 22W dual outlet

Longman House, Inverness

2 x 22W dual outlet

Atlantic Quay, Galsgow

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

Tankerness, Orkney

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

Stornoway

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

2020-21

Projects delayed due to Covid.

2021-2022

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

1 x 22kw dual outlet

Saughton House, Edinburgh

2 x 22kw dual outlet

Respiratory policy falls under my portfolio remit. I met with representatives from Asthma UK-British Lung Foundation on 10 June 2021.

Asthma UK-British Lung Foundation had a stall in Parliament to raise awareness of COPD and mark World COPD Day which was on 17 November 2021. The Cabinet Secretary and I met with representatives at their stall on Thursday 18 November 2021.

David MacBrayne Ltd is a Relevant Authority under the Islands Act. It is for individual bodies to consider their responsibilities under the Act when carrying out their activities.

CalMac Ferries ltd is not listed as a Relevant Authority in the Act, and is therefore not subject to the same duties under the Act.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04721 on 8 December 2021. 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 .

Information on the number of people diagnosed with malnutrition and associated conditions is not held centrally.

GP practice records show lists of acute and repeat prescribed medication lists during consultations with quantities of medication prescribed. Over ordering of repeat medication (or repeated consultations for acute prescriptions) are therefore visible on the acute and repeat prescribing sections of the medical records. It is therefore possible to add minimum days before reordering of monthly repeat medications to help prevent medication being ordered early or alert future prescribers to the potential for suspected addiction. ‘Special notes’ can be added or alerts to the patient record in daytime practice to inform prescribers of previous medication seeking behaviour or suspected addiction to pain medication. This information can be added to the patients ‘Special notes’ to be visible to Out of Hours services. Scottish Government is developing tools to accurately display prescribing habits to clinicians during consultations in order to help identify medication (including analgesic) over/under use.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that legal assistance continues to be available to all those facing legal concerns. In our Programme for Government we committed to engage with the legal professionals and other stakeholders to review the Legal Aid system, and to introduce a Legal Aid Reform Bill in this Parliament, to deliver a system that is flexible, easy to access and that meets the needs of those who use it.

The Scottish Government consulted on legal aid reform in 2019 and has stated its willingness to take forward supported recommendations that will deliver an enhanced system of legal aid across Scotland and reiterated its commitment to retaining a demand led Fund to support a wide scope of actions. Particular consideration will be given, during the development of the Bill, to how more targeted and planned interventions can support user need and align with identified government priorities. There is real value for both users and providers in achieving a user-focused and diverse delivery model; users can access appropriate interventions at the right time, and providers can better target their expertise to those who require it.

The Scottish Government put in place and agreed a three year financial package in 2019-20 which sees an annual a fixed percentage uplift of 2.5% to the global sum each year of the current remuneration package. This ensures funding for continuous expansion in the quality and number of services that can be offered by community pharmacy contractors to local communities.

The Scottish Government have also invested £10 million over the course of the 3 year financial settlement in NHS Pharmacy First Scotland, seeing it increase the range of common clinical conditions which are able to be treated by the community pharmacist without the need to see a GP. We have also put in place a National Foundation Programme and Independent Prescriber Career Pathway. This pathway aims to maximise pharmacists’ expertise in medicines and, with the introduction of the new NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service, the opportunity for pharmacists to enhance patient care will further increase. Increasing the number of Independent Prescribers and establishing the core use of the IP qualification in the community setting will enhance the pharmacy networks’ role in the clinical pathway of patients.

The Scottish Government Health and Social Care Integrated Workforce Plan commits to increasing Pharmacy pre-registration training places by 120 over the next 4 years and we are currently increasing training places available for pharmacy technician training. Scottish Government will continue to work with partners to ensure not only the stability of the network but also that the balance of high quality pharmaceutical care is maintained across the whole pharmacy workforce in all sectors.

There were 42 proposed flood protection schemes set out in the Flood Risk Management Strategies published by SEPA in December 2015.

Of the 42 projects 8 have been completed.