Chamber and committees

The report has been proposed for peer review, which will take some weeks. Release of a draft of the report is not proposed before the review stage is completed.

Yes, everyone who accesses the safer drug consumption service will be offered Dry Blood Spot Testing (DBST) via the nursing staff and health care support workers. Sexual health nurses are integrated into the wider Hunter Street services and will support any positive test results and follow up treatment.

The building work on the safer drug consumption facility is now complete and the Building Control completion certificate has been processed by Glasgow City Council.

We are currently working with our colleagues in the NHS to demonstrate full compliance with the Scottish Healthcare Technical Memoranda (SHTM)’s NHS Assure to conclude their oversight that the project, as delivered, meets the brief and relevant design parameters. This includes the bespoke ventilation system to the injection booths, for which no SHTM currently exists and the water supply which includes us connecting into an existing facility.

The Scottish Government believes that all women in Scotland should have access to abortion services, available free from stigma.

In the 2023 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government committed to undertake a review of the law on abortion. An expert group chaired by Professor Anna Glasier, the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Champion, has been set up to help take forward this review. The review aims to identify potential proposals for reform, within specified term limits, before the end of this parliament. The Scottish Government will consider the recommendations made within the report carefully as part of this review. As such, the Scottish Government plans to wait for the outcomes of the review before commenting in more detail on the recommendations set out in Engender’s report.

Engender represent members of the advisory group of women’s rights organisations on this expert group, and will be able to feed their views into the review.

Details of the expert group, including minutes of their meetings are published on the Scottish Government website here: Abortion Law Review Expert Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Once the expert group has completed its work, the Scottish Government will consider any recommendations or options proposed. Any proposals for changes to abortion law would be subject to a public consultation.

As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to reduce waiting times, significant activity is already underway following an additional £30 million investment to target backlogs, announced in the spring1.

This will see around 12,000 new outpatient appointments, around 12,000 inpatient procedures and over 40,000 diagnostic procedures delivered2. A breakdown of the committed funding at both Specialty & Health Board levels are shown in the tables. The final allocations will be made to respective NHS boards following delivery of the activity.

We will continue to work with all NHS boards to maximise current resources and productivity. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29287 on 12 September 2024. 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.

While the work of Police Scotland’s International Academy is a matter for the service, Police Scotland has a proven track record in working with other countries. In terms of training partnerships, these are in place for the work undertaken in Malawi and Zambia which predominately address gender-based violence and contribute towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions.

In addition to this, Police Scotland host a number of international events where there is mutual collaboration and sharing of good practice with law enforcement colleagues around the world. In recent years this has involved programmes with colleagues from a variety of countries which includes USA, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand covering a range of themes including probationer training, de-escalation, recruitment and retention, equality diversity and inclusion, senior leadership and criminal justice.

Further information and detail on all International activity can be obtained from Police Scotland’s International Business Development Manager who can be contacted at [email protected].

The Stroke Engagement Forum met for the first time on 2 October 2024. The agenda included items on acute stroke care and research involvement and involved the sharing of local practices and approaches to shared challenges. The next meeting of the group will be in early 2025.

The membership of the Stroke Engagement Forum comprises stroke clinicians, stroke managers, Scottish Government officials and third sector representatives. Members are invited as a representative of their NHS Board or organisation. Members are expected to consult with their professional groups, networks and other stakeholders as appropriate. This forum is to facilitate operational improvement and the sharing of best practice. It is not a public forum and the Scottish Government will not be publishing the names of the attendees.

Stroke service delivery continues to be measured via the Scottish Stroke Care Audit and the Board reviews conducted as part of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) records all tumours using the ICD-O3 classification and is therefore able to routinely report on blood cancers in many different ways. This includes a variety of benchmarks such as incidence rates, quality performance indicators and survival.

The proportion, expressed as a percentage, of the area of the inshore out to the six nautical mile limit is covered by a year-round prohibition on the use of mobile or active gear to (a) dredge for scallops and (b) trawl for nephrops norvegicus under any legal instrument as of April 2024 is estimated to be 7.68%.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce a transition course for paramedics unable to find employment with the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The Scottish Government sets policies and frameworks at a national level, and it is the role of Health Boards, as the employers, to recruit graduates through a fair and consistent recruitment practice. When making recruitment decisions, Health Boards have to consider current turnover, retention, absence rates and budgets.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is in the process of recruiting paramedic positions for the remainder of the 2024-25 financial year.

We continue to work with SAS to explore how the role of a paramedic can expand into primary and secondary care further, offering new and different employment opportunities.