Chamber and committees

We know that breast screening save lives and we want our programme to be as effective as possible. That is why we are committed to further increasing our work and focus on the importance of breast screening. It is welcome that recent figures from the Scottish Breast Screening Programme show over half a million women across Scotland participated in breast screening, and uptake rates continue to exceed the Healthcare Improvement Scotland standard for uptake of 70%. We will however continue to look at what more can be done to ensure women appreciate the importance and value of taking up the offer of breast screening.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the NHS and third sector groups like Cancer Research UK and Breast Cancer Now to look at ways to increase uptake further.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK wide authority has the primary function to regulate what products are safe and what products are a risk for public use. This includes matters relating to the appearance of tablets such as shape, size and colour.

Packaging regulations require that each medicine is accompanied by a Patient Information Leaflet containing important information for the safe and effective use of the medicine.

The information requested is presented in the following tables.

The proportion of people that have used e-cigarettes in each of the last five years broken down by age group is published in Chapter 4 of the Scottish Health Survey 2018 main report .

The proportion of people that have used e-cigarettes in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 broken down by SIMD quintile is published within the Scottish Health Survey supplementary tables for the relevant years, available on the Scottish Health Survey website .

The proportion of people that have used e-cigarettes in 2018 broken down by SIMD quintile will be published as part of the Scottish Health Survey 2018 supplementary tables on 21 January 2020.

Fire safety certificates have been introduced by industry in response to the implementation by mortgage lenders of a requirement for additional information in respect of high-rise domestic buildings. Responsibility for mortgage lending is a matter reserved to the UK Government, although the policy decisions taken by lenders are those of independent bodies.

While this is a reserved matter, I have written to the UK Secretary of State three times and also to UK Finance. In addition, Scottish Government officials have held discussions with the UK Government, UK Finance and also with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

On 16 December the RICS, UK Finance and Building Societies Association announced the introduction of a process to help people buy and sell homes and re-mortgage in buildings with a floor above 18 metres.

The Scottish Government will continue to monitor and engage with those industry bodies, and others, to ensure that the matter is fully resolved for all those affected.

The City of Edinburgh Council, as planning authority, is responsible for development planning and management decisions in South Queensferry. Planning legislation requires that planning applications are determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. In reaching a decision on a planning application, the planning authority is expected to have regard to all material factors, traffic issues, relevant legislation and any representations submitted.

As the site is subject to live planning applications, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to comment on the specifics of the application in case this is seen as pre-judging or pre-empting any future decision that may come before them.

The Scottish Government has published a draft Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill today. The Bill is accompanied by Explanatory Notes and draft Impact Assessments, including a draft Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA).

A full consultation on the Bill has also opened today. The consultation can be accessed and responses submitted online at https://consult.gov.scot/family-law/gender-recognition-reform-scotland-bill . The consultation has a closing date of 17 March 2020.

By consulting on a draft Bill, the Scottish Government is providing details of our rationale for reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and what we propose in this area.

It has been possible for a trans person to obtain legal gender recognition for almost 15 years. However, the current system for obtaining legal gender recognition is widely seen as demeaning and intrusive. Therefore, our proposals are to reform that process and to reform the 2004 Act.

The consultation reaffirms that we do not propose any changes to the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government is committed to exceptions in the 2010 Act which allow trans people to be excluded in certain circumstances when this is a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim. We also remain committed to equality for women and girls and safety for women and girls. We do not believe that the proposed reforms to the process of obtaining a gender recognition certificate will have an adverse impact on women’s rights.

Under our proposals, applicants for legal gender recognition:

• Will no longer need to provide medical evidence to the Gender Recognition Panel, a UK tribunal.
• Will instead apply to the Registrar General for Scotland.
• Will continue to provide a statutory declaration that they intend to live permanently as a man or a woman.
• Will need to state in the statutory declaration that they have already been living as a man or woman for at least three months.
• Will go through a reflection period of at least 3 months after an application has been made. The gender recognition certificate will only be granted once the 3 months have passed and the applicant has confirmed that they still wish to proceed.

It is, and will remain, a criminal offence to make a false statutory declaration and it will be a new offence to make a false application.

The consultation also proposes the minimum age of applicants for legal gender recognition should be reduced from 18 to 16. This is in line with when young people in Scotland gain a number of rights, such as the right to vote in Scottish elections and the right to marry or enter a civil partnership. The Bill does not propose that legal gender recognition should be extended to those under 16. We will seek views separately on what support should be available to those under 16 who are uncertain about their gender identity.

My statement of 20 June 2019 also outlined action in a number of other areas, apart from the publication of a Bill.

We have established a working group to make recommendations on the collection and disaggregation of data in relation to sex and gender. Information on this working group can be found at https://www.gov.scot/groups/sex-and-gender-in-data-working-group/ .The Chief Statistician has committed to report to Minsters with a finalised set of guidance in late Spring 2020.

We are developing guidance for the Scottish Government and the wider public sector on trans rights and the rights of women, which we plan to publish by summer 2020. We are also establishing a working group to consider steps to improve the lives of non-binary people which will meet for the first time in early 2020.

We committed to provide guidance for schools to help them to support transgender pupils. This work continues and the guidance will be published in the New Year.

The information requested is available at: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/General-Practice/Publications/2019-12-03/2019-12-03-GPWorkforce2019-Report.pdf .

I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-26483 on 6 December 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I can confirm that Scotland's first National Action Plan on Neurological Conditions will be published before the end of the year as announced when I published the draft Plan on 13 November 2018.