Chamber and committees

Every maternity health professional is trained to recognise the signs and symptoms of pre-eclampsia and in the management of the condition.

The Scottish Government provides funding towards the commissioning of the Maternal Newborn and Infant Clinical Outcome Review Programme run by Mothers and Babies, Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK). All maternity units in Scotland contribute data to this and reports focus on pre-eclampsia every 3 years, highlighting recommendations for healthcare professionals, Health Boards and Trusts, policy officials and other organisations to tackle this condition.

The Scottish Government also recognises the good work undertaken by the charity Action on Pre-eclampsia (APEC) across the UK to raise awareness of pre-eclampsia. Upcoming study days include days in Dumfries, Edinburgh and Inverness in March 2020.

The Scottish Government recognises that it is essential to ensure that pre-eclampsia is diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. As part of developing an evidence base in this area, NHS Lothian intends to take part in a trial which will look at the benefits of repeated placental growth factor (PlGF) testing in the care of pregnant women. Work on developing a Women’s Health Group is also progressing and will prioritise the testing for pre-eclampsia in its workplan, looking at recent evidence.

The Scottish Government expects that health professionals will follow relevant professional guidance in their delivery of care, such as Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Green Top Guidelines and the recently updated NICE guideline Hypertension in pregnancy: diagnosis and management.

The Scottish Government provides funding towards the commissioning of the Maternal Newborn and Infant Clinical Outcome Review Programme run by Mothers and Babies, Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK). All maternity units in Scotland contribute data to this and reports focus on pre-eclampsia every 3 years, highlighting recommendations for healthcare professionals, Health Boards and Trusts, policy officials and other organisations to tackle this condition.

Information on the number of cases of pre-eclampsia recorded in each territorial NHS Health Board is not collected centrally. However, I have asked my officials to request this information from the relevant sources and I will write to you following receipt of this information. At the UK level, pre-eclampsia is estimated to affect 1 in 10 pregnancies, equating to approximately 80,000 women per year across the UK.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S5W-26150 on 11 November 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

As set out in the Programme for Government, we intend to publish a Good Food Nation bill this year to underpin the significant work already planned or underway to deliver the Good Food Nation ambition in Scotland. It will place responsibilities on Scottish Ministers and selected public bodies to set out statements of policy on food and to have regard to these statements in the exercise of relevant functions.

While employment law is reserved, this Government is fully committed to promoting fair work practices throughout Scotland and encouraging every organisation, regardless of size, sector or location, to ensure all staff receive a fair level of pay, and where possible the real Living Wage.

Scotland has the highest proportion of employees being paid at least the real Living Wage of all four UK nations. In 2019-20, in line with the Programme for Government, we have provided £380,000 in funding to the Poverty Alliance to ensure an additional 25,000 workers are paid at least the real Living Wage by 2021.

We will continue to press UK Government for the full set of powers around employment law in order to allow us to deliver our Fair Work ambitions including for Scotland to be a Living Wage Nation by 2025.

With regard to mandatory food labelling, we are committed to maintaining and keeping pace with EU standards and regulations to ensure that food is authentic and consumers have confidence that food information is clear and accurate.

Scottish planning policy is clear that development on prime agricultural land, or land of a lesser quality that is locally important, should not be permitted except where it is essential. Where it is necessary to use good quality land for development, the layout and design should minimise the amount of such land that is required.

The following table gives the number of live homeless applications at 25 December 2018 for each local authority for each, along with the number of adults and children these applications refer to.

The Scottish Government, along with the rest of the UK is advised on all aspects of screening by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) an independent expert advisory group. Due to a lack of evidence to support the use of the screen tests within a population screening programme the UK NSC do not currently recommend screening for lung cancer. The UK NSC will review the evidence again after the results of the NELSON randomised lung cancer screening trial are published. However, the Scottish Government is exploring what further opportunities exist for Scotland to contribute to the emerging evidence base.

Officials have recently met with academics, the Chair of the UK National Screening Committee, and the Scottish Screening Committee to discuss ongoing studies and trials to identify where Scotland can best add value. The findings from the ECLS trial will help inform these discussions and any recommendations regarding potential pilot programmes in Scotland will be carefully considered.

The Scottish Government published the responses to the consultation on incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into our domestic law in Scotland on 26 September 2019 on the Scottish Government website.

As highlighted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this projected increase is a direct result of the freeze on working age benefits – which alongside other UK Government welfare reforms is impacting on the incomes of the most vulnerable in our society.

In Scotland we are taking a different approach and in 2018-19 invested over
‎ £1.4 billion in support targeted at low income households, including over £100 million to mitigate the worst impacts of UK Government welfare reforms.

Through our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan we have committed ambitious action to lift children and families out of poverty. This includes investing over £22 million by 2022 in a range of support to help parents to access and progress within employment, investing £3.3 million by 2020 in our new Money Talk Team Service and introducing the new Scottish Child Payment worth £10 per week per child for families in receipt of qualifying benefits.

The Scottish Government’s 2019 Welfare Reform Report estimated the effect of major UK Government welfare reforms that have been introduced since 2015. These reforms include the benefit freeze, Universal Credit work allowance changes, changes to the first child premium and the two child limit. Taken together they could reduce benefit spending in Scotland by £500 million per year once Universal Credit is fully rolled out.

These reforms apply to social security benefits over which the Scottish Government has no control, as they remain reserved to the UK Government. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not receive any additional financial resources as a result of the reduced spending caused by UK Government reforms.

Nonetheless, our Tackling Child Poverty Progress Report showed that in 2018-19 the Scottish Government continued to dedicate over £1.4 billion per year to supporting low-income households. This includes £100 million we invest each year to mitigate the worst impacts of UK Government welfare reforms.