Chamber and committees

The release of common pheasant and red-legged partridge is permitted under sub-section 14 (2A) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in Scotland. Currently the Scottish Government and NatureScot have no evidence that the release of non-native gamebirds are impacting on native wildlife through habitat degradation or predation. If there is evidence that non-native gamebirds are causing an impact, the Scottish Government will consider any evidence and take any action required.

The Scottish Government monitors the risk in wild and kept birds carefully and implements disease control measures such as restrictions, conditions or prohibitions in the pheasant sector as well as other sectors of commercial and non-commercial poultry industry, following changes in risk, in accordance with the legislation already in place.

Under the Avian Influenza and Influenza of Avian Origin in Mammals (Scotland) Order 2006, during an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza or low pathogenic avian influenza the release of game birds is prohibited where a Protection, Surveillance Zone or a Restricted Zone is in place.

Further to this, NatureScot regulates the release of gamebirds on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and European Sites using powers under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004. Where release of gamebirds may adversely affect the natural features of a SSSI, the owners or the occupiers of the site must apply for consent. NatureScot can give consent with or without conditions, refuse, modify or withdraw a consent as appropriate.

Where there are no other means to protect the natural features of specific areas of land from damage, Scottish Ministers can issue a Nature Conservation Order. Nature Conservation Orders can apply to land within or contiguous with a SSSI or European Site, or other land that Scottish Ministers deem of special interest for its natural features.

The Scottish Government published our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023. The strategy and plan take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care with an ambition to provide person centred care for all.

The actions contained in the plan will enable health and care professionals to work in partnership with the people they care for to ensure shared decision making with realistic medicine approaches in mind.

Scottish Government launched Single Point of Contact pilots in 2020, which ensure people recently diagnosed with cancer have person-centred support and can discuss their specific circumstances. This helps ease anxieties related to their care and treatment plans and to relay the support available to them and their families. Scottish Government is considering how best to scale up this approach.

We are also working in partnership with Macmillan to improve the service we offer patients with cancer through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme. This partnership is worth £27 million and is the first of its kind in the UK. The programme ensures that every patient with cancer in Scotland has access to a specialist key support worker, who can provide emotional, financial, and practical support to those who need it most.

Regulating service provision and the consumer experience of public EV charging is an area that is reserved to the UK government. The UK Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 established minimum standards in terms of reliability and functionality for all public charge points. I welcome these regulations and I encourage all public charge point owners to comply with them to ensure that drivers receive the level of service that they have every right to expect.

To date, the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million in developing Scotland’s public EV charging network, which has included providing funding to public charge point owners for warranty and maintenance packages.

Our £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund aims to ensure that continued investment in Scotland’s public EV charging network is balanced across urban, rural and island areas by focusing public funding on those parts of Scotland that are less likely to see private investment, including rural an island communities. This fund also supports a transition to a public charging network that is increasingly operated by the private sector and will require those private charge point operators to continue to invest in and maintain Scotland’s public EV charging network to a high standard.

All buildings owned by the Scottish Government use electricity supplied via a REGO tariff (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin).

6 buildings have solar PV which contributes approximately 5% of each building’s electricity use. 1 building has an air source heat pump which provides 100% of the buildings heating requirements.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government the member may wish to contact NHS board directly for information.

The Scottish Government procures software subscriptions services through centrally tendered national procurement frameworks which fully consider and technically assess environmental and sustainability factors through the procurement framework evaluation process.

Professional memberships and media subscriptions are managed in individual business areas rather than on an organisational basis. We do not hold centralised information on the Net Zero or sustainability position or ambition for media suppliers or each professional body the Scottish Government aligns with.

Buildings owned by the Scottish Government on the Core estate fall into the following EPC categories.

A – 0 Buildings

B – 1 Building

C – 4 Buildings

D – 5 Buildings

E – 2 Buildings

F – 3 Buildings

G – 2 Buildings

The Scottish Government have terminated software subscriptions for several operational reasons. These include non-renewal on contract expiry, replacement with more modern services and the loss of business requirement to run the software.

We have commissioned external evaluations to understand how the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) Programme is delivering on its purpose to enable the local transformational system change necessary to ensure that families are able to access holistic whole family support wrapped around their needs. Recognising that system change takes time, the Programme has identified a range of early, intermediate and long term outcomes. The experience of children, young people and families are covered in a range of intermediate outcomes which the evaluation of Years 3 and 4 will focus on.

In the Year 1 evaluation (2022-23) (https://www.gov.scot/publications/whole-family-wellbeing-funding-wfwf-year-1-process-evaluation-final-report/pages/2/ ) IFF Research (our external evaluator), interviewed 12 children and young people, along with 18 parents and carers about their experiences with whole family support. As the WFWF programme had only just begun, the evaluation’s focus was largely on how CSPPs were setting up their WFWF activity. These interviews highlighted some valuable insights from children and families at a very early stage of the programme. Children and young people described being involved in activities to support the design of family support services and expressed appreciation towards trustworthy and friendly practitioners. Parents and carers explained how some initial activities they had done as an entire family they as part of the support they received had helped strengthen bonds between members.

During the Year 2 evaluation (2023-24), IFF continued to speak with children, young people and families about the relevance of, accessibility, timeliness, satisfaction with, process for providing feedback on, and outcomes of family support. Additionally, young people with experience of family support were invited to participate in a ‘Young People’s Panel’ to directly contribute to the design, delivery, and outputs of the Year 2 evaluation. This evaluation report will include the experiences of children and families who have benefited from the enhanced family support provided through the WFWF programme. We intend to publish the results of our evaluation in due course.

In addition the link to a case study on East Lothians’ Families Together programme gives some insight into experiences through WFWF : https://stories.celcis.org/families-together-programme/

The Familial Breast Cancer pathway which is hosted by the Scottish Cancer Network’s Clinical Management Pathway website is a consensus document which is not a rigid constraint on clinical practice, but a concept of good practice against which the needs of the individual patient can be considered by health care professionals.

Surveillance for high-risk breast cancer is the responsibility of NHS Health Boards and are managed locally by health care professionals. The inclusion of a treatment or approach within a consensus document is not a guarantee of immediate access.