The most recent surveillance report from Public Health Scotland indicates that the number of people tested for hepatitis C (HCV) antibody in Scotland in 2023 had surpassed pre-pandemic levels in almost all settings. Nonetheless, detecting more infections is a priority and we are focused on testing and treating more people, wherever they are, as we continue to push towards elimination of the virus.

Current work includes ensuring that opt-out testing is optimised in drug services and prisons, and considering the results of a recent Scottish Government-funded prison-based Hepatitis Intense Test and Treat (HITT) initiative in NHS Lothian. We are also reviewing the outcomes of opt-out blood borne virus testing pilots in Scottish emergency departments to determine whether further roll-out of this model would be effective.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any formal arrangements with industry partners to identify undiagnosed individuals living with hepatitis C. However we are aware of local community testing initiatives that have been developed and delivered with industry, such as the STEP C Free project in Forth Valley and work with the Hepatitis C Trust in Glasgow. We are happy to encourage innovative evidence-based approaches and support dissemination of learning from such initiatives through forums such as the Scottish Health Protection Network groups and our ongoing Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus local area visits.

The Scottish Government intends to lay the regulations for alkaline hydrolysis in Parliament this year. A working group is currently being established.

The Scottish Government has no powers over the smart-meter network or the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS). Telecommunications is also a reserved issue.

However, the Scottish Government is addressing poor signal coverage through digital infrastructure programmes such as Reaching 100% and the Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) programme. This is an example of Scottish Government using its own resources to ensure that Scotland’s homes and businesses are not left behind and can access the benefits of smart metering as soon as possible.

We have delivered 55 mobile masts in rural and island areas, all of which are available on an open access basis and could potentially be used to site smart meter radio infrastructure. The Shared Rural Network, a joint venture between the mobile industry and the UK Government, will also further increase geographic mobile coverage by building new infrastructure with the aim of reaching 91% of Scottish geography by 2027. It is therefore imperative that the UK Government and Ofgem update the regulations to allow the Data Communications Company (DCC) to use mobile technology to provide a signal to homes in Scotland and ensure that all meters can be appropriately upgraded.

It is unacceptable that there are currently no penalties for failure on the part of the DCC to deliver smart meter coverage across every part of the country. The Scottish Government continues to call on the UK Government to rectify this by including RTS related obligations in Ofgem licence conditions.

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 to ensure that it is first and foremost a healthcare matter. That review is now underway.

As part of the review, the Scottish Government has convened an expert group chaired by Professor Anna Glasier, the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Champion. The expert group is reviewing the existing law on abortion in Scotland and will produce a report for the Scottish Government this Summer.. If the group considers that the law could be changed for the better, the report will include recommendations for reform.

The Scottish Government will consider the expert group’s report and take into account views of other stakeholders and other relevant considerations too. Any proposals for changes to abortion law would be subject to a public consultation.

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).

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The regulations for the Emergency Early Release process conducted in June-July 2024 included an exclusion for any individual serving a sentence for a conviction for domestic abuse (or aggravation), or where a previous unspent conviction for such an offence had led to a custodial sentence.

Prison Governors also had the power to veto the emergency early release of an otherwise eligible prisoner, where their early release would have presented a risk to a specific person, or group. The Scottish Prison Service consulted with Police Scotland and Justice and Children and Families Social Work, to request any risk relevant information regarding each individual, to inform any veto decision.

The Scottish Government believes that all women in Scotland should have access to abortion services as part of routine healthcare, and understands that the choice to have a surgical abortion is important. The 2021 Women’s Health Plan sought to achieve the overarching priority that ‘all women will have a choice about how and where they access abortion care’. We intend to build upon this as we move into the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan, and have been doing significant work with NHS Boards and other stakeholders to deliver these commitments.

The Scottish Government continues to work with Health Boards to understand surgical abortion capacity. In late 2024, all territorial Health Boards were asked to complete a survey setting out their surgical abortion availability, along with other information on overall demand for abortion services.

From this survey, it is apparent that bed space can be a contributing factor to limited surgical abortion provision, but is unlikely to be a significant factor. Theatre availability and clinical training are more significant barriers, and the Scottish Government is working with Health Boards and other key stakeholders such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to improve training opportunities to increase provision of these services.

The Scottish Government has also raised the importance of access to early surgical abortions with NHS Board Chief Executives. The information gathered through the survey will be presented back to Board Chief Executives in due course, to help inform Boards’ decisions on where surgical abortion provision could be increased.

The Scottish Government supports and works closely with Food Standards Scotland, who have previously run national campaigns over winter months to raise awareness of vitamin D and encourage people to take a daily vitamin D supplement to maintain bone and muscle health.

Since April 2017, Scottish Government has provided free Healthy Start vitamins for women for the whole of their pregnancy. These were developed to meet their nutritional needs, and include vitamins C, D and Folic Acid. Since Jan 2021, Health Boards have provided free vitamin D to all breastfeeding mothers and children under three years.

Cervical self-sampling is not yet recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), the independent expert advisory group which advises all four UK nations on screening policy, and therefore is not currently offered within the cervical screening programme. However, the UK NSC are currently consulting on whether cervical self-sampling should be offered to under-screened people eligible for cervical screening.

In preparation for a positive UK NSC recommendation, Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland are re-establishing the self-sampling working group, whose remit will include assessing implementation options in light of new evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches, and ensuring that communications around a potential roll-out are inclusive and supportive.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government and its partners continue to explore alternative interventions that seek to encourage increased uptake of cervical screening, particularly among under- and never-screened populations. We published the Equity in Screening Strategy in July 2023 that outlines a strategic approach to identifying, addressing and removing barriers to participants across the screening pathway, and ensuring that professionals working within screening are knowledgeable of and use effective interventions to reduce these inequalities. To support this, the Equity in Screening Network was also launched in July 2023, allowing individuals that work across screening to share evidence, best practice and learning around screening inequalities.

Finally, as part of the Scottish Government’s work to eliminate cervical cancer, an expert group on cervical screening is exploring the effectiveness of a range of strategies to increase cervical screening uptake, and are currently considering how different media interventions could remove stigma and fear for all participants.

Addressing inequalities in HPV vaccine uptake and optimising opportunities for young people to receive the vaccine is a priority for the Scottish Government.

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) not only cause cervical cancer but can also cause other diseases including anogenital and head and neck cancers. These are less common but are equally significant for those affected. To increase everyone’s protection against these cancers, the HPV vaccination offer was extended to all young people in 2019, although recent statistics show that boys are still less likely than girls to take up the offer.

Completion of consent forms is required to participate in school vaccination programmes. We therefore welcomed the return of the recent Public Health Scotland (PHS) marketing campaign, “chat.sign.protect”, to raise awareness of vaccines offered in secondary school and encourage an increase in the numbers of parents and young people consenting to vaccination. Coinciding with the distribution of informed consent materials to young people, the campaign aims to increase understanding of why these vaccines are important, the seriousness of the diseases they protect against and encourage parents and carers to take action and sign consent forms to ensure our young people receive the protection offered by immunisation.

The Scottish Government has established an Expert Working Group to recommend how Scotland can eliminate cervical cancer. Actions that come out of this work are likely to support increased uptake of the HPV vaccine by males.

We are working with PHS and territorial Health Boards to consider what further actions can be taken to increase vaccination uptake in boys, support those eligible for vaccination, and to address any inequalities in accessing immunisation services.