Chamber and committees

The review on abortion law will begin once the Scottish Parliament has considered the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government is working towards convening an expert group, which the Women’s Health Champion, Professor Anna Glasier, has agreed to chair. The Scottish Government is also starting discussions with other stakeholders who are likely to advise the expert group on particular topics. The expert group will be asked to set out options and any recommendations for reforms. These recommendations, along with other stakeholder input, will be considered by Ministers before setting out any proposals for potential reform.

The Women’s Health Champion, Professor Anna Glasier, has not met with the First Minister. The Champion meets with myself on a quarterly basis.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS have completed the first stage of a review of Talk To Me, our suicide prevention strategy which was gathering the evidence base. This has included a literature review, User Voice interviews, staff focus groups, an NHS survey and a workshop for families. The next step is to analyse this evidence and formulate recommendations.

Once this is complete, recommendations will be presented to the SPS lead National Suicide Prevention Management Group for consideration and ratification. This group includes a number of experts in the field such as third sector, NHS and Public Health Scotland.

The policy will be aligned with the Scottish Government Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Any death of an individual whilst in the care of the SPS is a tragedy, irrespective of the cause. Unfortunately, there have been 34 deaths in custody between month 2019 and month 2023 confirmed as drug related, either by postmortem or by a Medical Certificate Cause of Death. This is approximately 16% of deaths in custody. SPS do not record drug category or categories implicated in deaths.

All deaths in custody are subject to a Fatal Accident Enquiry, the findings of which are published on the Scottish Courts website.

Scottish domiciled medical students are eligible for the standard student support package which is comprised of tuition fees and living cost support throughout the full duration of their medical degree. Additionally the most disadvantaged students can access up to £9,000 per year through a bursary and loans with the Scottish student support package currently the highest it has ever been. All Scottish domiciled students, irrespective of circumstances are eligible for a loan of up to £6,000 a year for the full duration of their medical degree.

It should be noted that students studying on the ScotGEM programme are eligible to claim a return of service bursary of £4,000 per year. This is only available to ScotGEM students, and for each year of the bursary accepted the students is required to work in NHS Scotland for the corresponding number of years.

There are currently no plans to introduce grants for medical students similar to the Paramedic, Nursing, and Midwifery Student Bursary.

The Scottish Government Programme for Government made the commitment to consult on phasing out the use cages for gamebirds and laying hens. This work is now progressing and the consultation on phasing out cages for laying hens and the call for evidence on gamebirds and quail are expected to go live in the early spring.

The proposed consultation on phasing out farrowing crates for pigs was originally intended to have been delivered jointly across all UK administrations. However, progress on a number of important pieces of animal welfare legislation have been significantly delayed or has ceased due to delays in UK Government timetabling, such as the Kept Animals Bill. DEFRA have confirmed that it now has no immediate plans to take forward the work on farrowing crates.

Regardless, the Scottish Government is pressing ahead on improving the welfare of all animals in Scotland, including pigs, and on 20 November 2023 published the Scottish Government Guidance for the Welfare of Pigs . We are also in the process of updating the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2010 to include this updated pigs’ welfare guidance.

We continue to listen and work with the industry and stakeholders on how best to achieve improvements in animal welfare as well as monitoring industry information to allow us to determine how to ensure best practice is delivered.

This is a matter for Public Health Scotland (PHS) as our national health protection body. Given the serious nature of measles and the current risk of importation and onward transmission, the Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland and NHS Boards through the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) on a range of measures to promote vaccination uptake.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the industry and stakeholders to find ways for producers to transition towards implementing improved animal welfare methods and practices.

This information is not held centrally. This is a matter for Public Health Scotland (PHS), which, through the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP), is responsible for oversight and leadership of vaccine delivery in Scotland. The Scottish Government is part of SVIP and is working closely with PHS and NHS Boards to support increased uptake of both doses of the free MMR vaccine to keep people safe from measles by preventing the spread of this very serious disease.