Chamber and committees

I can today announce that the Scottish Government will establish an Expert Group to lead on scoping work to consider and provide recommendations on how Scotland will work towards reaching the targets set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to eliminate Cervical Cancer.

The WHO advises that to eliminate Cervical Cancer, all countries must reach and maintain an incidence rate of below four per 100 000 women. Achieving that goal rests on three key pillars and their corresponding targets:

• vaccination: 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15;
• screening: 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by the age of 35, and again by the age of 45;
• treatment: 90% of women with pre-cancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed.

Each country should meet the 90–70–90 targets by 2030 to get on the path to eliminate cervical cancer within the next century.

Scotland has already observed many successes in tackling Cervical Cancer and is close to, or has met many of the targets to work towards achieving elimination status.

The Expert Group, due to meet soon will comprise Scottish Government policy officials, clinicians, Public Health Scotland (PHS), National Services Division, Third Sector organisations such as Jo’s Trust.

We will progress work with key stakeholders and develop actions to address inequalities to ensure that the work to meet the targets does not only focus on overall population levels, but addresses the inequalities gap.

Once the Expert Group have considered and provided their recommendations on when Scotland is likely to meet the WHO targets, I will provide a further update to Parliament.

Scottish COVID-19 vaccination policy and delivery is based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the information contained within the COVID-19 Green Book Chapter.

Individuals who have a condition that puts them at higher clinical risk from COVID-19 are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine this winter. Anyone unsure about their health condition or circumstance, should speak to their health professional, specialist or local vaccination services. Further information on the COVID-19 vaccine and health conditions can be found on NHS inform .

The COVID-19 Chapter 14a of the Green Book states that examples in tables 3 and 4 are not exhaustive, and, within these broad groups, the prescriber may need to apply clinical judgment to take into account the risk of COVID-19 exacerbating any underlying disease that a patient may have, as well as the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 itself. A more comprehensive list of potentially eligible diagnoses, and the appropriate clinical codes, is found in the link at the end of the chapter.

Clinicians can refer patients to their local immunisation teams, if they believe the individual to be at risk, but does not have one of the conditions listed in tables 3 or 4. Patients can also refer themselves. The local immunisation team will assess the patient and decide if vaccination is appropriate.

The Government takes animal welfare very seriously and is committed to the highest possible welfare standards. We welcome Ms Grahame’s effort with the Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Bill and support the general principles of the Bill. We need to emphasise to people that they must be responsible owners and act responsibly when deciding to buy a dog or take one into their lives.

The Scottish Government is committed to exploring increasing the Scottish aquaculture sector’s adoption of new and innovative technologies which achieve both positive environmental and health and welfare outcomes, including the potential use of semi and closed containment systems, as stated in our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture , published in July 2023.

In 2021 the Scottish Government, via the Marine Fund Scotland, awarded £2 million to a four-year project led by Bakkafrost Scotland (the then Scottish Salmon Company) to apply research and development as well as innovative husbandry to the rearing of larger salmon smolts in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS). This underlines our commitment to supporting innovation and also promoting advances in areas which will contribute to the sector’s sustainable growth. These and similar developments will create new rural jobs and benefit local and wider economies.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) encourages new innovative techniques to reduce overall fish farm emissions through its application charging scheme. For example, where an operator shows the new site will reduce emissions by 80%+ then the application charges will be reduced by 50%.

The Fish Farming Businesses (Reporting) (Scotland) Order 2020 places a legal requirement for aquaculture production businesses to report average sea lice numbers per fish per week to Scottish Ministers.

The Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 place a legal obligation for increased mortality to be reported to Scottish Ministers or a veterinarian. This applies to unexplained mortality, and there is a voluntary agreement in place with aquaculture production businesses for any instances of mortality above specified thresholds to be reported to Scottish Ministers as part of wider aquatic animal health surveillance. This agreement is a requirement of the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture.

Gill health is a term used to describe a category of conditions which have a detrimental impact on fish gills and is not a single disease. The Aquatic Animal Health (Scotland) Regulations 2009 place an obligation for the presence or suspected presence of listed diseases, some of which affect gill health, to notify to Scottish Ministers.

There is no obligation to report fish wellbeing which has no specific definition. The Fish Health Inspectorate will raise any concerns regarding fish welfare with the Animal and Plant Health Agency which is responsible for investigating potential breaches in welfare law.

The Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007 requires Aquaculture Production Businesses to demonstrate that satisfactory measures are in place for the containment of fish, and the prevention of escape of fish. Current Scottish Government policy for demonstrating that satisfactory measures are in place are the requirements of the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture and the requirements of The Fish Farming Businesses (Record Keeping) (Scotland) Order 2008.

Adherence to the Code of Good Practice is monitored and enforced through the Scottish Government Fish Health Inspectorate’s risk-based inspection regime. Where satisfactory measures are not in place, Scottish Ministers may serve an enforcement notice. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice may result in a fine.

The Scottish Government remains committed to working with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes from fish farms, including through the revision and publication of the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, and the introduction of penalties where escape events occur with the ultimate aim of redistributing this money to support wild salmonid conservation and research.

Dog breeding is regulated under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. The penalties for offences committed under these regulations were increased in 2020 when the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 came into effect. The changes introduced increased the maximum period of imprisonment from 6 to 12 months and the maximum fine from level 5 (£5,000) on the standard scale to a maximum of £40,000. Given this recent increase in penalties, the Scottish Government has no plans at this time for further revisions.

The Scottish Government will however be looking in the medium term to work with key stakeholders and interested parties to look at potential improvements to the 2010 Act that could enhance and strengthen the general preventative dog control notice regime in Scotland.

Curriculum for Excellence seeks to provide our young people with the knowledge, attitudes and skills to succeed as underpinned by its four capacities: successful learners; confident individuals; responsible citizens and effective contributors. Financial literacy and the life skills feature in learning about numeracy and maths, business studies and personal and social education.

Education Scotland provides support to schools through curriculum guidance, in particular the “ Building the Curriculum 4 ” publication which is relevant to literacy, numeracy and associated thinking skills; skills for health and wellbeing, including personal learning planning, career management skills, working with others, leadership and physical co-ordination and movement skills; and skills for enterprise and employability. Schools can also access the Skills for Development Framework from the Scottish Qualifications Authority relevant to their senior phase qualifications.

In the senior phase, financial literacy features in qualifications such as SCQF levels 4 & 5 Personal Finance awards and the Applications of Mathematics qualifications, which provides advanced learning in a range of core and practical maths skills; including finance. Education Scotland also provide a range of further professional learning resources on financial literacy. A range of organisations offer further support to schools to reinforce and enhance learning in financial education including HMRC, Barclays Lifeskills, NatWest MoneySense and the Young Enterprise ‘My Money’ Talks.

In relation to skills for life and work, examples of relevant senior phase qualifications and awards include: the SafeCert SCQF Level 6 Award in Emergency First Aid at Work; Prince's Trust SCQF Awards and certificates in Personal Development and Employability Skills; Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and Youth Scotland Dynamic Youth Awards. These are in addition to a range of SQA technical and vocational qualifications. Total attainment for SQA Skills for Work, SQA Awards, National Certificates and National Progression Awards in 2023 was 72,120 passes, up 12.3% from 64,240 in 2022, the highest number on record.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24258 on‎ 22 January 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Information on public sector support available to businesses in Scotland can be found on FindBusinessSupport.gov.scot.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) frequently refer businesses to this resource to identify the funding and training that is available to them. SDS also offer a range of services to support businesses including their Employer Hub.