Chamber and committees

Under the lead of the UK Government, the ETSU steering group (which comprises of the four Governments of the UK) are considering how best to take forward the recommendations of the WSP report. Whilst these next steps are being agreed, there are no specific actions for inclusion in the Sector Deal.

Once the next steps have been agreed, the Scottish Government will engage with industry.

Scottish Government officials continue to engage with UK Government officials on this work.

Scottish Government will be releasing information on outcomes, achievements and costs associated with this trip before the end of the year. This will include the information you have requested.

The safety of homeowners and residents is our absolute upmost priority and Ministers are committed to the assessment of and ensuring remediation of multi residential buildings with potentially unsafe cladding. Work is underway to ensure that the 105 buildings in the pilot programme are on a pathway to a Single Building Assessment by the summer of 2024 and we will continue to engage closely with developers and the supply chain to ensure further assessment, mitigation and remediation so that no homeowner or resident is left without an assessment or a pathway to remediation.

I can confirm that the Scottish Government has undertaken a scoping exercise on the feasibility of a fund to provide financial support to women experiencing domestic abuse in order that they can leave that relationship safely.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-02601 on 5 October 2023, and reiterate the points made in that response. Meeting of the Parliament: 05/10/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website .

Policing is and will continue to be a priority for this Government. Police funding has increased year-on-year since 2016-17, with the Scottish Government investing more than £11.6 billion since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013. The total budget for policing in 2023-24 is over £1.4 billion, which includes an additional £80 million in resource funding. This provides a stable basis from which to improve the delivery of policing and enhance the safety and security of communities across Scotland.

Specific decisions on deployment of resources are a matter for the Chief Constable who is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority.

Anyone affected by this kind of incident should report it to Police Scotland.

This information is not held centrally by Scottish Government.

We understand the distress and pain that migraines cause and want to ensure that everyone living with this debilitating condition can access the best possible care and support.

The Neurology Specialty Delivery Group (SDG), commissioned via the National Centre for Sustainable Delivery, has developed a national pathway for headache, including migraine, which will be published and implemented this autumn.

As of the morning of 9 October 2023 there were 165 young people held in young offender institutions in Scotland, five of whom were under the age of 18.

Pathologists will only retain whole organs on rare occasions when it is absolutely necessary to establish a cause of death. In such cases, there are well-established procedures for ensuring that families are immediately advised when organ retention is a possibility and the options for return of that organ are discussed with them.

It is a matter for the pathologist conducting the post mortem examination to decide whether it is necessary to remove a whole organ, such as the brain, from the body of a deceased person during a post mortem examination for further testing. COPFS keeps a record of all cases where a pathologist has decided that it is necessary to retain a whole organ during a post mortem examination. This record includes details of when an organ is returned to the family of the deceased at the conclusion of examinations.

Between 1 January and 31 August 2023, COPFS instructed 4,460 post mortem examinations.

The brain required to be retained by the pathologist for further examination to determine the cause of death in one of those cases. That brain is no longer retained by the pathologist and was released to the nearest relatives in accordance with their wishes.

In 400 of those 4,460 cases, temporary removal of the brain by the pathologist during the post mortem examination took place to enable samples to be taken for neuropathological examination. In each case, the brain was returned to the body prior to the conclusion of the post mortem examination and the release of the deceased’s body to their nearest relatives.

In line with normal processes, transfers of budget, including those to the Scottish Police Authority, will be communicated to Parliament through the Autumn and Spring Budget Revisions.