Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14517 on 7 February 2023. 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

Person-centred, safe and high-quality care for mothers and babies throughout pregnancy, birth and following birth can have a marked effect on the health and life chances of women and babies, and on the healthy development of children throughout their lives. This can help to mitigate the impact of inequalities and deprivation and their long term health and other consequences for families.

We continue to prioritise improvements to maternity and neonatal care through the implementation of The Best Start programme, in partnership with senior leaders and clinicians. For women who experience multiple disadvantage, as well as those with additional complex needs, we know that continuity of carer from a primary midwife is likely to be particularly important. That is why we have included women and families from lower Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles, as well as those from minority ethnic communities, as priority groups for the introduction of continuity of carer.

The Scottish Government has commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to lead a national review to understand any contributing factors to the increase in neonatal mortality during 2021-22. This review will assess and determine whether there are any themes, underlying causes or safety factors that have contributed to the increased neonatal mortality rate from both a clinical and system perspective.

It is the statutory responsibility of all local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate, therefore, we do not routinely collect this information.

Information is however gathered via a Post-Occupancy Evaluation of each school constructed or refurbished through the £1.8bn Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme, and this is a requirement of funding to ensure that lessons learned help inform future investment. A review of this feedback is currently being undertaken and will distil findings by summer 2023 to help identify any actions needed to review guidance or develop new methods for sharing best practice.

In addition, an ongoing series of shared learning events which will are open to all local authorities has also been established as a forum to work collaboratively. These will occur quarterly and include the annual Learning Places Scotland Conference in November.

We understand that BB93 is in the process of being updated and will review the new version when available. Implications arising from this will be assessed and considered for adoption within projects supported through the Learning Estate Investment Programme.

This is a question for the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland (RoS). She advises me that that, as of 31 January 2023, there are 88,826 dispositions undergoing registration.

RoS received and processed over 655,000 applications in 2022, of which 90% were completed in 20 days.

In the Land Register the legal effect of registration backdates to the date on which the Keeper entered the application onto the application record (the date of receipt) and properties undergoing registration can still be transacted upon in the usual way.

Since the Best Use of Timber Awards were established in 2012, Scottish Forestry has allocated £6,000 each year towards the delivery of the awards, with the exception of 2020 when the awards did not take place due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Architecture and Design Scotland does not allocate funding for the project other than staff resource.

We recognise the need for a whole-government approach if we are to drive forward progress in reducing health inequalities.

The government is already involved in proactive, cross-portfolio discussions on what a ‘whole of government’ preventative approach might look like. Our Care and Wellbeing Portfolio is the principle strategic reform vehicle in Health and Social Care, which is being designed to promote a ‘health in all policies’ approach. The portfolio will shape and strengthen cross-government collaboration on key and critical issues that contribute to the goal of reducing health inequalities. As part of this, we have begun working with other programmes across the government including those relating to Child Poverty, the Promise, Economic Transformation, Climate Change and Net Zero.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the removal of fees associated with instrumental music tuition so income is not a barrier to children and young people taking up an instrument. Access to instrumental music tuition is for local authorities to determine depending on local circumstances and priorities.

Councils are autonomous and it is their responsibility to agree their annual budgets taking into account their statutory duties and national and local priorities.

The information in the format requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Diabetes Survey records the number of people who have attended structured diabetes education at any time and can be found at: https://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/publications/#survey-docs.

As part of the Scottish Diabetes Group, a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) has been established to develop recommendations for a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to Type 1 diabetes education. For people newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, there is an urgent need for their diabetes specialist team to introduce self-management techniques in order to ensure early optimisation of glycaemic control. The SLWG has input from health professionals from every NHS Board in Scotland, and they are working in partnership with people living with Type 1 diabetes to design the pathways.

The information requested is not held centrally.