Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not spent any money directly on marketing of trains in 2021-22 or since the 1 April 2022, and has no specific budget for this purpose because this is a matter for ScotRail as the relevant train operating company.

According to the latest published statistics (April 2022) there were 2953 electric vehicle charge points in Scotland at this time. This figure includes 2257 from ChargePlace Scotland, Scotland’s publicly funded electric vehicle charging network.

The Government produces quarterly statistics, available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, which show how many parliamentary questions were cleared after the substantive date and those still outstanding at the time of audit.

An independent report on our consultation on potentially introducing further restrictions on advertising and promoting vaping products will be published this summer.

Cabinet last met on 28 June 2022 in Bute House, Edinburgh. The programme of travelling Cabinets was paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and there are currently no Cabinet meetings planned in the Highlands and Islands region.

We will engage with a wide range of stakeholders, such as the Armed Forces Families Federations, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, Forces Children Scotland and the Napier University’s Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement, as well as schools and local authorities to ensure that the views and needs of children and young people from Armed Forces and veterans families are taken into account in development of future versions of the UK-wide Strategy For Our Veterans as well as our own Veterans Strategy Action Plan. We intend to publish imminently our latest Strategy Action Plan, during the development of which we engaged with the Families Federations.

Approaches to address the specific needs of the children of serving families are currently being considered through the work being undertaken jointly by the UK Government, Devolved Administrations and third sector on the development and implementation of the Ministry of Defence’s Families Strategy.

Marine Scotland officials have been in touch with the pay team and have confirmed that the remaining claims for pay for specified leave days will be paid in July’s salary. Steps are being taken to review the current process to reduce the chance of similar delays occurring in the future.

We know that inflation is having the biggest impact on those with the lowest incomes. We are doing what we can within our devolved powers and this year we have allocated almost £3 billion to support people who are struggling.

Our Best Start Foods provides pregnant women and families with children under the age of three who receive certain benefits, with a minimum of £4.50 a week to purchase healthy foods. Eligible foods include fruit and vegetables as well as milk, first infant formula milk, eggs and pulses. Between launching Best Start Foods on 12 August 2019 and 28 February 2022, more than 111,000 applications were authorised providing support of over £27.3 million to those families who need it most. In 2022-23 we expect 40,000 people will receive £12 million of support through Best Start Foods. In 2023-24 we will remove the income thresholds for all qualifying benefits which will mean an additional 20,000 people will be able to access Best Start Foods. At the same time, we will move to a cash payment instead of pre-payment cards – giving parents greater flexibility and choice in how they use this financial support.

We have maintained funding levels for community food networks so that they can continue to support people struggling to access healthier food options. These networks provide a broad range of activities including: cooking classes, benefit checks, grow your own groups, cafés and food pantries.

The Scottish Government is also providing local authorities with funding to make free school lunches available to all children in primaries 1 to 5, and in special schools, during school term-time. Our new regulations governing the nutritional standards for food and drink in schools came into effect in April 2021. This guarantees all children and young people have access to their five portions of fruit and vegetables per day on every day when they attend at school.

We expect NHS Boards to follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidance in the diagnosis, management and treatment of Group B Streptococcus infection in pregnant women and their babies. NICE guideline NG195, Neonatal infection: antibiotics for prevention and treatment , published on 20 April 2021 and developed in partnership with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), is the most recent clinical guidance available at present.

All pregnant women in Scotland are provided with a copy of Ready, Steady, Baby! ( RSB!), a guide to pregnancy, labour and birth and early parenthood up to 8 weeks. RSB! is also available via the NHS Inform website and includes information on GBS . The RCOG Group B Streptococcus in pregnancy and newborn babies leaflet is also provided to women. We would encourage any pregnant woman concerned about GBS, or any other aspect of her pregnancy, to contact their midwife for advice.

We welcome the report by ASH Scotland on smoking and mental health and aim to discuss with them details of their report findings. Smoking prevalence among those experiencing mental ill-health is higher than the national average. Finding solutions to this is an important step and one currently being considered as part of our revised Tobacco Control Action Plan.