Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33849 on 31 January 2025. 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 the gender pay gap is collected by the Office for National Statistics and this includes information on the fisheries and aquaculture industry in Scotland. Further info can be accessed via this link

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/annualsurveyofhoursandearningsashegenderpaygaptables

Table 5.12 provides information on the pay gap by region and industry.

As this is an operational matter, I have asked Scottish Water and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to reply. Their responses are as follows:

a)

Not all spills from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are sewage spillages – CSOs are an integral part of the sewer network, designed to spill during heavy rainfall to prevent sewage backing up and flooding homes and businesses. Normally, what is spilled is wastewater which has been highly diluted by rain water - the toilet sewage element is less than 1% of the total volume.

Considering locations where Scottish Water is required to report annually to SEPA and where it has a long-term record of overflow events, there has been no recent increase in event frequency or in total event duration. In 2024, Scottish Water was able to publish some further overflow event information for other locations where it has reliable data. However, Scottish Water does not have long-term trend information at these locations.

The publication of information for additional locations has the effect of increasing the number of overflow events / duration for locations in the Firth of Clyde. As Scottish Water has deployed more Event Duration Monitors (EDMs) over the whole country, it expects that the total number of overflow events and durations included in the published dataset will increase.

b)

The SEPA responds to public and Scottish Water notifications of pollution from sewage and carries out a programme of inspections of sewer networks and sewage treatment sites. SEPA is not aware of an escalation in incidences of polluting sewage spillages into the Firth of Clyde. However, where sewer overflows are causing a water quality impact, SEPA works with Scottish Water through River Basin Management Planning to prioritise investment.

Up until six years ago the River Clyde was in the worst category for water quality and was classified as Bad by SEPA. Between 2010 and 2021, £610 million was invested by Scottish Water in wastewater assets bringing significant water quality improvements. The Clyde is now moving up classification and is into Good in a number of aspects. Aquatic species are returning to the waters, which supports a much more diverse aquatic life such as fish and birds with Atlantic Salmon returning.

We are continuing work to improve the data we have on women’s health so that we can better understand the health of women and girls in Scotland – including endometriosis.

Information on women’s health data in Scotland can be found in the recently published Women’s Health Plan Data Landscape Review. It sets out the range of publicly available data on the health of women in Scotland and highlights where there appear to be gaps. Further work will be undertaken to explore data sources and gaps in more detail.

The endometriosis care pathway for NHS Scotland aims to support healthcare professionals to provide holistic and timely care for those with endometriosis and endometriosis-like symptoms. All NHS Boards should be taking steps to implement the pathway.

As set out in the Pathway, clinicians should consider women’s individual needs in order to determine treatment for example symptoms, aspects of daily living and whether fertility is a priority for that individual.

We have committed to the development of a new National Pharmaceutical Agency (NPhA), to improve links between the life sciences industry and the NHS, and ultimately improve patient care.

Initial scoping work has taken place, with further scoping work required to inform any planning for the future establishment of a NPhA. This work has been paused due to resource constraints.

We are exploring a new long term conditions strategy to better recognise the fact that many people living with long term conditions need the same types of support and care, regardless of their condition. The strategy will focus on ensuring equitable and sustainable access to the services that all people with long term conditions need, while still allowing for targeted action on condition-specific care and support where appropriate.

We will shortly launch a full public consultation on this strategy. We are therefore not yet in a position to confirm the implications of the consultation and ensuing strategy with regard to condition-specific action plans.

Myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity have not met formally with Open Seas whilst the fishing industry were present as part of the discussion, since we were appointed to our roles in May 2024.

Myself and the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity have not met formally with Friends of the Earth Scotland whilst the fishing industry were present as part of the discussion, since we were appointed to our roles in May 2024.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting Mark Ruskell MSP to progress his Member’s Bill to reconsideration as soon as practical. Given our experience of the reconsideration process with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, we have agreed with Mr Ruskell that the Scottish Government will draft, lodge and speak to the amendment provisions we consider necessary to address the legislative competence issues raised in the UK Supreme Court judgement.

We wish to preserve as much of the Bill as possible however, we are clear that this must be balanced against the need to minimise a second referral to the Supreme Court. Scottish Government lawyers continue to engage with the UK Government regarding the Bill. We will provide an update to Mr Ruskell MSP and Parliament as soon as we are in a position to share any further information.

The following table shows the breakdown of this winter’s COVID-19 and flu vaccination uptake that was achieved as of 1 December 2024, broken down by Health Board. The table also shows the uptake as a percentage for the whole for Scotland.

This data is publicly accessible via the Public Health Scotland (PHS) Open Source website: Flu & COVID vaccinations - Datasets - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data

Uptake as of 1 December 2024: