Seòmar agus comataidhean

The UK Government has stated its commitment to providing an update as soon as possible, and my officials continue to engage regularly with their UK Government counterparts regarding their plans. Additionally, I recently wrote to the UK Government to request a meeting to gain further insight into the options they are considering in relation to the report.

The Scottish Government remains dedicated to keeping the Scottish Parliament informed of any significant developments.

We also reaffirm our previous apology to all those who have been directly affected by pelvic mesh and sodium valproate, as well as to their caregivers.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Embrace Autism report and work of the Embrace Autism programme, funded through the Scottish Government’s Autistic Adult Support Fund (AASF).

Through our AASF, the Scottish Government will continue to support organisations to deliver pre- and post-diagnostic support programmes designed and delivered by autistic people.

We have committed to multi-year funding of the AASF, which will avoid gaps in the provision of support programmes and will allow for funded organisations to better plan and deliver for the future. We will provide funding of £1 million per year.

Within the design of the AASF we prioritised the voice of lived experience, as the criteria we set out ensured organisations meaningfully involved autistic people in the development, design and delivery of their programmes.

The Autistic Adult Support Fund includes a range of national and local organisations providing different types of support. This includes in-person and virtual peer support groups, drop in sessions, one to one support and short term counselling.

Over the past year, the Scottish Government has committed £1m for Gaza and the wider Middle East, including £750k for UNRWA and a further £250k to the Disasters Emergency Committee, Mercy Corps and SCIAF. This money will provide food, water, medical assistance and shelter to displaced people across the region.

Given the intolerable suffering in Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access continues to be systematically blocked is unconscionable. Israel's decision to ban UNRWA will undoubtedly further undermine living conditions in Gaza. We continue to call for an immediate ceasefire and unfettered access to vital humanitarian aid for civilians across Gaza.

We want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. As part of our approach, we recognise that online platforms, including social media, can have both a positive and negative impact on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing and that it is important to support people to use social media in a healthy and balanced way.

Keeping children and young people safe online is a priority for the Scottish Government and while we recognise that regulation of the internet remains a reserved matter, we have successfully engaged with the previous UK Government to strengthen protections for children in its Online Safety Act. The Minister for Victims and Community Safety and I met with the online safety regulator Ofcom in August to discuss their strategy for online safety in Scotland.

Following the appalling acts of violence and disorder seen elsewhere in the UK over the summer, the First Minister wrote to social media companies Misinformation, racism and hateful material online: letter to social media companies - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) asking them how they are combating the spread of misinformation and steps being taken to address racist/hateful speech across platforms, and officials are considering responses. Our commitment to this work was further set out by the First Minister recently in response to a question on this issue in Parliament Written question and answer: S6F-03493 | Scottish Parliament Website

We have provided over £400,000 to children and young people’s organisations since 2020, to fund a range of initiatives including the Young Scot Aye Feel online hub and the Mind Yer Time resource, with some of the work focusing on addressing social media usage amongst children and young to help them navigate online spaces and use screen time in a healthy and positive way.

Additionally, our national resource for parents - Parent Club - has a range of information and advice to support parents to manage their child’s screen time, and to have informed conversations with their children on screen time, social media and internet use. The Scottish Government funded public awareness campaigns in 2022 and 2023 to inform parents and carers about the risks of online harm and how to protect their children online which linked to Parent Club resources. In addition, the Scottish Government has recently published guidance for schools on the issue of mobile phones in schools, which supports education authorities and schools in their consideration of limiting access to mobile phones in schools.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People: Principles and Standards of Care: Children and young people - national neurodevelopmental specification: principles and standards of care - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles receive support that better meets their needs. This recognises neurodevelopmental differences are estimated to affect around 10% of pupils in Scotland’s mainstream schools, and their additional support needs.

We are working with Health Boards and Local Authorities towards implementing the Specification in full. As part of this, we have provided over £1 million to fund five pilots which are focusing on various aspects of the Specification, including implementing our Getting It Right For Each Child approach and multi-agency working. We are working to share the learning from these with all appropriate stakeholders to support wider implementation of the specification across Scotland and inform future service improvements.

More broadly, every child and young person should be able to access support for their mental health and wellbeing when and where they need it. Since 2021, we have provided local authorities with £15 million per annum to deliver community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for 5-24 year-olds and their families.

The environmental impacts of current textile consumption can be damaging, and we recognise the need for a strategic approach to textiles, from production and consumption, through to recycling and end-of-life management, as set out in our draft Circular Economy & Waste Route Map.

The Route Map identifies a range of measures, including the intention to consult on kerbside collection of textiles. It also sets out that textiles are being considered as one of the priority products for our product stewardship plan, which will support the development of circular supply chains in Scotland by reducing the quantity of clothing that needs to be produced from raw materials.

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 gives Scottish Ministers powers to make regulations to restrict the disposal of unsold goods and powers to make regulations that require businesses to report on waste and surplus for specified product types, both of which could include textiles.

Scottish Ministers will also develop a statutory Code of Practice for household recycling, co-designed with local government, and consider ways to prevent materials being put into waste streams by building a high performing service across Scotland that will provide a consistent supply of high-quality recyclable materials.

The Scottish Government's Let’s Do Net Zero website provides practical advice and links to raise awareness of how we can reduce, reuse and recycle more effectively https://netzeronation.scot/.

In addition, information and advice for consumers on how they can make fashion more sustainable is provided by Zero Waste Scotland in their guide on https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/how-fast-fashion-failing-environment

The Young Scot National Entitlement Card (NEC), funded by the Scottish Government, offers young people concessionary travel on ScotRail services. This includes a third off most rail fares and 50% off weekly and monthly season tickets. There are no time restrictions on travel when using a Young Scot NEC to purchase a weekly or monthly season ticket.

We are also providing over £350m of support through our National Concessionary Travel Schemes (NCTS), allowing free bus travel for young people under 22. With over 3 million journeys every week, these schemes are helping people all across Scotland, including young people, to cut costs for essential, every day and leisure travel, making sustainable travel a more attractive option which will support our net zero ambitions.

Decisions about patient care should be taken by the clinicians and the patient involved following meaningful discussion and the sharing of all necessary information, including benefits, risks and alternative treatments.

In a circumstance where two NHS boards are involved in a patients care, it would be expected that healthcare professionals from both health boards communicate with each other to discuss and agree a coordinated treatment plan. If a resolution cannot be reached by the clinical teams involved, then concerns can be escalated to the Health Board Management through the appropriate channels.

Patients can consider submitting a formal complaint to the Health Board(s) involved. It is through feedback of this nature that health services can identify any issues and take steps to make improvements. The Patient Advice & Support Service (PASS) is a free, independent and confidential service that supports NHS patients. PASS can offer help and advice with complaints, advocacy support, and help navigating the healthcare system.

Patients can also use their right to request a second opinion from another clinician. This may be appropriate in cases where Health Boards cannot agree on a recommended course of action. If a patient would like a second opinion their clinician or GP will be able to provide advice and make arrangements.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone receives the benefits to which they are entitled. In 2024-25 we have invested over £12 million in free income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services – including £4.6 million for Citizens Advice Scotland’s Money Talk Team service, which last year supported over 9,000 older people, securing financial gains of over £7 million.

The creation of a Safer Drug Consumption Facility in Glasgow is progressing well - construction work is nearing completion to convert the existing facilities and make them fit for purpose and necessary staff recruitment and training is well underway. A provisional opening date of 21 has been announced by Glasgow Council.

We are committed to help deliver drug checking facilities across Scotland. The three pilot areas (Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow) have now submitted their licence applications to the Home Office and we are providing support as they are being progressed. We expect the application for the National Testing Laboratory, which will provide additional analysis of drug samples, to be submitted shortly. Edinburgh have also recently joined the national project group and they are at the early stages of considering the establishment of a similar facility.

Over £38 million has been made available through two rounds of the Residential Rehabilitation Rapid Capacity Programme (RRRCP) to increase residential rehab capacity across Scotland. This fund supports eight capacity projects – of which four are new projects and four are expansions to existing services. This will provide 140 more bed by 2025-26.

36 of these beds are already operational and additional projects will be completed over the coming year to add a further 34 beds across Ayrshire, Aberdeenshire and Highlands and Islands. Collectively, these not only substantially increase the number of bed spaces available but also importantly widen access to specific groups and addresses geographic barriers to accessing rehab.

Work is continuing through a range of projects and initiatives to expand access to naloxone and the latest estimated reach of the National Naloxone Programme was 74.7% (percentage of people at risk of opioid overdose who have been supplied with THN) at the end of 2023-24 Quarter 3. We continue to support Police Scotland in their carriage of naloxone by all front-line police officers, where it has been administered to over 450 individuals. Our click-and-deliver service continues to distribute large numbers of kits (894 in quarter 3 of 23-24, last data available) while the work we have supported through the Scottish Ambulance Service also meant 211 kits were distributed by them in the same period.

Recent activity to further expand access to naloxone has included making it available in first aid kits (crash packs) within Scottish prisons while also expanding the work being done by the Scottish Drugs Forum to distribute naloxone to people on liberation from prison through peers. We also continue to engage with UK Government colleagues around the forthcoming legislative change to naloxone prescribing regulations which will make accessing kits easier across the UK.

Additional harm reduction measures being implemented can be found on the Scottish Government’s website: https://www.gov.scot/policies/alcohol-and-drugs/national-mission/

The Chancellor has set out plans to end universal Winter Fuel Payments in England and Wales by restricting it to those receiving Pension Credit and other means tested benefits from this year onwards. This decision was taken without any consultation or discussion with Scottish Government Ministers, which is deeply disappointing given both governments committed to resetting the relationship between them.

The UK Government’s approach reduces the Block-Grant Adjustment associated with devolution of the UK’s Winter Fuel Payment by an estimated £140 million to £160 million in 2024-25 – nearly 90% of the cost of the Scottish Government’s new replacement benefit, Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.

Following careful consideration of the options available for Scotland it is with deep regret that I confirm that the Scottish Government must replicate the decision made by the UK Government and restrict eligibility for Pension Age Winter Heating Payment to older people on relevant eligible benefits. This has been a very difficult decision and not one we want to, or expected to, be making. However, despite all efforts to review our financial position it is a necessary decision when faced with such a deep cut to the budget and in the most challenging financial circumstances since devolution.

The timing of the UK Government announcement has meant it is not practical to make changes in good time for the launch of Pension Age Winter Heating Payment. Delivery will therefore be deferred until winter 2025. However, I can offer reassurance that the Scottish Government is in discussion with the Department of Work and Pensions, which has committed to make payments this winter to eligible pensioners in Scotland on terms equivalent to Winter Fuel Payments in England and Wales.

We are also keen to understand the UK Government’s wider plans to protect energy customers in greatest need, such as a social energy tariff, and will work closely to ensure that they take every possible step to drive up the take-up of Pension Credit and other benefits which pensioners are entitled to.