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Recruitment and training of registered mental health professionals is a matter for employers such as NHS boards and Local Authorities. These bodies make informed decisions about recruiting counsellors and psychotherapists or training new mental health practitioners, according to the needs of local service providers and working with relevant professional bodies. The Scottish Government expects employers to apply standards and frameworks which are appropriate to the specialism being recruited for.

In September 2023, we published Mental Health Core Standards, initially applying to adult secondary mental health services. These outline national expectations to boards regarding staffing levels and appropriate skills.

The rate of stillbirth in Scotland has dropped from 5.7 stillbirths per 1000 births (live and still) in 2003 to 3.7 per 1000 births (live and still) in 2023, what this means is that 125 fewer babies were stillborn in 2023 than 2003. However, we recognise that there is still more work to do to improve stillbirth rates, and the Scottish Government is committed to participating and funding key initiatives to reduce the incidence of stillbirth in Scotland.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) perinatal improvement programme, established in 2013 has the specific aim of reducing stillbirth. Scotland continues to fund and participate in UK-wide audits including Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries – UK (MBRRACE-UK), which undertakes surveillance on stillbirth and makes recommendations for improvement, which we consider carefully with an expectation NHS Boards will review their local data and act on emerging themes. We also expect all Boards to use the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool to review all perinatal deaths in a systematic and consistent way to ensure, where possible lessons are learned to improve care.

We provide NHS Boards with information leaflets for pregnant women which include advice on important ways to help reduce the risk of stillbirth, including side sleeping, not smoking and monitoring baby’s movements. This information is also set out in Ready Steady Baby, a comprehensive guide to pregnancy, labour and birth and given to pregnant women in the ante natal period.

Jenni Minto: In September 2023, we published Mental Health Core Standards, initially applying to adult secondary mental health services. These general standards ensure high quality and safe mental health services. We are currently focusing on a phased implementation of the standards and there are no immediate plans to update them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28882 on 26 August 2024. 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.

The Scottish Government does not hold the data requested which is a matter for health boards locally.

It is disappointing that the infant mortality rate rose last year. We are involved in a number of initiatives to help improve perinatal and infant outcomes.

The established Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) perinatal and paediatric improvement programmes are currently supporting NHS Boards to improve outcomes for families through two ongoing collaboratives. One of the key aims of the SPSP Perinatal collaborative is to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality. The SPSP paediatric collaborative launched in September 2023 and aims to improve the recognition and response to clinical deterioration in babies, children and young people.

Additionally, since October 2021 a National Hub has been in place to review and learn from the deaths of babies, children, and young people in Scotland. Commissioned and funded by Scottish Government, the National Hub is jointly hosted by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate. A principal aim of the National Hub is to channel the learning from child death reviews to inform change and improvement and ultimately help reduce future preventable child deaths.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) meet on a quarterly basis with the representatives of the Society of Chief Officers in Environmental Health who work in local authorities to discuss issues in relation to food safety, food standards and nutrition in Scotland. The last time they met was on 17 July. They also attend and present at the Society’s annual congress.

FSS are members of the Environmental Health Policy Co-ordination Group, who meet monthly and have the Environmental Health Officer (EHO) vacancies and workforce shortages as standing agenda item for each meeting

.Since vesting, FSS has provided an annual grant to the Society which it disperses to local authorities who apply for funding assistance in training and recruitment of trainee Environmental Health and Food Safety Officers. The amount has averaged at between £20,000 - £60,000 per annum and a one-off payment of £300,000 was provided in 2022 – 23 to assist with the acute shortage in student and EHO numbers.

FSS also provide a number of speciality training packages to local authorities to ensure EHOs are trained on numerous technical subjects. These courses are reviewed and updated regularly.

I, in my capacity as Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, met with Geoff Ogle, CEO of FSS on 20 June to discuss the current state of local delivery in relation to food law and the proposed reform programme that would introduce digital capabilities, as well as an overhaul of the food law delivery system.

For the purposes of this response we are interpreting “publicly owned bodies” to mean devolved public bodies. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Marine Directorate has recorded no collisions between its Marine Protection Vessels and (a) whales, (b) dolphins, (c) porpoises, (d) basking sharks, (e) seals and (f) other large marine species since 2021, and is not aware of any collisions.

As this is a matter for SEPA, outlined in answer to S6W-28593, the Scottish Government does not hold the information being requested. I will therefore ask SEPA to write to the member to provide any further detail on the matter, where it is available.