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As announced in March, the recommendations from the Review will be taken forward by an Implementation Group which I am pleased to announce will be Co-Chaired by Dennis Robertson and a clinical lead that will be confirmed shortly.

I am also pleased to announce today that we are providing £5 million of funding to respond to the recommendations from the Review in this financial year. The majority of this funding will be provided to NHS Boards to support them respond to the increase in eating disorder presentations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is Recommendation 1 from the Review. This funding is being provided from the £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund.

In addition, in response to Recommendation 6 (Self-help Resources) and Recommendation 13 (Families and Carers) from the Review, we are also providing funding to Beat, the UK’s Eating Disorder Charity, to provide a wide range of support options such as support to families and carers of those with an eating disorder, support for children, young people and adults who are currently waiting to be seen by services and peer support services. We will shortly announce further details of this package of support.

Our Alcohol Framework set out a commitment to engaging in a national marketing campaign to increase public awareness of the UK Chief Medical Officers’ lower-risk drinking guidelines. The ‘Count 14’ campaign aims to increase awareness of the weekly 14 unit lower-risk guidelines and to break down what this means in terms of specific alcoholic drinks.

We delivered the Count 14 marketing campaign over two phases, for three weeks in March 2019 and for six weeks through January and February 2020. The campaign included TV, radio, print and digital advertising as well a roadshow in local supermarkets and a range of partnerships.

The campaign was evaluated independently via pre and post campaign tracker surveys. I have today published an evaluation report summarising the effectiveness of the campaign, available at www.gov.scot/isbn/9781800047976 .

The results are positive and demonstrate that the campaign has made a positive impact on increasing awareness and understanding of the UK CMOs’ low-risk drinking guidelines in Scotland.

The proportion of those aware of guidelines, who could identify 14 units as the correct weekly limit, substantially increased from 21% pre-Count 14 to 39% after both phases of the campaign, an 18% increase. Among all of those surveyed, not just those who were aware of guidelines, awareness of the 14 unit limit increased from 17% pre-Count 14 activity to 32% after both phases.

The Scottish Government will consider future national marketing and health messaging on alcohol consumption in light of these findings.

The Health and Social Care Alliance (‘the Alliance’) has today published their report “My Path, My Health, My Life”. It is available on the Alliance’s website at: My Path, My Health, My Life – Learning from the experiences of women to plan future mesh services - Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (alliance-scotland.org.uk)

This builds on earlier patient engagement carried out by the Alliance in 2019, published in their “My Life, My Experience” report.

The Scottish Government is extremely grateful to all women who shared their experience with the Alliance. We will now consider the recommendations made by the Alliance, alongside our colleagues in NHS Scotland. The views presented by women will directly influence the design and operation of the National Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and this will be documented in the Service Level Agreement for the Service.

Whilst we consider the recommendations, the Alliance has already agreed to begin work to establish a Stakeholder Participation Group. This Group will gather views on the specialist service as well as services provided more widely across the NHS. These views will be considered in conjunction with the results from patient satisfaction surveys, as well as other relevant outcome data, and will be reflected in our services here in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has today published its School Age Childcare: Progress Report which sets out progress towards developing a future school age childcare strategic policy framework in Scotland including recognition of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on children, parents and carers and the school age childcare sector.

You can access the Progress Report here

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of trans and non-binary people in Scotland. Trans people continue to suffer poorer outcomes relative to the wider population, and this needs to change.

We are committed to ensuring that all children and young people are supported in school and are able to reach their full potential, including transgender young people. We committed to develop guidance to support schools to do this.

Due to the significant impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools are very focused on supporting pupils and are working hard on the phased return of schools. Consequently, we feel it would not be the best time to provide this guidance when attention is on ensuring the continued safety and wellbeing of pupils and staff during the pandemic. Therefore guidance will be published when all pupils have returned to school, or at the earliest opportunity in the new Parliamentary term. Education Authorities and schools should continue to use resources and guidance that they have determined responds positively to the needs of all pupils.

The International Travel Regulations require to be reviewed at least every 28 days. In the time since the last review on 8 February, the Scottish Government has amended regulations to introduce managed quarantine. I have concluded that the requirements imposed by the regulations, as amended, remain proportionate and necessary and should be retained.

The regulations are due to expire 12 months after they were first introduced, which is 8 June 2021. Considering the pre-election period and that parliamentary procedure following the election may continue later into May, I will provide for a short extension to the expiry of the regulations. This will now fall due on 20 September 2021.

This does not change the requirement to review the regulations at least every 28 days. The next review must be completed no later than 5 April, which is during the pre-election period, and I will inform Parliament of the outcome of that review by writing to Committee Conveners and the Presiding Officer.

The Scottish Government is committed to ethical recruitment and protecting the healthcare systems of developing countries. That is why we have published a Scottish Code of Practice on 26 February 2021, in response to the review by the World Health Organisation. It will set out updated principles and practices for the ethical recruitment of health and social care personnel. The Scottish Code of Practice will adhere to the common aims, objectives and guiding principles as set out in the revised UK Code of Practice, but will reflect the different organisational structure within Scotland. Work is underway with NHS Boards to co-produce a model to manage international recruitment in the future. This new NHS Scotland recruitment centre will undertake an advisory role with Boards to ensure that recruitment is aligned with the aims of the Code of Practice.

For the current financial year, 2020-21, the average Band D council tax charge in Scotland is £1,308 - significantly less than the average band D charges in England and Wales for the same period which are £1,818 and £1,667 respectively.

Our draft budget set out that £90 million is being made available to support local authorities in 2021-22, giving them the opportunity to freeze council tax at 2020-21 levels and protect Scottish households from council tax increases equivalent to around 3%.

As Councils are not required to set the council tax rate that will apply in their local authority area in 2021-22 until 11 March, figures for the average Band D charge will be published in early April, with the equivalent charges for England and Wales also expected to be available around that time.

As I set out on 23 February 2020 ( Support for mesh victims - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , we have continued work to establish a Case Record Review for women who have raised concerns about whether their case records accurately reflect the treatment that they have received, specifically in relation to full and partial removal of mesh. This Review will give women an opportunity to set out their concerns and have their records reviewed by clinicians to allow for discussion, explanation and mutual understanding.

I am pleased to be able to announce that the Review Panel has now finalised and I have commissioned Professor Alison Britton to lead the Review as the Moderator. Alison Britton is a Professor of Healthcare and Medical Law at Glasgow Caledonian University and previously conducted the “Investigative Review into the process of establishing, managing and supporting Independent Reviews in Scotland”, published in 2018. I am pleased that Professor Britton has agreed to take on this role.

Professor Britton will be joined by three experienced clinicians and an administrator. The clinicians joining Professor Britton on the Review Panel are:

Professor Anthony Smith,

Professor of Urogynaecology, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre,

Consultant Gynaecologist (retired)

Mr Ian Currie,

Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust,

Vice President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2011-2016

Dr Carey Lunan MBE,

GP, NHS Lothian,

Chair of Royal College of GPs, Scotland, 2017-2020

Finally, Mrs Irene Brown, who worked with Professor Britton on the 2018 Review will join the Panel as the administrator.

The Panel members have been chosen based on their individual qualities, expertise, knowledge, authority and standing.

Professor Britton will shortly be inviting women who are eligible for the Review to take part. In the first instance, the Review will be offered to those who attended the meetings in November 2019 with the First Minister and myself. This is to ensure that the Review achieves its purpose. However we will consider whether we can offer more women a review using a similar model in the future.

The Review is entirely voluntary and does not, in any way, replace the processes that are already in place for an individual to raise a complaint or pursue legal action.

The First Minister and I take the commitment we made to women at our meetings very seriously and regret that the COVID-19 pandemic unavoidably delayed this work. I hope that this important work helps those who have concerns about their mesh removal.

Credentialing

In light of concerns that have been raised with me, in person by patients, in the media and also in the Scottish Parliament, I have written to the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) to express my support for the introduction of a GMC approved credential in mesh removal surgery.

As Specialist Centres are established across the UK, credentialing will define the skills required to perform mesh removal surgery, and set out how these skills can be acquired and assessed. By formally recognising the skills of our surgeons, credentialing will provide assurance for patients and the service, will reduce the risk of harm and will help improve public confidence.