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Taking action on menopause in the workplace is included in our Gender Pay Gap Action Plan.

As part of our activity, we have expanded the criteria for the Workforce Equality Fund to encourage applications that offer support for workers transitioning through the menopause. We also supported the Festival of Ageing in May where we raised awareness of menopause in the workplace to a range of organisations and employers.

The Scottish Government as an employer is showing leadership by renewing its own menopause policy to be launched later this year.

Along with the UK Government and the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government has agreed to update some specific variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) precautionary measures in Scotland, England and Wales.

In 2004, the Scottish Government was advised to establish precautionary vCJD risk reduction measures in the UK, acknowledging the unknown risks of vCJD to recipients of UK plasma and platelets. A number of measures were introduced, such as the introduction of leucodepletion of all blood components and the deferral of previously-transfused donors. These specific risk reduction measures are highly effective and will remain in place to maintain the safety of the UK blood supply.

An additional risk reduction measure adopted involved the treatment of patients born on or after 1 January 1996 with imported plasma and/or apheresis platelets, along with providing imported plasma for patients with Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (TTP, a rare blood disorder). This was to reduce the risk of exposure to components that were thought to have potentially increased their risk of developing vCJD.

Over the last 15 years, accrued scientific evidence has indicated that the risk of vCJD through the transfusion of UK plasma or platelets is much lower than initially thought; there have been no known transfusion transmissions of vCJD from any blood components since the leucodepletion process was introduced. In March 2019, the independent Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) reviewed the scientific evidence and operational practices and engaged with stakeholders. As a result SaBTO has recommended that the specific risk reduction measures requiring the use of imported plasma and apheresis platelets for individuals born on or after 1 January 1996 and imported plasma for patients with TTP can be withdrawn.

SaBTO’s final advice has been published, providing a comprehensive analysis of the risk attributed with updating these vCJD risk reduction measures. This advice is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sabto-reports-and-guidance-documents .

In light of SaBTO’s advice, the Scottish Government has approved the use of domestic plasma and pooled platelets for patients born on or after 1 January 1996 and of domestic plasma for patients with TTP. Other risk reduction measures will remain in place, including leucodepletion, deferral of previously-transfused donors and a ban on the manufacture of plasma-derived medicinal products from plasma sourced in the UK.

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) already sources the majority of plasma from donors in Scotland and increasing domestic plasma use will provide further benefits relating to equitable provision of blood components, reduced operational complexity for hospitals and increased accessibility at the point of use. Clinicians who wish to prescribe and source commercial imported plasma for patients, based on patient need and clinical preference, will continue to be able to do so.

The Scottish Government has therefore asked SNBTS to begin implementing SaBTO’s recommendations.

I am pleased to announce that a pre-legislative consultation on financial redress for historical abuse in care in Scotland has been published today. The responses to this consultation will help shape the legislation which will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament during 2020 and I encourage survivors and other interested parties to take part in this consultation.

Getting the design of a financial redress scheme right is of the utmost importance; we heard the views of many survivors to an earlier consultation in 2017 on the potential provision of financial redress. Those views provide the starting point for this consultation.

This consultation asks questions about scheme design and also includes wider issues, including how those responsible should contribute to the scheme, the establishment of a public body to administer the scheme, and the potential alignment of financial redress with other elements of a reparation package for survivors of historical abuse in care.

Fair Start Scotland (FSS) is Scotland’s devolved employability support service and is designed to offer personalised support on a voluntary basis to help people, including those who are further removed from the labour market, who want help to find work and stay in work.

The Scottish Government has proactively published information on its devolved employability services since December 2017 and is committed to the ongoing improvement of employment support in Scotland. Today, we are publishing the first report on Fair Start Scotland Evaluation: Implementation and Early Delivery Review. It is available in SPICe at BIB reference 60799.

This report identifies initial areas of success and for improvement across the first six months of service delivery (to Sept 2018), providing the first evidence of the Scottish approach to provision of employability services that treat people with fairness, dignity and respect and highlighting the actions being taken to improve longer term delivery.

We will continue to publish statistics on Fair Start Scotland on a quarterly basis and our next evaluation report, focusing on the first full year of services up to March 2019, is due to be published in September.

The Scottish Government response will be published today on the Scottish Government website at 9:30am.

The short-life working group was established after the meeting I had with women at the Scottish Parliament in March.

As has been set out in response to parliamentary questions (S5W-22523 on 1 May 2019 and S5W-23623 on 6 June 2019) the remit of the Accountable Officer short life working group, examining the present course of care for women who experience mesh complications, is to consider what additional steps could be taken to offer choice to women who want – and are clinically suitable for – removal of mesh.

The membership of this group comprises health board accountable officers, senior clinicians, and other relevant individuals. The group has held two meetings to date, and will meet for a third time tomorrow (Friday 14 June).

A recent report in the press suggested this group was formed to reinstate transvaginal mesh implants in Scotland. These reports and claims are wholly false and without foundation. I know this false report has created unnecessary distress to women who are already enduring the suffering caused by mesh complications.

I have been very clear that the complete halt to transvaginal mesh procedures, which I announced last September, would only be lifted if a high vigilance, restricted use protocol is developed to my satisfaction. At this stage I do not think there is a prospect of the halt being lifted, and I have not asked that any planning take place to consider the lifting of the halt.

The short-life working group is expected to publish its initial findings in the autumn. However, we are currently giving consideration to whether there are any improvements that can be made in the short term. I expect to be able to make a further update on this shortly.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .