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The Scottish Government is investing an additional £20 million per year, for the lifetime of this Parliament, to help reduce the harms caused by alcohol and drugs. We will be writing to stakeholders in the coming weeks with details of how this investment will be allocated to support new and innovative approaches which responds to the needs of patients in a more joined up person centred way.

The Scottish Government National Support Team take forward key projects to deliver national strategic priorities. It is also available to support capacity building and sharing of learning and good practice amongst Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) in order to promote the delivery of our national strategic priorities. Examples include:

• National data collection, and support for the use of that data to progress against core outcomes;
•  Support through implementation planning for the Drug and Alcohol Information System (DAISY), including adaptions to local delivery systems and IT infrastructure, to ensure full compliance with data entry and national reporting requirements;
• A whole population approach to addressing problem alcohol use, including Minimum Unit Pricing;
• Providing £1.326 million funding to the Scottish Drugs Forum, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, Crew and the Scottish Recovery Consortium to strengthening engagement with the sector in relation to policy objectives and workforce development;
•  Developing plans to reduce drug and alcohol deaths and harm.

ADPs are strongly encouraged to use the national support that is available to them as well as utilising local expertise.

The Microsegmentation of the Autism Spectrum Report was commissioned as a recommendation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism. The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the findings and recommendations of this report, published on 22 March 2018, in partnership with Integration Joint Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. The report is available from the following link: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00533382.pdf .

In response to the question “what the recognised qualifications are for each microsegment”. Following clarification of this question it has been established that the question is “What is the criteria for each microsegment” The criteria is explained as follows:

The eight segments have been developed from the survey data of a sample of approximately 1,000 individuals, combined with the evidence base from the literature. The criteria for each segment are as set out below. The criteria within each main segment for with or without additive risks are also explained below.

Segment 1: Asperger profile. No ID.

Criteria: Individuals who either have a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome or who are diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder, with clinically normal language and intellectual development, and without severe early onset symptoms.

Segment 2: Autism/other ASD profile. No ID.

Criteria: Individuals with a diagnosis of childhood autism, atypical autism, or PDD-NOS, or autism spectrum disorder, but without intellectual disability.

Segment 3: Autism/other ASD profile. Mild ID (scores 50-70).

Criteria: Individuals with a diagnosis of childhood autism, atypical autism, or PDD-NOS, or autism spectrum disorder, with mild intellectual disability, that is, with standard scores for intelligence and adaptive functioning falling in the range 50-70.

Segment 4: Autism/other ASD profile. Moderate/severe ID (scores 50-70).

Criteria: Individuals with a diagnosis of childhood autism, atypical autism, or PDD-NOS, or autism spectrum disorder, with moderate or severe intellectual disability, that is, with standard scores for intelligence and adaptive functioning falling below 50.

Within each of the four main segments there are two divisions:

A: those who meet criteria for the profile applying to that segment, but who do not have additive risks, that is, who do not have co-occurring conditions in addition to their autism spectrum disorder.

B: those who meet criteria for the profile applying to that segment, but who do have additive risks, that is, who have one or more co-occurring conditions in addition to their autism spectrum disorder, such as ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder or any other diagnosable mental health disorder.

The Scottish Government continues to work with Scottish local authorities through Zero Waste Scotland, to tackle all forms of fly tipping including asbestos and other hazardous materials. Information about the cost of removing materials that have been fly tipped is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not set targets for the treatment of stroke patients. The Scottish Stroke Care Standards, in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA), are used to assess the performance of stroke services, at a Scotland wide, NHS Board or individual hospital level, not at the level of individual patients. The standards are set at a level which aims to be both challenging but achievable by hospitals. It is, therefore, inevitable that some stroke services will not meet some standards. This is done to encourage improvements in performance. Once a Standard is routinely exceeded by all hospitals it is recommended it is raised. Stroke services need to use appropriate Quality Improvement methods to optimise their own performance.

Our Stroke Improvement Plan (2014) sets out a comprehensive programme for further reducing the number of deaths from stroke and improving stroke treatment and care across the whole patient pathway. It focuses on providing the best possible care in the acute setting, as well as helping peoples’ longer-term recovery in their own communities. The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme measures progress towards meeting the priorities in the Improvement Plan.

The SSCA shows that last year’s modest improvements were maintained in all four ‘bundle’ standards, the most important overall indictor of the performance of stroke services. NHS boards report self-evaluated performance against the Stroke Improvement Plan priorities, and this shows variability across the country. The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme National Report 2018 contains the results of the annual Scottish Stroke Care Audit and NHS boards benchmarking against the Stroke Improvement Plan priorities and is available at https://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/index.html

A Directors of Planning Thrombectomy Advisory Group is developing a national planning framework for the provision of thrombectomy for stroke for Scotland. The development of the framework will consider all the elements required to deliver the service. It is anticipated that the framework will be completed by spring 2019 and will be submitted to Directors of Planning and follow due process for the planning of NHS Scotland services.

Sunscreen is available on prescription to patients who have specific medical conditions. This includes people with photosensitivity due to genetic conditions and cancer patients who have skin photosensitivity as a result of radiotherapy.

Energy Efficient Scotland is a long-term programme and as such, its development is on-going. Our Energy Efficient Scotland Transition Programme launched on 2 May for consultation with stakeholders, and builds on our existing programmes and earlier pilots and supports the continuing development of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies.

Under our existing domestic schemes we already distribute funding based on an assessment of need, and take into account the additional costs associated with interventions in remote rural areas, which means that these areas, including all island communities, currently receive a higher than average per-capita spend.

Details of future programme delivery will be developed in partnership with each of Scotland's 32 Local Authorities and other partners, and will be set out in 2020. Further analysis will be undertaken to fully understand the breakdown of expenditure required (from public, private and third sector sources) to improve the energy efficiency of rural and urban buildings. There are a number of factors which will affect the breakdown of expenditure including built form, construction type and heat supply.

Our estimates of the costs of improving Scotland’s domestic and non-domestic buildings were set out in the Energy Efficient Scotland Consultation. We estimate that the cost of meeting the programme for domestic properties is in the region of £8 billion, to bring around 75% of Scotland’s private sector domestic buildings to EPC C and around 50% of its social rented sector properties to EPC B. Current estimates place the total cost of improving the energy efficiency of our non-domestic buildings at £2-4 billion. The Energy Efficient Scotland Consultation closed on 27 July and can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00534912.pdf

As set out in the Energy Efficient Scotland Routemap we will continue to provide grant funding to support households in fuel poverty to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. For businesses and households who are not in fuel poverty we will continue to make available low-cost loans to help them spread the costs of investing in energy efficiency improvements.

Details of future programme delivery will be set out in 2020 and further analysis will be undertaken to fully understand the breakdown of expenditure required (from public, private and third sector sources) to improve the energy efficiency of Scotland’s buildings. There are a number of factors which will affect the breakdown of expenditure including built form, construction type and heat supply.

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is an extremely rare disease affecting around 100 people across the UK. The treatment and supervision for this condition is highly specialised and is best delivered through specialist hospital services which can provide expert advice to fit the particular needs of the patient concerned.

Scottish Government contract with NHS England to ensure access for Scottish patients to highly specialised service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

In Scotland, the only high-security hospital is The State Hospital in Carstairs, South Lanarkshire. The security arrangements in that hospital are the responsibility of the hospital itself and are decided upon in the context of ensuring staff and patient safety, and supporting effective incident reporting and investigation. The hospital is currently investigating the use of body cameras and their use and utility in similar environments in order to decide how such use may fit into supporting those aims.