Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill is concerned with the use of dogs to hunt wild mammals. The Bill does not differentiate between breeds of dogs. Field trials which only involve the hunting of birds are not covered by the provisions of this Bill.

For field trials that involve the use of dogs to hunt wild mammals the participants will have to abide by the provisions of the Bill.

These provisions set out that any person who uses a dog to, for example, search for and flush a wild rabbit from cover, may continue to do so provided that the conditions set out in section 6(2) of the Bill are met, including:

• The activity does not involve the use of more than two dogs
• Any dog used in the activity is under control
• Reasonable steps are taken to ensure that any dog used in the activity does not join with others to form a pack of more than two dogs

The majority of funding available to local authorities is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government and it is for locally elected representatives to manage the allocation of their total resources and the level of services that are delivered to their local communities, including on local roads and pavements.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02957 on 12 October 2021 . 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 .

This data is not held by Scottish Government or currently available in the format requested.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) collect and report vaccine data for Scotland. Data is not published by vaccine type/manufacturer. However, the COVID-19 Statistical Report (publichealthscotland.scot) , last updated on the 02 November 2022, has data on number of citizens vaccinated by health board.

The total number of Covid Vaccinations delivered up to 7th November 2022, was 14,414,300.

Following the opening of the consultation published on 4 July 2022, setting out the measures proposed for the next Land Reform Bill, a programme of six public meetings took place. In addition, an online event was held on Thursday 22 July, which was open to all and which attracted participants from across Scotland.

At each of these events I, and my officials, made presentations setting out what the SG aims to achieve with the next Land Reform Bill. One of our key objectives is to ensure that communities benefit from investment in Scotland's natural capital, whether directly through ownership of land, or through engagement and co-operation with landowners.

Those attending the meetings included individuals, businesses, owners of farms and estates and their land managers and legal representatives, charity and third sector organisations, local authorities, and academic and research organisations/institutions.

One of the five ‘pillars’ of the Community Wealth Building framework is “Land and Property: Growing social, ecological, financial and economic value that local communities gain from land and property assets”. This objective is reflected not only in the measures we put forward in the Bill, but will also be realised through our commitment to double the funding available through the Scottish Land Fund for communities to acquire land and land assets.

The Scottish Government are not aware of plans to roll out the use of Rezum steam treatment throughout NHSScotland. This treatment is currently being offered by NHS Fife and has been since December 2020.

It is ultimately for the 14 Territorial Health Boards across Scotland to decide whether to procure and apply this intervention as part of their treatment for patients with enlarged prostate.

Health Boards receive support from Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s, Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in making such decisions. SHTG and NICE provide clinical and cost effectiveness evidence advice on the use of new and existing health technologies when they are likely to have significant implications for people’s care.

In keeping with our statutory and other assessment requirements we published our Integrated Impact Assessments (IIA) alongside Draft NPF4, and invited comment. This included an Environmental Report, setting out the likely significant environmental effects of Draft NPF4 including on climatic factors. Our assessment findings and the comments received have been taken into account in finalising the Revised Draft NPF4 which was laid in Parliament on 8 November. The IIA is available from the Scottish Government’s website: www.gov.scot .

The Scottish Government wants everyone to receive the best possible care and treatment from our health and care services. We have set out the wider policy within which NHS Scotland is expected to deliver services, and we expect all NHS Boards to continue to provide high quality care that is safe, effective and person-centred. Across our health service, pharmacists, the ambulance service, NHS 24, GPs and hospital staff are working hard to ensure that patients get the care they need.

In common with health services across the UK and globally, NHS Scotland is working under significant pressure as the pandemic continues to affect services, and we expect this winter to be one of the most difficult the NHS has faced. While these challenges persist, people who are unwell should always seek help.

The Scottish Government’s Winter Resilience Overview sets out £600m of investment to support winter resilience across our health and care system. These measures across will help ensure people get the right care they need at the right time and in the most appropriate setting. We will also expand our workforce, particularly registered nurses, to assist with the expected increase in workload.

On 2 November, we launched the Right Care Right Place media campaign as part of the wider Stay Well This Winter messaging. We want the public to better understand the healthcare services available to them so they can make more informed choices about the right care in the right place for their specific health care needs.

As of the end of the day on 7 November 2022, there had been a total of 31,118,359 journeys made under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme. 40.6% of these journeys were made by cardholders aged 5-15. 59.4% of these journeys were made by cardholders aged 16-21.

This data is for total journeys made through the scheme and is not split into Young Scot branded and non-Young Scot branded National Entitlement Cards.

The Scottish Government published its winter resilience plan on 4 October. This sets out a range of actions we are taking to support our health and social sector throughout the winter period - Health and social care: winter resilience overview 2022 to 2023 - gov.scot.

The COVID-19 Four Harms group continue to meet fortnightly to review and consider the overall threat level of Covid-19 in Scotland guided by evidence provided by the Chief Medical Officer. The group are ready to respond to any surge in infections, outbreaks or variant of concern and have contingency planning in place.

For all scenarios we know that effective and timely delivery of the seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccines is crucial, and our winter vaccination programme is now well underway. As of 30th October 2022, 2,420,721 Autumn/Winter Vaccines have been administered in Scotland – 1,214,300 COVID-19 vaccines and 1,206,421 adult flu vaccines. Over 87% of older adult care home residents, and 80% of over-65s have received their COVID-19 booster thus far.

We continue to monitor RSV as part of the Public Health Scotland’s surveillance programme and currently have no evidence to suggest that we are facing an RSV epidemic this winter. NHS Board winter plans take into account the predicted surge of seasonal flu, RSV and Norovirus activity that can happen between October and March and have adequate resources in place to deal with potential outbreaks across this period.