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Any decision on whether or not to introduce a new national screening programme in Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy. In 2017, the UK NSC recommended against the introduction of a Group B Streptococcus (GBS) screening programme. If a recommendation is made by the UK NSC to introduce GBS screening then the Scottish Screening Committee, in consultation with medical experts in this field, will advise Scottish Ministers on the most appropriate course of action for Scotland.

The GBS3 clinical trial , run by the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit, is looking to gather evidence on whether a universal screening programme would be both clinically and cost effective. The UK NSC will review the evidence for screening once findings from the GBS3 clinical trial are published and the Scottish Screening Committee will give careful consideration to any recommendation the NSC makes. All NHS Boards have been made aware of the opportunity to participate in the GBS3 trial.

The Scottish Government has provided £9,144,964 to Health Boards for the provision of smoking cessation services.

This funding is calculated on the basis of smoking rates and deprivation and is used to provide the free Quit Your Way service. This service includes an interactive website, offering expert advice and support to those seeking to quit tobacco products. Local support services and access to a range of free medications and products are provided to help people stop smoking.

Litigation is ongoing and external costs will be published on a regular basis. We will publish initial data on spending in September, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, until the conclusion of the litigation.

As outlined in the Programme for Government 2021 – 22 A Fairer, Greener Scotland: Programme for Government 2021-22 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) published in September 2021, the Scottish Government is committed to establishing a dignified and compassionate miscarriage service. As part of this, the Scottish Government wants to ensure that NHS Boards are able to provide dedicated facilities for women who are experiencing unexpected pregnancy complications.

This aligns with the commitments set out in Womens-Health-Plan-2021-2024 in regards to women experiencing miscarriage and unexpected pregnancy complications.

We welcome the report by ASH Scotland on smoking and mental health and aim to discuss with them details of their report findings. Smoking prevalence among those experiencing mental ill-health is higher than the national average. Finding solutions to this is an important step and one currently being considered as part of our revised Tobacco Control Action Plan.

Spending on active travel will increase throughout Scotland as we realise the Programme for Government commitment to increase the active travel budget to at least £320 million or 10% of the transport budget from 2024-25 onwards. The detail of how that significant increase in investment will apply in different local authority areas is still to be determined.

The Scottish Government supports all local authorities to deliver active travel through a variety of programmes including several run by third sector partners which local authorities can bid into and two direct funds – a LA resource fund of £2 million and a capital fund of £35 million (Cycling Walking and Safer Streets) both distributed pro rata this year across all 32 local authorities.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage their school estate.

NHS Scotland Assure has carried out twenty Key Stage Assurance Reviews (KSARs) since it was established. At the conclusion of the KSAR, NHS Assure advises whether it supports or does not support a project. Where a project is not supported, an action plan is prepared by the responsible Health Board with support from NHS Scotland Assure to address the issues identified. The project can subsequently be reassessed. Twelve of the twenty KSARs resulted in a “supported” decision and eight resulted in a “not supported” decision and work is underway to address the issues identified. Responsibility for approving business cases continues to lie with the Scottish Government.

NHS Scotland Assure has so far supported the following projects at the full business case stage:

Marine Scotland officials have been in touch with the pay team and have confirmed that the remaining claims for pay for specified leave days will be paid in July’s salary. Steps are being taken to review the current process to reduce the chance of similar delays occurring in the future.

The Scottish Government does not hold national data for infectious diseases screening, antenatal haemoglobinopathies screening, or foetal anomaly ultrasound examinations within the pregnancy screening programme. These can be requested directly from individual NHS boards.

Further to the answer to question S6W-02453 which provided information on the number of trisomy screens taken between January 2019 and June 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 The following table provides information on the number of trisomy screens taken each month in the period which followed from July 2021 to June 2022: