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Reducing health inequalities is a clear priority for the Scottish Government and one of the biggest challenges we face, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Providing people with the right support locally and connecting them to the right services is crucial if we are to improve their wealth and their health.

The SG established a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) in October 2020 in acknowledgement of the key role of Primary Care in relation to tackling inequalities. The purpose of the group was not to conduct an academic or systematic review of the literature but to draw on the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders with extensive experience in this field. The group has also worked closely with an expert reference group of people who have lived experience of suffering the impact of health inequality first hand.

The SLWG’s remit was to identify service improvements and actions specifically for Primary Care to help reduce health inequalities and improve health equity. The report of the Primary Care Health Inequalities SLWG can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804351642 . It makes a series of recommendations which cover a range of short-term and long-terms actions, which will tackle health inequalities and inequity head-on in primary care settings and wider communities. These include actions to improve equalities data in general practice, strengthening the focus of inequalities through the GP contract and a new Enhanced Service for the first time focussed on activating practices’ full potential to proactively support vulnerable people at risk of poor health outcomes.

I intend to give detailed consideration to the recommendations made and implementation options. I also wish to place on record my sincere thanks to the SLWG and the Chance to Change Group, both of whom gave considerable time and energy to this key priority during Covid-19.

The introduction of a criteria to determine the reopening of the Edington Hospital in North Berwick was determined by the East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership. The criteria was agreed with input from senior nursing colleagues and is intended to support NHS Lothian Gold Command consider the potential options for returning bed capacity to the Edington Hospital.

Decisions about local provision are best made locally, so when to re-open Edington is one for NHS Lothian and East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership to make. However, any decision made must take into account the needs of the local population, and ensure an appropriate level of service is in place to meet those needs.

I have frequent discussions with Ministerial colleagues on a range of matters. We are committed to reforming council tax to make it fairer, working with the Scottish Green Party and COSLA to oversee the development of effective deliberative engagement on sources of local government funding. including Council Tax, that will culminate in a Citizens' Assembly.

Any new benefit intended to top-up reserved benefits would have to be developed with research and testing among potential users, and close collaboration with DWP and other stakeholders. For delivery of new benefits, we need to develop and test all application and case management systems to ensure households are able to apply, in addition to obtaining data from DWP and HMRC in order to process and administer the benefit. Any work of such nature is extremely complex and takes a considerable period of time to develop, build and deliver. It would require other priorities to be set aside.

New benefits also require legislation to be made by the Scottish Parliament. The procedures for scrutinising proposed legislation are set out in the Standing Orders of the Parliament. There may also be a requirement for amending regulations to be laid by the UK Government, to ensure that any new income provided by the top-up of reserved benefits does not affect entitlement to other reserved benefits.

The 22 zero-emission electric buses owned by First Bus, which were partly funded through Transport Scotland's Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS), are all now in service on routes in Glasgow following COP26 in October.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has advised that it is in discussions with the manufacturer of Palforzia ® , Aimmune Therapeutics UK Limited, regarding their plans for a submission to the SMC’s appraisal process. The decision to make a submission, and the timing of that submission, are entirely for the manufacturer to make. Information on SMC timelines and submission scheduling can be found here . Once the manufacturer has provided the Palforzia ® submission to the SMC, information on the specific timelines for this assessment will be available via the search facility available on the home page of the SMC’s website here . After a submission is received and scheduled for review by the SMC, the resulting advice is e published and takes effect for NHS Scotland from the month following the review meeting.

As soon as the medicine is submitted to the SMC for appraisal, Health Boards have procedures in place using the Peer Approved Clinical System “PACS Tier Two” process which provides an opportunity for doctors, on a case by case basis for individual patients, to request the use of the medicine in advance of the SMC completing the appraisal process and issuing its advice.

My officials have worked closely with VoiceAbility, and continue to support them to develop comprehensive training packages for their advocates. This training will be delivered through VoiceAbility’s newly established training centre and Scottish headquarters in Glasgow.

Training provides all necessary information on Scottish benefits; the application and appeals process; and the Scottish Social Security Principles set out in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and underpinned by Social Security Scotland’s Charter. In return, VoiceAbility Learning and Development leads have supported Social Security Scotland counterparts to develop training resources for client advisors – setting out the principles of advocacy, as well as the client journey following referral to the service.

Officials will continue to monitor the service as it develops to ensure that all training packages are relevant and up to date.

There are a number of actions in place to promote Best Start Grant School Age Payment. We are promoting this payment as part of the Five Family Payments campaign. This campaign focuses on the three Best Start Grant payments, Best Start Foods and Scottish Child Payment. It includes paid-for television and radio advertising that encourages parents and carers to access the support to which they are entitled.

We are also promoting the School Age Payment through tailored and targeted social media posts, as well as news stories and press releases. This includes interviews containing School Age Payment case studies which ran on TV last year when the new school year started. Through all of this activity, we have been highlighting the deadline for applications which is the 28 February 2022.

Using information from DWP and HMRC, Social Security Scotland writes directly to families who may be eligible, inviting them to apply for School Age Payments. This proactive approach to maximising benefit uptake is a first for Social Security Scotland.

Social Security Scotland has written to all nurseries and primary schools in the country, ahead of the application deadline, to raise awareness of the payment. Through their monthly stakeholder newsletter, Social Security Scotland continually promotes the School Age Payment.

Shona Robison: There is no central source for this information, however some of this information is held by local authorities and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

In November 2019, the Scottish Funding Council published a call for information to Scotland’s Colleges and Universities to seek assurances on fire safety in their respective estates. All Universities and colleges advised they had collated up to date information on the cladding types used on their buildings. All but one of 28 institutions reported satisfaction that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that where cladding is present, it is safe. The Scottish Government relayed this information to SFRS.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) are the enforcing authority for most non-domestic premises that are covered by Scottish fire safety legislation i.e. Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. SFRS have a risk-based audit programme which targets activities and resources at premises which offer the greatest risk to the safety of relevant persons in the event of fire. SFRS enforcement activity is about promoting and enabling sustained compliance with the law. It also ensures that actions are taken to deal promptly with serious risk and that duty-holders who fail in their obligations are held to account. Confidential information on fire safety and to some extent, building construction, is therefore collected and evaluated as part of a SFRS enforcement audit.

Building warrant applications are checked by local authority verifiers for compliance with the building standards (including fire safety as set out in Section 2 of the Technical Handbooks). During construction, a Reasonable Inquiry process allows for assessment of the works in accordance with the approved (compliant) building warrant drawings. Only after a new building’s completion certificate is accepted by the verifier can the building be occupied. Local Authorities keep building standards registers, including building warrant records.

VoiceAbility has recruited 16 advocates to date and have a further 15 on reserve from the recruitment process. VoiceAbility will create up to 100 new roles in Scotland, and will continue to recruit as the demand for the service increases.

As highlighted in the response to S6W-06622 on 11 March 2022, there will be no staff permanently based at VoiceAbility’s Glasgow premises. Instead staff will be home-based in every NHS area – ensuring national coverage and reducing costs, whilst also being flexible and responsive to fluctuating demand.

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