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The Scottish Government co-funds and participates in the Perinatal Audit and Perinatal Mortality Review Tool as part of Mothers and Babies, Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK).

The Scottish Government continues to support implementation of The Best Start programme, in partnership with senior leaders and clinicians, and evidence suggests that Best Start interventions such as continuity of carer are particularly important for women and babies who may experience inequalities in health outcomes. Scotland has a programme of work underway to tackle racialized inequalities in health outcomes, and NHS maternity services are part of that work. Scotland also participates in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Race Equality Taskforce .

The Scottish Government has no functions concerning the legal protections in place to protect disabled people from disability discrimination during the employment-seeking process. These functions are reserved to the UK Parliament, as set out in Section 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. More information is available on the Scottish Parliaments website( https://www.parliament.scot/about/how-parliament-works/devolved-and-reserved-powers )

This information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government's decision making criteria for international development spending are as set out in our 2016 Strategy available at Global Citizenship: Scotland's International Development Strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). However, we are currently implementing a review of our International Development Strategy following a review in 2021 (full details available at Coronavirus (COVID-19): review of international development programme - International development - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). We are planning to have a revised International Development Programme in place from 2023 which is being guided by the recommendations of the 2021 review. Full details of the new International Development Programme, covering decision making criteria and more, will be made available on gov.scot as these become available.

We are working towards publishing the refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan before the end of the year. As part of this, we have been working with the culture sector to identify priority workstreams to support recovery and renewal, taking into account the combined impact of the Covid pandemic, EU Exit, and the cost of living crisis, and are considering the recommendations from the Creative Industries Leadership Group and National Partnership for Culture. We published the Scottish Government’s response to the National Partnership for Culture recommendations in September 2022.

Full details of the Scottish Government's monitoring and evaluation of International Development spending is available at Monitoring and evaluating international funding - International development - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government has had regular discussions with Museums Galleries Scotland on its decision to pause its small grants programme during the current cost of living crisis. It was jointly agreed that MGS would pause its programme to determine the best way to make use of the remaining funds it receives from the government and address the sector’s needs and priorities at this time.

MGS has created a new Resilience Fund to better support the sector for the remainder of the year. This was announced to the sector on 12 October.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11261 on 19 October 2022. 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

NHS Boards do not fund the costs of private dental treatment. The budget for NHS General Dental Services is entirely for NHS dentistry.

Private dental care was subject to the same infection prevention controls that reduced access to dental services during the pandemic period.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with Museums Galleries Scotland to understand the current challenges faced by the sector. We have agreed with Museums Galleries Scotland that it will repurpose the grants it receives from the Scottish Government into a new Resilience Fund, in order to support museums to build their resilience through activity that will reduce costs, increase income and support communities. This new fund was announced on 12 October.