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The Scottish Government is open to considering all interventions that can be demonstrated to improve access to and engagement with hepatitis C testing and treatment.

People who are at risk as a result of their drug use often experience a range of health and social issues. That’s why eliminating Hepatitis C from Scotland requires a person-centred approach. NHS Tayside became the first region in the world to achieve elimination by using a person centred approach, leading to better engagement and more successful treatment.

A range of work is under way in partnership with the Scottish Health Protection Network Hepatitis C group to embed this learning more widely; In the meantime, we have funded pilots, such as the Cocoon Project, which is specifically focused on those who inject drugs. The pilot will be evaluated in due course and any learning will be shared to enable a system-wide improvement across Scotland.

Crown Estate Scotland (CES) and the Scottish Government were informed of The Crown Estate’s Round 4 results at the same time. These results indicated a significant change in the offshore wind market. As the ScotWind registration and application process had already opened, CES informed Scottish Ministers that it intended to pause the process in order to conduct a rapid review. The Scottish Government provided advice on process and implications for broader offshore wind policies in Scotland. During the review, Scottish Government were kept regularly informed of the review’s progress through to completion as delivery of the review as swiftly as possible was key to keeping the ScotWind process on track.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 must be implemented effectively so that, once in force, it offers robust protections to victims. The Scottish Government is working closely with justice partners to agree a suitable commencement date for the Act.

To complement the implementation of the Act, we are developing a new hate crime strategy for publication later this year, which will help to guide how we successfully tackle hatred and prejudice in Scotland.

To support this, I chaired the inaugural meeting of the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group on 28 April. This group will provide a collaborative, multi-agency approach to the Strategy’s development.

In the period between 2012 and 2021 there have been 72,683 hernia mesh repairs. Rectopexy mesh analysis is not currently produced. Public Health Scotland are in the process of developing the correct codes to use for future analysis.

Now that the Public Inquiry is complete Scottish Ministers are considering the terms of the report received on 18 February 2022 and should be in a position to make a decision in due course.

Following an independent expert review process, 9 projects were funded through the CSO's Long-term effects of COVID-19 call Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

CSO funded research project start dates are confirmed through submission by the corresponding host institution of a completed start certificate ( Form7-Start-Certificate.docx (live.com) )

The following table shows the confirmed start dates and derived end dates for the 9 projects funded through the Long-term effects of COVID-19 call

The Scottish Government recognises that there are potential risks associated with playing instant win games. Instant win games can have some of the characteristics of commercial gambling products such as increased speed of play and instant gratification which are associated with higher risk of harm. Instant access to these activities through online methods can also create more continuous-play formats which are the most highly associated with harms.

The Scottish Government understands that the Gambling Commission, the body responsible for the regulation of the National Lottery, has recently investigated the National Lottery £10 instant win games. These have now been withdrawn due to the possible link between higher priced games and problem gambling. The new operators of the National Lottery are obligated to ensure that those at risk from gambling harms are protected from them. The Scottish Government would therefore expect the new operators to take the appropriate measures to protect people from harm.

We have followed the recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific body that advises all four UK nations on screening, that women between the ages of 50 and 70 should be invited for three yearly routine breast screening. That is because there is clear evidence of benefit from screening women of that age group. The UK NSC does not recommend that women over 71 are invited for breast screening because the same evidence of benefit does not yet exist.

Prior to COVID-19, women aged 71 and over had the option to self-refer because there was enough capacity to allow them to do so. While programme capacity remains challenging due to the impacts of COVID-19, there remains a pause on self-referrals for those over the age of 71 to allow appointments to be prioritised for the recommended screening population.

However, in recognition of the anxiety that the pause on self-referrals is causing, work is underway with the National Screening Oversight and the Scottish Breast Screening Programme Board to explore ways to restart the self-referral route by Autumn 2022, in a way that does not unduly impact screening of the eligible cohort.

We continue to emphasise that, regardless of their age, women should remain symptom aware and report any concerns to their GP immediately for these to be investigated and followed up as appropriate.

The National Lottery is reserved to the UK Government and this information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Ministers were alerted to a decline in National Lottery ticket sales and to a consequent reduction in National Lottery good cause income in December 2016.

A mitigation strategy has been in place since October 2016 for a collaborative approach bringing together DCMS, the Gambling Commission, distributors and Camelot to address falling sales.

This includes Camelot undertaking a strategic review to return the lottery to growth; distributors promoting the link between National Lottery and Good cause projects; DCMS and the Gambling Commission are working with lottery distributors on potential levels of income if current trends continue.

Good cause returns for 2019-20 and for 2020-21 were better than expected and a total of £1,887 million was raised in 2020-21.