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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.

As part of delivering on this commitment the Scottish Government will support the development of individualised care plans after a woman’s first miscarriage and take forward specific recommendations made in the Lancet series on miscarriage published on 26 April 2021 https://www.thelancet.com/series/miscarriage .

A scoping exercise into the availability of services within NHS Boards for miscarriage and unexpected pregnancy complications is underway. The results of this exercise will be analysed over the summer and will inform improvements to miscarriage services.

The Scottish Government has not been requested to research an 8,000 headcount reduction in the Scottish civil service.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews its workforce numbers to ensure affordability, and that the organisation is delivering for the people of Scotland as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The UK Government has not provided details on how their plans to reduce the number of civil servants by 91,000 will affect their staff working in Scotland. There are around 24,800 [1] Civil Servants who are part of the reserved Public Sector in Scotland.

The UK Government plans do not have a direct impact on civil servants who serve the Scottish Government, as the responsibility lies with Scottish Ministers and the Permanent Secretary when it comes to determining our workforce size.

[1] Source: Public Sector Employment In Scotland Statistics For 1st Quarter 2022 .

The Scottish Government publish official statistics on the prison population on an annual basis. The most recent annual statistics were published on the 23 June 2022 covering the financial year 2020-21 [1]. The official statistics provide information on the average daily remand population, and the number of individuals held on remand over the course of the financial year. A summary of time held by legal status (untried, convicted awaiting sentence, and sentenced) is also provided.

The annual statistics are a compilation of data collected over the full financial year from the Scottish Prison Service prisoner records system. To produce the statistics, the data needs to be processed into a longitudinal analytical dataset. This process has not yet commenced for 2021-22, so the Scottish Government does not currently hold the data requested.

[1] Justice Analytical Services, Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2020-21

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-prison-population-statistics-2020-21/ .

As of close of business on 27 June 2022 a total of 426,397 cards had been issued under the Young Persons Scheme (YPS). This includes the number of cards that have collected a travel product from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application held by Transport Scotland and data supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data.

One of the objectives of the YPS is to reduce household outgoings to aid children, particularly those living in poverty. Transport Scotland is undertaking an evaluation of the Scheme to assess its success. As a first step, a baseline study was undertaken prior to the scheme going live and a Baseline Data Report was published on 24 June 2022.

The report stated that as incomes decreased bus use increased for most journey purposes, with those on the lowest incomes most likely to use the bus. In addition, as income reduced the proportions of income spent on a child’s travel tended to increase.

The cost of travel and transport was noted as being a key reason why some children and young people were missing out on opportunities, including social and leisure activities as well as educational, work opportunities and support/respite services. Between 51% (for health care) and 80% (for daytime social activities) of respondents felt that the YPS would allow them to travel more often to their current destinations, and/or to access new destinations.

The evaluation is ongoing and will compare conditions at intervals up to five years after project implementation to assess the outcomes and impact of the scheme on children, young people and their families.

Expert advice from virologists and epidemiologists within Scottish Government and the Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA), shows that avian influenza is circulating widely in wild bird populations. There are very few effective interventions that will prevent the spread of the disease in wild birds. However, the Scottish Government, NatureScot and APHA have put in place a response plan which aims to:

• Ensure effective triage and testing is in place. This intelligence is used to link wild bird movements into national risk assessments and biosecurity measures, and identify any new species contributing to wider infection pathways.
• Provide advice on disposal of diseased carcases of wild birds.
• Monitor impacts on colonies/mortalities.
• Provide advice on access restrictions for bird ringing, research, licensable activities and land management activities.
• Develop future conservation/management plans for species affected by HPAI.

With regards specifically to geese; following the suspension of licences for goose management as I outlined in my response to S6W-09329 on 15 July 2022 and in all cases where licences to manage geese with lethal control were suspended, NatureScot made offers of support with non-lethal scaring to protect grass crops. That support generally was in the form of a contribution towards the purchase of scaring equipment such as gas guns and other bird scaring equipment.

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 .

Recognising that some occupations were restricted by capacity and age due to the physical demands of those roles, the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 set a pension age of 60 for those in uniform services. The definition of such personnel was restricted to police, fire and the armed forces (Hutton Inquiry).

Unlike those uniform groups, prison officers do not have a dedicated pension scheme as they are members of the Civil Service pension scheme, which is a reserved matter for the UK Government. The Scottish Government opposed the attack on public pensions following the Hutton Inquiry and in particular the requirement for prison officers to carry out frontline operational duties including control and restraint until the age of 68.

SPS do not assess age to determine whether a prison officer is capable of carrying out their duties but recognises that front line staff work in a very challenging environment and are committed to a person centred approach to all employees and their circumstances. SPS has arrangements in place to support staff who may no longer be able to fulfil the physical demands of their role and these cases are managed in accordance with the circumstances of each individual.

As of March 2022, there were 916 LEZ compliant taxis in Edinburgh and 465 in Glasgow. For non-compliant taxis, there were 359 in Edinburgh and 954 in Glasgow.

The Scottish Government has made Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Support fund grants available since late 2019. I can confirm that a further £5 million has been allocated to the LEZ Support Fund for 2022-23.

The LEZ Support fund (administered by Energy Savings Trust) offers a grant of up to £2,000 per vehicle for the safe disposal of non-LEZ compliant vehicles. Owners can put this funding towards the purchase of a LEZ compliant vehicle or to one that is suitable for retrofit.

The LEZ Retrofit fund offers a grant of up to £10,000 per vehicle (or up to 80% of the capital costs) to bring non-compliant vehicles up to LEZ standards.

Interest-free loans are also available through the Energy Saving Trust (funded by Transport Scotland) to enable owners and operators of hackney cabs or private hire taxis to replace their current vehicle with an eligible ultra-low emission vehicle.

Our website at www.scotlandsuperfast.com is the main means of publicising the R100 programme, of which R100 SBVS is a key component - information is largely updated in-house with more extensive changes commissioned, as and when required.

In addition, we have publicised R100 SBVS via the press, social media, and through continued stakeholder engagement activity across Scotland – including informing all registered suppliers of the extension to the interim voucher portion of R100 SBVS. We have received extensive coverage and reach across local and national media outlets and social media at no cost.

In March 2021, we distributed postcards to around 30,000 SBVS-eligible properties across Scotland. This activity cost around £12,900 plus VAT.

It is a priority to ensure that patients are able to access NHS dental care. To support patient care and access, we have recently announced revised payment arrangements for dentists from 1 April that will more closely link payments to the number of patients seen and treatments provided. Additionally, from 1st February we also introduced an enhanced examination fee for both adults and children.

We have also committed to abolishing dental charges in the lifetime of this Parliament and that will help to remove at least one of the barriers to accessing high-quality NHS dental services.