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Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education sits with local authorities and schools.

While the Curriculum for Excellence provides the overarching framework and sets out the eight curriculum areas, it is a matter for individual schools and authorities to tailor their detailed curriculum offer.

This provides local authorities and schools with flexibility to tailor provision to best meet the needs of their pupils.

I refer the member to the answers to the following questions:

• S4W-05728 on 2 July 2012
• S4W-17608 on 3 October 2013
• S4W-25214 on 2 April 2015
• S4W-26746 on 17 July 2015
• S5W-00837 on 20 June 2016
• S5W-12960 on 24 November 2017
• S5W-17596 on 5 July 2018
• S5W-26805 on 19 December 2019
• S5W-36009 on 24 March 2021
• S6W-17817 on 5 May 2023
• S6W-16899 on 5 May 2023

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 Scottish Government is grateful to Professor Britton and her team for undertaking this review and we are pleased to receive her final report. It is important that we now take the time to consider Professor Britton's findings and the recommendations she has made. The recommendations will be discussed at the next meeting of Health Boards’ Transvaginal Mesh Accountable Officers, which is expected to take place in August. The accountable officers are a network of senior clinicians from Health Boards who have responsibility for mesh-related issues within their own Board and for ensuring that their colleagues are informed on matters accordingly.

Steps have already been that do address a number of the recommendations. These include making a mesh learning package available to GPs to offer them additional support to help them understand and address concerns women may raise with them following transvaginal mesh surgery. Steps are also being taken to enhance the information available to patients through the improvement of the Complex Mesh Surgical Service webpages and the development of a patient information leaflet.

The Government will continue to add to help for those whose lives have been impacted by mesh complications and to ensure they get the right treatment for them. We will continue to work closely with colleagues within the NHS to ensure that women can access the care that they need, are fully supported by their GP and other clinicians, and have the information they need to make informed decisions about their care.

Health Board colleagues will also continue to engage with women as they access the Glasgow specialist service and will use the feedback they receive to further develop and refine the care that is available. We want to ensure that satisfaction levels of women attending the NHS specialist service in Glasgow continue to grow and waiting times continue to fall.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving care for people with chronic kidney disease through a number of activities which are aligned with the recommendations set out in Kidney Research UK’s (KRUK) Changing the Future for Chronic Kidney Disease in Scotland report, published in December 2022 with input from Scottish Government clinical advisors and partners.

We are raising awareness of the symptoms, causes, diagnosis and prevention of kidney disease by providing and promoting information on chronic kidney disease for patients and their families on NHS Inform .

Our Donation and Transplantation Plan was published in 2021 and sets out a dedicated priority to increase living donation and reduce the wait for a kidney transplant. This includes a number of recommendations to improve care, including developing resources and information to promote living donation , changing clinical practice in renal units, increasing direct engagement with patients and their families, and developing new guidance on staffing to support living donation.

We also continue to support the work of the Scottish Renal Registry which promotes excellence in renal care in Scotland including audits on the delivery of renal replacement therapy. The most recent report from registry was published by Public Health Scotland in October 2022 and provides vital information for Health Boards, service managers and individual clinicians to help improve care and standards for people with chronic kidney disease.

We will shortly publish a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The Strategy will set out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for mental health and wellbeing to ensure that everyone who needs support can get access to services that are appropriate to their needs.

Whilst we also welcome the recent report on the economic impact of the disease published in June, following our recent meeting with KRUK on 2 May 2023, we are not proposing to develop an individual action plan for this condition at this time. However, we remain committed to engaging with KRUK on these important matters to ensure that all people living with kidney disease are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective, and put people at the centre of their care.

Since my response to S6W-16048 was issued, my officials have met with representatives from the following organisations:

The Church of Scotland

The Free Church of Scotland

Sikhs in Scotland

The United Free Church of Scotland

We have additionally received written views on the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership from the Equality Network.

Invitations to meet have been issued to representatives of all the other organisations that my response to S6W-16048 indicates we planned to meet.

I am meeting Pauline Latham MP after the summer recess. Ms Latham promoted the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Bill in the Westminster Parliament. That Bill once passed and implemented led to an increase in the minimum age of marriage in England and Wales from 16 to 18.

The member is welcome to write to me with details of any other interested groups who want to be involved.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the provision of ear wax removal within community NHS services. The new GP contract, introduced in 2018, committed Health Boards to set up Community Treatment and Care (CTAC) services to provide ear wax removal in the community.

We are aware that gaps in delivery remain in certain areas, and are working closely with Health Boards, to collect and review the data on the workforce and financial resources required to fully deliver these services needs in order to inform consideration of the potential for additional investment in 2023-24.

Today I am pleased to announce the launch of the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Scotland, in partnership with COSLA.

The Strategy sets out our new long-term shared Vision for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Scotland, which is:

“of a Scotland, free from stigma and inequality, where everyone fulfils their right to achieve the best mental health and wellbeing possible .”

The Strategy is rightly ambitious. It covers all ages and all levels of need, and is built around the three pillars of “Promote, Prevent, Provide”. The Strategy identifies a set of outcomes that illustrate what a high-functioning whole system should look like, and the standard of support that anyone should be entitled to expect when they ask for help for any aspect of their mental health.

The Strategy reflects what we have heard over 18 months of consultation and co-production, with a particular focus on the voices of lived experience and the role of inequalities.

Whilst recognising that specialist services will always be a critical part of the whole system, the Strategy has a particular focus on the principles of prevention and early intervention, with support, care and treatment being delivered in a way that is as local as possible, and only as specialist as necessary. It also focuses on the social determinants and underlying causes of poor mental health, including inequalities. As well as being published jointly with COSLA, it is a cross-Government Strategy.

The accompanying Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan will both be agreed with stakeholders, and will be published in Autumn 2023. I will seek to secure a slot for a Ministerial statement at that stage to ensure that all members can contribute to a discussion on the full package of Strategy and Delivery Plans.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805259275

Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Executive Summary: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805259282 .

Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, published in 2021, contains a key commitment to further increase access to existing and emerging diabetes technologies.

Our national policy is to increase access to these life changing diabetes therapies to everyone who would benefit, and we expect NHS Boards to provide technology to all clinically suitable children and adults.

Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million of additional funding specifically to support the increased provision of diabetes technologies. A further £350,000 is being invested through the new Accelerated National Innovation Adoption pathway workstream to accelerate the distribution of Closed Loop Systems.

The technology is considered the most significant development in diabetes treatment in recent years and can transform lives, particularly for children and young people. This investment will see a dedicated team created to support NHS health boards to rollout the technology faster and more efficiently across Scotland.

We are continuing to work with key partners to identify any future funding requirements for the continuing roll-out of diabetes technologies across Scotland.

That information is not held centrally.

Building safety is a matter for the owner of the building. Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), including information relating to any repair and maintenance works, are best answered directly by each NDPB.

Reference can, however, be made to the response to previous questions, S6W-18838 to S6W-18842 on 13 June 2023, asked of five individual NPBDs.

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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16433 on 25 April 2023. 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