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The Scottish Government works with the UK and Welsh Governments on UK chemicals regulation to ensure the continued protection of the environment and people’s health. We have been clear that the risks the continued use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) present is a priority issue for addressing through the UK Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (UK REACH) regulation. This regulation is the principal mechanism for controlling the supply and use of chemicals on the GB market. Earlier this year the Health and Safety Executive, as the Agency for UK REACH, published a detailed report recommending regulatory steps to control the risks of PFAS. Scottish Government supports the recommended prioritised approach, starting with a UK REACH restriction on the use of PFAS in fire-fighting foams with further, wider ranging PFAS restriction proposals to follow. This will build on existing bans on three PFAS through the international Stockholm convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, to which the UK is a signatory. SEPA supports site operators or users of PFAS-based substances to meet their legal obligations under national legislation. SEPA has worked with Scottish Water for a number of years on the Chemicals Investigation Programme, a UK-wide initiative coordinated by UK Water Industry Research, which investigates pollutants in wastewater treatment work influents and effluents and the effectiveness of treatment options for a range of substances including certain PFAS.

For drinking water sources, measures will be introduced as part of the Scottish Government's commitment to align with the EU’s recast Drinking Water Directive which will require Catchment Risk Assessments to be undertaken. Where there is a risk of compliance failures for substances such as PFAS, remedial action must be taken. Work to align with the requirements of this Directive is currently underway with a compliance deadline of 2027.

Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways.? The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during driven safety related inspections. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes recorded since 2019 for each section of network requested.

We are committed to listening to the needs of people with chronic pain as we deliver the actions in the recently published Pain management service delivery framework: implementation plan update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The updated plan includes details on the governance structure for delivery including how we will involve those with lived experience most effectively.

We recognise there is a need to ensure that people with chronic pain themselves are in involved in decision making on services. We will be recruiting additional lived experience representatives to the Pain Management Task Force which oversees implementation of the actions in the plan, including work involving the Scottish National Residential Pain Management Programme.

I welcome the scoping study on historic forced adoption which has been published today and the important further contribution this research has made to helping us understand the needs of those affected.

It is clear that the historic practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies has resulted in lifelong pain and suffering for many of those involved. I am grateful to those people who shared their stories with bravery and dignity.

The Scottish Government will now assess the feasibility, including the financial, legislative and operational implications of the key areas of consideration and publish a response by the end of March 2024. In doing so we will continue to work with partners and importantly those with lived experience to consider options for service delivery and how best to implement the necessary improvements.

The Scottish Government welcomes the report from the Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland, and knows that there is work to be done to support improvement of audiology services across the country.

We accept all of the recommendations in principle, and will now establish a National Implementation Group to examine how best to implement the recommendations.

This Implementation Group will be formed with partners from the third sector, as well as the health service, which will allow us to ensure the voices of those with lived experience are front and centre as changes are made.

We will ensure that Parliament is kept updated with progress.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have today published a progress report on the development of a Fiscal Framework between the Scottish Government and Local Government. The document can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at the following link : https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835217856

The report shows that while negotiations continue, we have jointly made good progress on a number of aspects of the framework and have already put these into practice, including improved pre-budget engagement and meaningful discussion about new fiscal levers.

The consequentials associated with the UK Government’s policy of extending the 75% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure premises in England in 2023-24 were confirmed in the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s mid-year registration data report covers a six-month period and reflects those with a Scottish address who have registered, it does not indicate actual employment in Scotland’s health sector. The report itself therefore cannot be used as a true reflection of recruitment in Scotland.

Whilst the report shows a 22% increase in registration in Scotland compared to a 27.7% increase in registration across the UK in the last six months relative to the same period last year, nursing and midwifery levels per head of population show that we have 8.4 qualified Nurses and Midwives per 1,000 population, compared to 6.3 in England, 8.2 in Wales and 9.1 in Northern Island. This means nursing and midwifery levels are 32% higher, per head of population in Scotland than in England. Overall Nursing and Midwifery staffing in Scotland is at a record high and remains the best paid across the UK.

The Scottish Government provides over £2m of our Equality and Human Rights Fund to older people’s organisations to deliver work focused on tackling inequality and enable older people to live independent and fulfilling lives. These organisations deliver work to highlight abuse and neglect of older people, offering advice and help.

The concept of elder abuse is very broad. The World Health Organisation has defined it as ‘a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person' ( Elder abuse (who.int) ). The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 is designed to protect people; aged 16 years and over who are unable to safeguard their own well-being, property, rights or other interests; are at risk of harm; and, because they are affected by disability, mental disorder, illness or physical or mental infirmity, are more vulnerable to being harmed than adults who are not so affected.

While the Scottish Government doesn’t hold information on elder abuse, specifically, it does hold information on adults at risk of harm (or who have been harmed) by age; where an Adult Support and Protection investigation commenced. The figures, along with many data quality issues explained, were published on our website on 9 May 2023. The release indicated that, in 2021-22, about 40% of those subject to an ASP investigation were over the age of 75 (15% were men and 25% were women). These figures are national estimates due to differing local processes.

In addition, there are a number of data developments aimed at strengthening the information available, including:

• The Scottish Government has developed an improvement plan for adult support and protection which includes reviewing current ASP data to develop more robust, meaningful and comparable data. The review and development of an ASP minimum dataset is being taken forward by The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS). The minimum dataset will provide a clearer picture of Adult Support and Protection in Scotland.
• The Official Statistics on police recorded crime and criminal proceedings do not include details on whether the victim was an older person, or their relationship to the perpetrator. However, the new crime system will allow crime stats by victim age, therefore a measure of recorded crimes against older people.
• The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey are developing a new Fraud and Computer Misuse module. This module will help estimate the prevalence of victimisation from these crimes in Scotland for the first time and will allow for a breakdown by age.
• The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 requires information about police recorded hate crime and convictions data to be published annually, and with greater detail where known. When the Act comes into force it will, for the first time, introduce new protections against offences aggravated by prejudice towards a person’s age.

The Clyde Marine Planning Partnership (CMPP) are currently undertaking a governance review including the make-up of the CMPP Board. This process is ongoing and is yet to conclude. When and if changes are agreed and adopted by the partnership, they will notify Scottish Ministers of these as soon as reasonably practicable and without delay as per Schedule 1 of the Delegation of Functions (Regional Marine Plan for the Scottish Marine Region for the Clyde) Direction 2017. As previously communicated, the CMPP's governance is primarily a matter for the CMPP itself as part of delegated powers and function under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. Current membership is published on the CMPP website: www.clydemarineplan.scot