Seòmar agus comataidhean

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water I have asked them to respond. Their response is as follows:

The cost of providing an overflow monitor can vary between £3,000 and £20,000 per location. Whilst the equipment itself is relatively inexpensive, the associated costs of securing access to the overflow chamber can be expensive with costs for traffic management, safe access and rescue coverage and 3rd party agreements potentially being high for some locations.

The purpose of the Scottish Government’s call for evidence was to gather evidence to inform policy development on how to reduce consumption of single-use food containers and other single use items. All responses to the call for evidence have been published, where consent was given to do so, here: https://consult.gov.scot/environment-forestry/single-use-items/consultation/published_select_respondent . The Scottish Government will publish an analysis of the call for evidence this year.

The Scottish Government reports on progress on its aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 on an annual basis in the regular Scottish Health Survey Report.

The latest data available is from the 2021 Scottish Health Survey, published in November 2022, which reported 18% of children in Scotland were at risk of obesity. Data for 2022 will be available when the Scottish Health Survey is next published in Autumn 2023.

A range of wider factors are likely to be impacting on childhood obesity levels. The Scottish Government remains committed to the actions contained within the 2018 Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan . We will continue to focus on improving the health of our young people, aiming to reduce childhood obesity and reduce diet-related health inequalities.

Further to the former Cabinet Secretary’s update, my officials continue to engage with HIS and other stakeholders and are undertaking scoping exercises to assess the extent of these issues and consider the most appropriate and proportionate next steps. Following on from the First Minister’s commitment when he was Cabinet Secretary, I will keep the member informed as this progresses.

As stated in the answer to question S6W-17210, the management of the court estate is an operational matter for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).

Further to that answer, the SCTS is a non-ministerial office established by the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. The SCTS core purpose is supporting justice and can only consider proposals that enhance the delivery of justice. The SCTS Corporate Plan for 2023-26 and Business Plan for 2023-24 have recently been published. The SCTS is fully committed to the next zero agenda and the SCTS Board has commissioned a revised sustainability strategy and associated action plans that will be developed during 2023.

The Scottish Government nor its partners hold information on morphine prescribing at this level of granularity and have no plans to do so.

In our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan we set out ambitious and wide-ranging action to deliver our vision for a Scotland where everyone eats well and has a healthy weight.

We are taking forward a range of action across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better access to weight management services; leadership and reducing health inequalities.

We continue to make progress. This includes, among other things:

• We will consult on the detail of proposed regulations to restrict promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt where they are sold to the public this autumn.
• We have updated the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations to give children more access to nutritious food.
• Continued provision of free vitamin D to infants, and pregnant and breastfeeding women.
• Additional investment to support breastfeeding, particularly in the days immediately following birth. We have provided over £9 million of additional funding since 2018.
• eady Steady Baby , Ready Steady Toddler and Parent Club have all been updated to provide parents practical advice on weaning, and at the ages and stages that follow: toddlers, pre-schoolers, and primary school aged children.
• We continue to provide funding to health boards to deliver weight management services for children and young people in line with our national standards , ensuring consistent quality and equity of access to evidence-based support across Scotland.
• Since 2020-21, we have provided additional funding to health boards and their partners for projects to encourage healthy eating and physical activity in families and communities at risk of diet-related health inequalities. This work has included: specialised training for practitioners, increasing physical activity, and support for those experiencing food insecurity.
• We have continued to support pilots in eight local areas to develop and champion a whole system approach to diet and healthy weight. An evaluation was published on 6 December 2022, which is informing the development of resources to support national rollout.
• We continue to provide funding to improve weight management services for adults, in line with our 2018 Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Framework and Public Health Scotland’s standards for tier 2 and tier 3 weight management services .
• In June 2022, Public Health Scotland launched a Challenging Weight Stigma learning hub to increase awareness of and challenge weight stigma and bias within healthcare settings.
• In 2021 we published our Out of Home Action Plan to support people and business to access to healthier options. This includes Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland developing an Eat Out Eat Well Framework and code of practice for children’s menus.

The following table provides annual figures for the total number of reports of suspected invasive non-native species (INNS) submitted via Scotland’s Environment website. The two reports in 2015 are test reports submitted by project partners; the system went live to the general public in 2016.

A small number of the following reports listed were not verified as INNS due to misidentification. Twenty of the more recent reports from 2023 are pending verification while further information is gathered.

The Scottish Government’s Neurological Care and Support Framework 2020-25 sets out our vision to ensure everyone with a neurological condition, including Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), can access the care and support they need to live well.

Under the Framework we have funded Action for ME and partner organisations to promote and disseminate an online learning module authored by Dr Nina Muirhead, on ME/CFS for GPs and health professionals, which aims to support person-centred care, informed by good practice and current research.

In June 2021, the Scottish Government presented the online learning module to the Scottish Deans Medical Education Group who agreed to review the module with the view of introducing it into the medical schools’ respective curricula.

In addition to Scottish Government activities, we understand that NHS Education for Scotland are currently finalising a Practice Based Small Group Learning CPD module for GPs, Pharmacist and Nurses working in General Practice/Primary Care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18105 on 5 June 2023. The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards in Scotland to take note of the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) recommendations, published on 23 March 2023, and take steps to ensure that any woman who requires access to placental growth factor (PlGF) based tests as part of her maternity care can do so. We wrote to NHS Boards on 23 March, immediately following publication of the SHTG guidance, and will write to NHS Boards again in June, to understand how implementation of PlGF testing is progressing.

NHS Boards are expected to work towards implementation of PlGF-based testing locally, as decisions on which of the four recommended PlGF-based tests to use will depend on local factors, including analyser availability, geography and cost. The SHTG guidance is clear in its economic evaluation that use of PlGF-based testing can drive cost savings as well as improving outcomes for women and their babies, particularly where a diagnosis of preterm pre-eclampsia is less clear.

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