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There are no plans to discontinue national standardised assessments for P1 learners. The Scottish Government commissioned David Reedy to conduct an independent review of the assessments for P1 children in response to motion S5M-13945. The Reedy review (2019) concluded that the P1 SNSA was compatible with a play-based approach to learning, had valuable potential and should continue. The report further identified “scant evidence of children becoming upset when taking the P1 SNSA” – a finding which is borne out by pupil survey responses from P1 learners in 2021/22, which indicate 92% of children felt happy completing their assessments.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving elimination of Hepatitis C (HCV) in Scotland by 2024. We are pleased that excellent progress has been made to date, despite the additional challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. An update on the progress of this work has recently been published by Public Health Scotland, and the report can be found here: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/15549/surveillance-of-hepatitis-c-in-scotland-oct22.pdf

Clinicians and carers across Scotland are encouraged to identify those with risk factors for HCV and test them. To support this activity, the Hepatitis C Clinical Leads Group of the Scottish Health Protection Network (SHPN) published Recommendations on Hepatitis C Virus Case-finding and Access to Care in 2019, and this can be found at: https://hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/recommendations-on-hepatitis-c-virus-case-finding-and-access-to-care/

In 2019, NHS Tayside were world-leading in eliminating HCV within their Health Board area, a key part of their strategy involved innovative testing models using community pharmacy. Officials are exploring what a national roll out of that approach requires.

Screen Scotland, the dedicated public sector agency for the film and television industry in Scotland which is funded by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery, has supported a total of 1,964 trainees between March 2021 and September 2022.

In this time, Screen Scotland has awarded a total of £3.3m through a Targeted Skills Fund and Professional Development Fund. This commitment to developing a skilled and diverse workforce has seen 1,889 people supported, with an average of £1,750 invested in each person looking to enter or step up within the screen sector.

In addition, Screen Scotland’s Production Growth Fund also incentivises the creative of traineeships. 75 trainees were offered training through productions such as Good Omens S2, The Rig and The Lost King.

As part of the second year of the National Transition Training Fund, which ran from April 2021 to August 2022, and as part of support for creative industries recovering from the impact of the pandemic, the RESET Screen Scotland was co-designed, co-funded, and delivered in partnership with Creative Scotland, through which two programmes were delivered by Screen Scotland.

Overall 28 interns were supported through the Animation, VFX, and Games Internship programme which aimed to give those made unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic an opportunity to retrain for these industries, through a 10-month programme of training and paid industry work placements.

A total of 21 individuals benefitted from an Introduction to Production Accounting, which offered those made unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic an opportunity to gain practical training in production accounting across the film and TV sector, allowing individuals to develop skills through a 2-day course.

There were a total of 72 Modern Apprenticeship starts in the year 2021-22, related to the Scottish screen industries.

The Scottish Government publishes quarterly National Statistics on crimes recorded by the police. This includes recorded crimes of 'Theft of a motor vehicle' which covers both cars and other motor vehicle types. These have fallen substantially over the longer term, with a 69% reduction from 15,000 in 2006-07 to 4,691 in the year ending June 2022. In terms of the last five years, levels have remained fairly constant, except for a significant fall in the year ending June 2021, that may have been a consequence of pandemic-related restrictions. The number of crimes recorded in each of the last five years for the year ending in June is set out in the following table.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government. We are committed to improving support for children and young people’s mental health in order to ensure early intervention and prevention of suicide.

Health and wellbeing is a core part of Curriculum for Excellence, and schools play a vital role in supporting pupils’ mental health. The Mental Health in Schools Working Group, on behalf of Ministers, produced a framework to support local authorities and schools embed support for children and young people's mental health and wellbeing across all aspects of the school environment. The group has also developed professional learning for school staff, which includes suicide awareness.

We continue to support local authorities with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published a new Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan in September 2022. These include plans to further develop existing and new resources for schools which build understanding on mental health, self-harm and suicide prevention.

The spending on the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court as published on 22 September 2022 was on external legal fees. An additional £350 has been spent on Supreme Court filing fees.

Scottish Government is working in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) and Modernising Patient Pathways Programme to explore the feasibility of further national action to improve early detection and treatment of liver diseases.

Health Boards across Scotland currently have different pathways in place to promote the early detection and management of patients with liver disease.

A consistent approach to technology used across laboratories in Scotland is needed to support national roll out. A National Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) which will be able to deliver iLFTs is currently being rolled out across Scotland.

These are matters for Police Scotland rather than Scottish Government or the Scottish Prison Service, which has no has no legal authority to question individuals in relation to crimes committed in the community.

I have asked the Chief Constable to write directly to the member with further detail on Police Scotland’s activity in this regard.

While I understand there are no current lines of enquiry following the death of Peter Tobin, any information that is received by Police Scotland will continue to be reviewed as has been the established procedure since his conviction and imprisonment.

We will be publishing updated costs of the reference, including a breakdown of them, in December.

The GP contract regulations require all GP practice partners to be sufficiently engaged in providing primary medical services in Scotland. It is for the partners to determine how best to meet the clinical needs of their patients and to ensure there are sufficient GPs onsite to provide necessary face to face appointments and home visits.

Health Boards and Health & Social Care Partnerships are responsible for monitoring their contracts with GP practices.