Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government fully supports the enforcement efforts of Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) in tackling the scourge of drug driving to help make Scotland’s roads safer. However, it is for the Procurator Fiscal’s office to confirm the position on any other crimes which are being impacted by capacity issues in forensic testing.

With regard to testing for drug driving, while this falls within the remit of the SPA, it should be noted that more than 5,600 drug driving tests have been conducted in Scotland since new legislation was introduced in 2019. We have sought and received assurance that urgent action is underway to address the capacity issues in relation to drug driving in both the immediate and longer-term.

There have been a number of points of progress in implementing the recommendations of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review as they relate to devolved matters, in addition to steps taken to establish a Patient Safety Commissioner, since the Scottish Government published a delivery plan about the Cumberlege report in March 2021.

In relation to services for women who have experienced complications after the implantation of transvaginal mesh, there is now established in Glasgow a Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service. This service offers, where appropriate, mesh removal surgery. Women can also ask to be referred to an equivalent NHS England specialist centre or to an independent provider. All of these options are available free of charge, through the NHS.

The Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Act 2022 gained Royal Assent on 3 March. As a result women can now apply for the reimbursement of personal costs in relation to past qualifying mesh removal surgery which was arranged privately.

In relation to medical devices generally, work continues in NHS Scotland to improve the traceability of devices from manufacture to point of care, so that safety issues can be identified more quickly than is possible now and action taken to protect patients. Four Health Boards will also shortly participate in a pilot of a UK-wide Pelvic Floor Registry. This will allow the recording of all treatments for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, as well as mesh removal procedures, and benefits will include rapid and efficient recall of patients in the event of an issue with a particular procedure or device.

The Government is also taking steps that seek to prevent harm as a result of sodium valproate and Primodos, and to offer those who have been impacted the care they need.

The Scottish Government is working with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on the establishment of UK-wide medicine registries. The first of these will be an anti-epileptic medicine registry and we are working to ensure that it is accessible and transferable in a Scottish context in the first instance.

We are also funding the use of a Scottish Epilepsy Register in three Health Boards (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Tayside and NHS Lanarkshire). This will help identify people taking sodium valproate, as well as any other anti-epileptic medicines which have the potential to cause harm. This work is on track to have dispensing and mortality data linked to an electronic dashboard in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde by summer 2022. Data on improved safety for people prescribed sodium valproate will be available to share later this year and, following this, we will look to support the adoption of this system in other Health Boards.

The Scottish Government’s Teratogenic Medicines Advisory Group, chaired by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, is looking specifically at what further measures can be taken to prevent wider harm as a result of sodium valproate and it will then consider other medicines with teratogenic potential. The MHRA is also currently considering the need to further strengthen regulatory measures for sodium valproate and Scottish Government officials are continuing to work closely with them on that to ensure that this is taken forward on a UK-wide basis.

Work is underway to establish specialist services for those harmed by sodium valproate in Scotland and officials are now in early discussion with Health Boards to consider what services are currently available, identify any gaps and then commission a service delivery model.

We also continue to press the UK Government on the issue of redress, which is a recommendation for the UK Government to consider due to the reserved nature of medicine regulations.

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, £33 billion is the estimated total gross capital cost of converting our entire building stock, domestic and non-domestic, to zero emissions heat. This estimate is purely indicative and based on a single technology pathway, with cost assumptions derived from the best available evidence including research published by the Climate Change Committee. The Scottish Government continues to keep cost estimates under review, incorporating new evidence as it becomes available.

The Scottish Government recognises the great value of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, and the impact which this celebrated international recognition can offer to both individual sites, as well as to the wider national natural, culture and heritage sectors. Through our sponsorship of Historic Environment Scotland, advice and guidance is delivered to support many local organisations and groups across the country, to develop and deliver appropriate maintenance plans and sustainable business models for a wide variety of sites.

When the UK Government decided to review and invite new applications to the UK’s World Heritage tentative list, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Constitution and External Affairs wrote to Nigel Huddleston MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to ensure that there would be representation from all UK nations on the independent panel of heritage experts who will be reviewing the applications.

Expressions of interest were due to be submitted by 6 May, with a full application form due by 15 July so that the expert panel can fully assess each application for suitability for inclusion.

Scottish Ministers and officials from the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have been engaging closely with stakeholders in the hospitality, cultural and events sectors on the impact of the reduced Scotrail timetable. This has included discussions through the Events Industry Advisory Group. Officials have continued this engagement on the impact of the industrial action.

Public Health Scotland produce an Annual Statistical Report on Acute Hospital Activity and NHS Beds Information , including data on hospital stays with a diagnosis of sepsis by NHS Board and local authority area at tables 5 and 6.

PHS also monitor sepsis prevalence by maintaining a sepsis clinical data profile within their performance management and benchmarking database, based on patients receiving care in general acute specialties. This data is for use by NHS Boards, local authorities, health and social care partnerships and the Scottish Government. It is updated quarterly – the most recent profile update was made in May 2022 and includes data up to December 2021.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP), led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, has been supporting clinical teams to improve their recognition of sepsis and to deliver six simple interventions (the “sepsis six”) which, when delivered within an hour of recognition, will improve survival for these patients. This response is kept under constant review and updated in line with new guidance as it emerges, such as the recent Academy of Medical Royal Colleges guidance on Sepsis management.

Building on this successful work, SPSP launched a revised deteriorating patient driver diagram and change package in September 2021. Sepsis forms a core part of this change package. The SIGN Deteriorating Patient Guideline, currently under review, will also include an updated section on sepsis.

Amongst other matters, the bail provisions in the Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill provide for a new bail test to be used by the court when assessing whether to grant bail to an accused person or remand them in custody. As the decision in any given case will continue to remain with the court and in light of the various uncertain factors that influence the court's decision-making e.g. levels of crime, types of crime committed, previous history of those accused of offences etc, it is not possible to provide an analysis of how the proportion of people charged with a crime who are granted bail might change as a result of the Bill's provisions.

The financial memorandum for the Bill outlines the estimated impact of all the provisions contained in the Bill. In particular, pages 2 to 14 provides details of the Scottish Government's estimates as to the financial impact of the bail provisions in the Bill.

The Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland statistics publication for 2021-22 will be published on 24 August 2022.

The answer to question S6O-01292 does not directly reference any data on heat pumps. However, the answer to the supplementary question does:

"the experience that we have and the comparable data that we have from countries that already have a long history of using heat pumps and heat networks show that they will be effective in Scotland"

The research being referenced here was commissioned by the Scottish Government through ClimateXChange and was published under the title “Heat pump use in Scotland - an evidence review” in October 2021. The paper can be found here:

https://www.climatexchange.org.uk/research/projects/heat-pump-use-in-scotland-an-evidence-review/

I recognise the potential impact of industrial action by the RMT and ASLEF unions on the culture sector at a time when it has been seeking to recover from the Covid19 pandemic.

Officials are continuing to monitor the situation closely, including through engagement with organisations representing hospitality, cultural and events stakeholders.

There is positive progress being made on pay negotiations with ASLEF in Scotland, and I am hopeful that additional services will be added in the near future.