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Improvements to the A75 were proposed as part of the UK Government’s Union Connectivity Review (UCR) and an offer of potential funding has been made from its Union Connectivity Development Fund.

To date, the UK Government has not committed any funding for design or development work on the A75, as, along with all other transport recommendations identified by STPR2, it remains a devolved matter.

The implications of the recommendations of decision VII/8s are being considered and work is ongoing to strengthen compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention. A number of strands of work are being undertaken in relation to a review of the court rules governing Protective Expenses Orders, a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland which will include a commitment to a right to a healthy environment, and consideration of Legal Aid Reform in the course of this Parliament. The Scottish Government has already introduced an exemption from court fees for environmental 'Aarhus' cases brought in the Court of Session. In terms of the recommendations that relate directly to unauthorised development within the UK, we are working with the other UK administrations to assess the options and identify appropriate actions.

The A75 and A77 routes were considered as part of the UK Government’s Union Connectivity Review (UCR), with potential funding following on from the recommendations.

In March 2022, Transport Scotland (TS) officials had an initial discussions with their UK counterparts in from the Department for Transport (DfT). The subject of possible UCR related funding opportunities, which was first identified in March 2021, was raised by DfT officials and TS officials followed-up with a number of specific clarification questions. Answers to these were received in May, and a follow-on meeting occurred on 16 June.

A subsequent discussion is scheduled for 31 October which will cover UCR recommendations and associated proposed funding for the A75. Potential development work for the A77 was not identified for funding by the UCR process, so will not be on the agenda for discussion, as, along with all other transport recommendations identified by STPR2, it remains a devolved matter.

We understand that stigma associated with particular health conditions, including liver disease, can create very specific challenges - it can isolate people from their communities and act as a significant barrier to seeking help and support. This can increase the harms experienced due to delayed presentation especially given the generalised association between liver disease and alcohol misuse and/or drug abuse.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling this stigma. We are continuing to work on tangible actions that can help reduce stigma experience by people who use drugs and/ or drinking alcohol at hazardous and harmful levels

On 20 June 2022, Public Health Scotland launched the Challenging Weight Stigma Learning Hub. The learning hub aims to raise awareness of the impact weight stigma can have on people living with overweight and obesity and what health professionals can do to mitigate this. It is interactive and has been developed alongside academics, health professionals and those with lived experience of stigma.

In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises the clinical and cost-effectiveness of newly-licensed medicines. Following a full submission for zanubrutinib (Brukinsa ® ) as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinaemia (WM) who have received at least one prior therapy, or in first line treatment for patients unsuitable for chemo-immunotherapy, the SMC issued ‘not recommended’ advice for routine use of this medicine in NHS Scotland on 12 September 2022. The advice detailed that a comparable drug is currently available for this indication, and the company did not present a sufficiently robust economic analysis to gain acceptance by the SMC.

However, the SMC has received a fast track resubmission which was reviewed at the SMC’s Committee meeting on 4 October 2022, and its advice will be published on 7 November 2022. In the meantime, you can access a summary of the current status of this resubmission on the SMC’s website here .

There are alternative routes of access available for a medicine that is not recommended by the SMC. A doctor can request access to licensed medicines for a patient on an individual ‘case-by-case’ basis through the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier Two process, where a doctor considers there would be a clinical benefit for a patient.

The decision on whether to prescribe a medicine for a patient, and which medicine to prescribe, is entirely one for the clinician in charge of a patient’s care to make, having taken into account the patient’s clinical condition and the safety of the patient.

The UK Government has to-date not committed any funding for design or development work on the A75, as, along with all other transport recommendations identified by the second Strategic Transport Projects Review, it remains a devolved matter.

Along with the other large household surveys that rely on face-to-face interviews, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) was suspended in March 2020 to restrict social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, no SCJS interviews were conducted during 2020-21 and no report will be published for that year. In recognition of the evidence gap opened up by the suspension, the Scottish Government introduced the Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey as a discrete and additional collection to the SCJS. This asked people about their experiences and perceptions of crime, safety and policing during the COVID-19 pandemic, with findings available at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scottish Victimisation Telephone Survey 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Fieldwork for the SCJS resumed in late 2021, with a full year’s worth of interviews due to be complete by December and findings published in mid-2023.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office operates open competitive funding schemes for applied health research projects and fellowships across the wide range of NHS and health challenges in Scotland.

These schemes continue to operate and are open to consideration of applications addressing priorities for research conditions that effect menstrual health. Applications to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.

A number of research projects on menstrual health including fibroids and endometriosis, have been funded through these schemes in the past.

In partnership with Wellbeing of Women, this year we are jointly funding a £250,000 research call which aims to develop improvements into treatment and management options for endometriosis. The funding will be awarded in December 2022, fulfilling our medium term commitment in the Women’s Health Plan to commission research into endometriosis.

The Women’s Health Plan also includes a long term action to establish a Women’s Health Research Fund with the aim of closing gaps in scientific and medical knowledge in women’s health for both sex specific and non sex-specific conditions.

The National Referral Mechanism is the UK-wide framework for identifying victims of human trafficking and exploitation and ensuring they receive appropriate support. The NRM is operated by the Single Competent Authority and Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority within the Home Office.

NRM data can be accessed via the Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism statisticswhich contains records back to 2013.

In addition to this, police recorded crime statistics include several types of crime in relation to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 as detailed below

• Slavery or forced labour (under sections 1 and 4 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• Human organ crimes (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• Breach of Trafficking & Exploitation Order crime (under section 32 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 and
• Immoral traffic (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and section 11 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995)

This act came into effect on 31 May 2016, with the first recorded crimes falling in the 2016-17 recording year (see Table One).

Prior to the implementation of the 2015 act, data is only available on Immoral traffic crimes recorded in Scotland (under section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and section 11 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995). These are shown in table 2.

Table 1 – Recorded crimes under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, Scotland, 2016-17 to 2021-22

Notes:

1. As the act came into effect on 31 May 2016 this is not a full recording year.

2. Although this crime pre-dates the act, some charges under the act were assigned to this crime beginning with the 2016-17 recording year.

Table 2 – Recorded crimes of Immoral traffic, Scotland, 1999-00 to 2015-16

Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2021-2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We recognise the scale and impact of non-communicable disease across Scotland and are taking a range of actions to address their impact on our health and wellbeing.

Living with overweight or obesity is linked with an increased risk of developing a range of serious health conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver and lung disease. We are taking wide-ranging action to support healthier choices, as set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan. This includes a challenging aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet related health inequalities.

As stated in our recent Programme for Government, we will introduce a Bill to restrict the promotion of less healthy food and drink as part of the 2022/23 legislative session. We will also urge the UK Government to stick with its commitments to ban junk food advertisements on TV programmes before the 9pm watershed and for similar restrictions online.

We continue to support NHS boards to improve weight management services in line with our Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, Early Detection and Intervention Framework and Public Health Scotland’s national standards. We are in year 5 of delivery of the Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Framework, which has seen the adoption of effective and evidence based treatments, across Scotland.

Alongside the Framework, our Diabetes Improvement Plan sets out our priorities to deliver safe, effective and person-centred healthcare, treatment and support to those living with diabetes. Priority 1 of the Plan is focussed the Prevention and Early Detection of Diabetes and its Complications, supporting the implementation of the Framework.