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The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has accepted an invitation for a meeting with stilbestrol campaigners and will consider what actions can and should be taken in relation to their concerns following this discussion.

We remain committed to implementing a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service that is available across Scotland whenever people need it and Scottish Government officials and NHS planners are working at pace on developing a plan for the next steps for service expansion.

We have provided funding for thrombectomy nurse posts in spoke sites with high rates of ischaemic stroke and this will support maximising access to thrombectomy across Scotland.

We are also funding the procurement of an artificial intelligence imaging tool to help delivery of the service by improving detection of patients with strokes suitable for thrombectomy by supporting stroke clinicians and radiologists to detect patients with large vessel occlusion.

I don't recognise the member's timeframe of 3 months. As Independent Contractors, it is the responsibility of NHS dentists to manage their patient lists in line with clinical guidelines.

However, I can advise that the Scottish Government is taking several steps to improve access to NHS dental services across Scotland.

Public Health Scotland statistics published in August show that over 7 million courses of NHS dental treatment have been delivered to patients since the introduction of payment reform in November 2023, demonstrating that our policy is delivering on our aims to sustain NHS dental services. The 2025/26 Budget reinforces our commitment to NHS dentistry, with an increase of almost 15% in funding for primary care dental services agreed - taking total funding to over half a billion pounds for the first time.

Furthermore, our recently published Operational Improvement Plan sets out a package of funded actions to bolster the NHS dental workforce and support increased access now and into the future. Within this we will:

• support the dental workforce pipeline through i) the immediate expansion of domestic dental student numbers and ii) the development of an innovative new training package to support international dentists in joining the NHS Scotland workforce; and
• support the ongoing sustainability of practices through revision of our existing allowances to secure and improve access in Scotland’s most rural communities.

Scottish Government maintains a regular dialogue with BDA Scotland; and is committed to addressing oral health inequalities.

The latest Public Health Scotland statistics to June 2025 show that NHS patient registration in SIMD 1 areas is higher than the Scotland-wide average. This report also indicates that children and adults from the most deprived areas were less likely to have had contact with NHS primary dental care than those living in more affluent areas.

The latest National Dental Inspection Programme results show that the gap between P1 children with no obvious tooth decay, living in the most and least deprived areas, is at its lowest on record – decreasing from 32.2 percentage points in 2010 to 23.5 percentage points in 2024.

Building owners should refer to the existing guidance on Large Panel System (LPS) buildings, which has been available for several years. This guidance supports the investigation of the building’s condition and structural performance, and where necessary, outlines appropriate mitigation measures.

Legislation does not require Scottish Ministers to consult before using the Emergency Early Release (EER) power contained within the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 (as inserted by Section 11 of the Bail & Release from Custody Act 2023) due to its emergency function.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on staffing levels and future workforce plans: operational decisions are for individual colleges to determine.

Colleges are responsible for making workforce-related decisions in line with legislative requirements, the Code of Good Governance for Scotland’s Colleges and the Scottish Funding Council’s Financial Memoranda. Such decisions may be necessary to respond to the changing needs of the local economy and industry skills demands, as well as ensuring the institution is financially sustainable.

The Scottish Government expects any workforce restructuring decisions to be informed by Fair Work principles, following meaningful engagement with staff and trade unions.

Having delivered 139,203 affordable homes between April 2007 and March 2025, we now remain focused on our new target of delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70% of these for social rent and 10% in rural and island areas, including new build, rehabilitation and acquisitions.

Backed by £808 million of investment this year, including £80 million targeted towards acquisitions to support local authorities to tackle the most sustained homelessness and temporary accommodation pressures, we are continuing to work with partners to increase the delivery of more affordable homes. The delivery of affordable homes, through both new build and acquisitions, is integral to our objectives of tackling poverty and inequality, ending homelessness, creating and supporting jobs, meeting energy efficiency and decarbonisation aims and creating connected, cohesive communities. Acquisitions are a useful option to help deliver at increased pace where the properties are of the right type, quality and location to meet local authority strategic housing priorities.

We report on all homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme via our quarterly official statistics. Official statistics for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are available on the Scottish Government website at Housing statistics - gov.scot.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03151 on 1 October 2021.

Whilst we hold information on the number of off the shelf properties supported through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, we do not hold information on whether those properties are former right-to-buy properties.

We report on all homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, including off the shelf properties, via our quarterly official statistics. Official statistics for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are available on the Scottish Government website at Housing statistics - gov.scot.

In the 10 years since ending the Right to Buy policy in 2016, we estimate that up to 15,500 homes will remain in the sector available to renters now and in the future.

The Scottish Government cannot unilaterally ban mobile phones in schools. The statutory responsibility for the delivery of Education in Scotland rests with Local Authorities, under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980.

In August 2024 we published updated guidance on use of mobile phones in schools, which was developed in consultation with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools. The guidance makes clear that headteachers can take the steps that they consider appropriate to respond to the disruption caused by mobile phones, including banning their use in schools. A number of schools and Local Authorities have now enacted such approaches as a result and they will continue to have the full support of the Scottish Government in so doing.