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The Scottish Government remains committed to its vision for an integrated and community-based hearing service in Scotland. We continue to engage with the audiology sector, Third Sector, those with lived experience and other stakeholders including high street retailers to ensure that we have the appropriate services in place to support the people of Scotland.

Regulated roles are defined under schedule 2 and schedule 3 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 and there is guidance to assist at PVG scheme - Regulated roles guidance - mygov.scot.

It is the responsibility of the organisation providing the individual with the role to assess whether, as a necessary part of that individual’s role, the type of activity they are doing with children would meet the definition of a regulated role with children set out in schedule 2 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

Where an individual is doing a regulated role, the organisation supplying them is responsible for confirming PVG scheme membership.

For school-based volunteering managed by the school or local authority, the school or local authority must apply its own recruitment procedures, including appropriate use of the PVG scheme.

When activities arranged by a school are provided by another organisation, for example, a charity providing mental health support to pupils then suitability for the role is the responsibility of the charity. The charity must ensure that the individual is a PVG scheme member and has received a Level 2 PVG scheme disclosure before undertaking the regulated role.

A more definitive answer to this question cannot be provided as it is unclear whether the role would take place within a school or on the charity's own premises. This distinction is significant because the setting can determine whether a role is regulated, particularly where there is potential for unsupervised contact with children.

In relation to activities involving contact with children, a charity representative delivering a talk about their organisation is unlikely to be carrying out a regulated role. However, if the charity is delivering workshops designed to train or teach children a specific skill or activity or is providing recreational or physical activities, then the individual would be carrying out an activity set out in schedule 2 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has experienced recruitment challenges in its audiology service, which has affected appointment times. To mitigate this, the Board has insourced qualified audiologists from the private sector to work alongside substantive staff, and additional mid-week and weekend clinics are now running under senior supervision.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. This year we have allocated over £135.5 million to Health Boards to reduce long waits, resulting in thousands more appointments and procedures. To build on this progress, extra funding of up to £20 million is being made available to Health Boards for the last quarter of the year, with the focus on Boards and specialities with long waits.

While risk analysis of regulated food products is now a GB responsibility, there has been no change to the scientific advice on caffeine since 2015 when extensive evidence was considered by the European Food Safety Authority. Food Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency has published joint guidance to support the safe consumption of food supplements containing high levels of caffeine.

We do however recognise that evidence in relation to caffeine consumption continues to evolve and will continue to keep the evidence under review.

Sportscotland has previously provided advice on caffeine to Scottish Athletics, through its Institute of Sport performance nutrition team, to inform their guidance to members. UK Athletics and UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) strongly advise a "food-first" approach to nutrition, where a balanced, high-quality diet is used to support training and recovery, before considering any supplements.

If supplements are necessary, they must be chosen carefully to avoid accidental doping violations due to the risk of contamination. UK Athletics' supplement position statement is available here: UK Athletics' Supplement Provision Statement - UK Athletics. While caffeine isn't referenced, fast release caffeine gum falls into the supplement category, and this guidance provides athletes with clear advice on how to reduce risk in supplement use.

The Scottish Government recognises concerns in relation to the use of fast release caffeine products on children and young people, including caffeinated chewing gum, for those who participate in physical activity.

While risk analysis of regulated food products is now a GB responsibility, there has been no change to the scientific advice on caffeine since 2015 when extensive evidence was considered by the European Food Safety Authority. Food Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency has published joint guidance to support the safe consumption of food supplements containing high levels of caffeine.

We do, however, recognise that evidence in relation to caffeine consumption continues to evolve and will continue to keep the evidence under review.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-43598 on 6 February 2026. 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.

Dr Henrietta Hughes published her report, which was about financial and non-financial redress for persons affected by transvaginal mesh or the medicine sodium valproate, on 7 February 2024. The report was commissioned by the previous UK Government, but the present UK Government has undertaken to consider and respond to it. Regrettably, it has not yet responded.

Dr Hughes is the Patient Safety Commissioner for England and her report and recommendations were concerned in the first place with affected persons in England, but both Dr Hughes and the UK Government have acknowledged that people across the UK have been affected, and also that issues relevant to the report, notably the regulation of medicines and medical devices, concern UK-wide responsibilities of the UK Government.

Since the publication of the Hughes Report the Scottish Government has been working closely with the other Devolved Governments to seek a response from the UK Government. Scottish Government Ministers wrote to Ministers of the present UK Government about the report in October 2024, in February 2025 and again in July 2025, to seek meetings and assurances that the Devolved Governments would be consulted about any potential UK Government response. Ministers from the other Devolved Governments wrote in similar terms, also on a number of occasions.

A meeting between the four UK Health Ministers was finally agreed to in December 2025, and took place last month. Despite this meeting, it remains the case that the UK Government has made no substantial proposals about how it might respond to the recommendations concerned with financial redress; nor so far has it stated a date by which it might seek to publish a response.

Whilst the UK Government published a spending review on 11 June 2025 setting out plans from financial year 2026-27 to the end of 2028-29, there was no specific provision to respond to the Hughes Report.

The second anniversary of the Hughes Report’s publication approaches and anyone affected will have wholly reasonable expectations that the UK Government would have responded to the report by now, and in a substantial way. I consider it unreasonable and unfair that they have had to wait for two years and possibly now for even longer.

I therefore wish to note in particular that, to date, the Scottish Government has received no proposals from the UK Government for any schemes of financial redress that would constitute a substantial implementation of the recommendations made by Dr Hughes. We stand ready to consider any proposals from the UK Government, but we do not consider we are able to make proposals independently of them.

I appreciate that this information will be disappointing for those affected, but I wish to assure the Parliament that I will continue to push for a resolution.

Both the Scottish Government and the NHS in Scotland will continue to offer help and assistance to women affected by transvaginal mesh and people affected by sodium valproate. We will continue to offer mesh removal surgery, both in the NHS and with independent sector surgeons, if that is what patients prefer. We also continue to explore how support for people harmed by valproate might be organised in Scotland. Public Health Scotland has established a National Medicines in Pregnancy ‘surveillance asset’ focussed on anti-seizure medicines, including valproate, that are known or suspected to have potential to increase the risk of birth defects and development disorders when taken during pregnancy.

The Scottish Government appreciates that there is interest in these issues and support for people affected among members in all the parties represented in the Parliament. We will continue to keep Members informed about significant developments.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) carries out workforce assessments for key sectors across Scotland. These assessments are available on the SDS website here: Sectoral Skills Assessments - Skills Development Scotland.

As such, the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Alongside the assessments from SDS, the Scottish Government has committed in its recent Programme for Government to introducing a new Scottish Government-led approach to national skills planning, and strengthening regional skills planning, to ensure that post school provision becomes more responsive to Scotland’s strategic skills needs and priorities. This work is progressing and we will update parliament in due course.

The Scottish Government provides funding support for Modern Apprenticeships via Skills Development Scotland, who provide a contribution to the costs of training and assessing modern apprentices. This includes hairdressing and barbering at SCQF levels 5 and 6.

In 2024-25, 460 apprentice starts were supported, alongside 700 apprentices in training as on 31 March 2025. Businesses are able to reduce recruitment costs by posting apprenticeship vacancies free on www.apprenticeships.scot and are likely to benefit from enhanced staff morale and retention. The achievement rate for hairdressing and barbering apprenticeships in 2024-25 was 80%, in line with the overall average, which demonstrates the success of our education and training providers.