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Scottish Government recognises that the registration rate for NHS dentistry amongst children fell between 2019 and 2020, and this can be attributed to the impact of the pandemic which significantly curtailed dental activity, including registration of new patients.

While we recognise that child registrations have not yet recovered to pre pandemic levels overall, official statistics published by Public Health Scotland in May - and showing registration by age cohort – show continued good levels of registration in older children aged six and over.

For younger age groups, where registration continues to be below national average, it should be noted that these cohorts received additional contacts through our flagship Childsmile programme. Childsmile offers every child attending nursery in Scotland free daily supervised tooth brushing, and fluoride varnish application to those in our most deprived communities.

The Scottish Government’s position remains the same.

The parent company guarantee remains valid.

The Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition met Sanjeev Gupta on 27 March 2024. Minutes of ministerial meetings are not routinely published.

The Scottish Government has no record of receiving representations from IndustriALL Global Union or IndustriALL Europe Union regarding Liberty Steel’s operations.

Tata Steel, Liberty House and the Scottish Government were all aligned in agreeing a transaction that secured the earliest realisation of the commercial and wider economic benefits of the deal, and the selected structure was the best available means to deliver this.

Since June 2022, Scottish Government officials have met with Tata Steel UK on 23 June 2022 and 5 December 2022 regarding the sale of the Dalzell steelworks in 2016. No meetings have been held with Liberty Steel on this topic during the last two years.

Liberty Steel Dalzell continues to trade. At the time of the deal, in 2016, a parent company guarantee was signed with Liberty House, which meant that, if the part of the company at Liberty Steel Dalzell ceased to exist, the liabilities would pass to the wider group.

The Scottish Government has not conducted any assessments regarding Liberty Steel’s production facilities in Europe.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an overarching assessment of the typical environmental remediation costs for sites of former steelworks in Scotland.