Chamber and committees

This is an operational matter for Police Scotland. The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

The review of traffic sign and general signage policy is currently on-going. The current focus is on reviewing and revising the list of primary destinations in Scotland to align them with the current Trunk Road network and developing the scope of a proposed future amendment to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD), which will incorporate current and future variations within Scotland.

The policy relating to Fairtrade accreditation signs has been reviewed. In reviewing this policy, it was important to consider the purpose of traffic signs, which is to control and guide traffic and to promote road safety on the network. As a recognised global brand, which is promoting a commercial interest, Fairtrade accreditation does not align with this purpose. This review has therefore concluded that the use of Fairtrade branding on traffic signs is not appropriate as it falls into the category being an advertisement.

We have no current plans to pilot mobile cervical screening clinics.

NHS Boards are responsible for the delivery of the cervical screening programme; this includes publicising screening within their local area and working closely with their communities to increase screening uptake.

Increasing coverage in the Scottish Cervical Screening Programme is a key objective for the Scottish Government and that is why up to £5m of funding from the Cancer Strategy 'Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action' 2016 is being invested in our screening programmes, to reduce inequalities in access to screening and to improve uptake, particularly amongst those least likely to participate.

As part of this work, we are establishing a network, involving clinical and academic experts from across Scotland as well as third sector organisations to identify new activities and learn from local practice and innovation, to improve participation in screening programmes.

We also support the work of charities like Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust to increase awareness and address some of the barriers to screening. We are funding their innovative 'Be Cervix Savvy Roadshow' which will be visiting high streets and retail parks across Scotland to raise awareness of cervical cancer and increase uptake of cervical screening.

Scottish Ministers received the proposed Terms of Reference of the UK Infected Blood Inquiry for consultation on 15 June. We will respond with our views as soon as possible.

Under section 27 of the Inquiries Act 2005, Scottish Ministers must be consulted in relation to the Terms of Reference of any statutory inquiry if they are to include anything that will require the inquiry to determine any fact, or to make recommendations, wholly or primarily concerned with Scottish matters.

The rise in ‘poisonings’ in 2016 as highlighted in the Unintentional Injuries in Scotland report can be predominantly attributed to the rise in drug related deaths that were reported in 2016.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to tackle the many challenges associated with problem drug use. In recognition of the continued rise in drug deaths, and the changed drugs landscape, later this year we will publish a refreshed drug and alcohol strategy that will challenge services to better meet the wide range of complex health and social needs of those who are most at risk as a result of their drug and alcohol use. This work will be supported by additional investment of
‎ £20 million a year for the remainder of this parliament.

More generally, we recognise that unintentional harm and injury is a sizeable burden on the population and public services in Scotland. We are focused on developing a co-ordinated and strategic approach to reducing unintentional harm and injury through a prevention based approach that aligns to the needs and aspirations of the individuals and communities we serve.

The Scottish Government is committed to building safer communities across Scotland. Key to this is our work with partners including: Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA), Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), the Scottish Community Safety Network, as well as CoSLA and the local partnership networks.

Following publication of the Strategic Assessment of Unintentional Harm in Scotland in April 2017, an Executive Working Group, chaired by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, has been focussed on developing a co-ordinated and strategic approach to taking this work forward. A key element of this approach is to understand and support the wide range of initiatives and actions that are already taking place locally across Scotland and to share good practice. In April, we held a successful event with over 100 delegates from across the community safety sector. A copy of the report of this event can be accessed here .

As the Strategic Assessment recognises that more deprived areas are over-represented in unintentional injury data, focusing efforts on people living within these areas has been selected as a priority for Building Safer Communities partners and the Scottish Government is continuing to work closely with and support key safety organisations. Over the last five years, the Scottish Government has provided RoSPA with almost £600,000 in funding to undertake work around home and community safety as well as supporting projects that help improve child safety. For example, distributing Brighter Beginning packs, which contain helpful tips and tools to help give little ones a safer start, to disadvantaged parents/parents-to-be and carers of babies or children under five. There have also been specific initiatives in Glasgow's Possilpark and Gorbals neighbourhoods on the safe use of hair straighteners and the distribution of child height charts which feature key safety messages associated with stages of growth.

For the last 11 years, the Scottish Government has also supported the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) to delivery community education campaigns raising awareness of serious childhood accidents and how to prevent them. CAPT places an emphasis on reaching deprived families and developing practical and inclusive safety messages. For example, through the HomeStart programme in South West Edinburgh, CAPT recently ran a number of outreach events during Child Safety Week (June 4-10). In addition to visiting families within their homes, the team also worked in partnership with other organisations to deliver sessions for various toddler and parent groups, as well as local faith and community groups. Families were given the opportunity to book home visits and were offered free home safety equipment, including blind cleats. Many of the discussions centred around simple changes that could be made within the home to reduce the risk of accidents.

The rate of emergency admissions due to falls has slowly been increasing over the last ten years as our population ages and more people are living longer with frailty and multiple long term health conditions. However, unintentional injuries data from the last two years is suggesting we are beginning to slow the trend. For a number of years the Scottish Government's National Falls Programme has been working with a wide range of partners to improve our approach to preventing falls and provide the right care and support if a person does experience a fall. Evidence based approaches to falls and fracture prevention will be taken into consideration as we develop our National Falls Strategy which will set out ways to support, encourage and sustain a whole system approach to falls prevention and management and fracture prevention in Scotland.

Suicide statistics are produced by National Records of Scotland (NRS). Towards the end of 2017 NRS published a user consultation on the timing of Vital Events statistics. The consultation was published on the NRS website consultation page https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/user-consultations-groups-and-seminars/consultations

Users who had registered an interest in population or health statistics on the ScotStat register http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/scotstat received an email alerting them to the consultation. Various user groups were also told about the consultation and encouraged to respond, such as the Population and Migration Statistics user group and the Scottish Public Health Observatory Steering Group. Key users within the Scottish Government and the NHS were also alerted.

The consultation ended on 7 December 2017 and an analysis of responses (which included the new publication timetable) was subsequently published on the NRS website – https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/consultations/user-consultation-on-timing-vital-events-stats.pdf The new publication date has also been listed on the Future Publications page of the NRS website - https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/future-publications

Ministers were informed of this change but are not required to agree such changes. These are National Statistics and the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics ( https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/code-of-practice/the-code/ ) states that the Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics should have sole authority for deciding on the timing of the release of regular statistics.