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The Scottish Government does not intend to publish details of any case studies in relation to regulatory powers under sections 7 and 8 of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996.

However any legislation brought forward under the Natural Environment Bill will be justified and accompanied by published policy notes and impact assessments.

As the Health Board makes the arrangements with independent dental contractors and bodies corporate, it is for the Board to have direct discussions with the rural practices.

Each NHS Board has a Director of Dentistry. Officials meet all NHS Boards regularly to discuss local issues, potential solutions and manage risk, which the Director of Dentistry attends.

The Scottish Government also regularly meet with the official representative body, British Dental Association Scotland, to discuss a range of matters including recruitment and retention across rural and island Scotland.

Officials meet NHS Boards regularly to discuss local issues, potential solutions and manage risk, which the Director of Dentistry attends. This includes Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) provision in the Tayside area.

The Chief Dental Officer wrote to Health Boards on 2 September 2024, confirming our intention to introduce a more targeted and evidence-based approach to SDAI provision, ensuring those areas with clear unmet need are supported.

The report from the Scottish Veterans Commissioner recognised the progress made in bringing forward the homelessness prevention provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which builds on the existing strong rights for people who are homeless, including veterans.

The number of homeless veterans in Scotland remains low and homeless veterans are a relatively small proportion (2%) of homeless households. However, we recognise that when veterans do become homeless they may have particular needs and we will continue to work with partners, including Veterans Scotland, both to prevent homelessness and improve housing outcomes for veterans.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

A Cell Sharing Risk Assessment (CSRA) must be completed before any individual is allocated to share a cell. SPS has no recorded instances of individuals sharing a cell that conflicts with a CSRA.

The CSRA will be used to make an informed decision on the individual's suitability to share a cell and if required alternative options are explored with the safety, security, health and wellbeing at the forefront of any decision made.

The CSRA process is used as the assessment process in accordance with Rule 28 (Accommodation of Prisoners) of the Prison Rules (Scotland) 2011.

The Scottish Government published the Funeral Support Payment evaluation in July 2022, which found that the payment reduced the need for people to borrow money to arrange a funeral.

Social Security Scotland’s annual client survey monitors the impact of benefit payments. Respondents to the most recent survey in 2022-23 rated Funeral Support Payment an average of 8.7 out of 10 when asked to rate how much benefit payments had helped make a difference to their lives.

We are committed to continually improving Scottish benefits. As a result of evaluation findings and learnings since Funeral Support Payment was launched in 2019, we have recently introduced regulations into Parliament to make improvements to the payment, further supporting bereaved people.

The administration of the alcohol licensing regime in Scotland, as set out in the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 is devolved to independent Licensing Boards. This is, in effect, the 32 Scottish local authorities. They undertake their day-to-day duties within the licensing legal framework.

In 2019 the Scottish Government consulted on whether the current £10 occasional licence fee should be reviewed, and also whether the Scottish Ministers should make regulations setting limits on the number and duration of occasional licences granted.

Those Licensing Boards that responded to the consultation generally commented that the £10 fee did not cover the administrative costs of processing occasional licence applications. Some Boards also highlighted the burden that the processing of these applications places on them. Some concerns were expressed by respondents in terms of any reforms avoiding any undue impact on certain events where occasional licences are regularly sought e.g. local gala days.

In total seventy six responses were received to the consultation, with sixty six respondents consenting to the publication of their response online. Those published responses, including from Licensing Boards, can be viewed on the Scottish Government Citizen Space website.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with local authority Licensing Board representatives through direct engagement with the Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR) about a variety of licensing policy issues, including the occasional licence fee and wider policy changes to the occasional licence regime. The Scottish Government is planning further engagement in the next few months with SOLAR and other licensing stakeholders to consider how policy in respect of occasional licences can be developed including assessing the various views offered.

The Patient Safety Commissioner is a Parliamentary office-holder and is being recruited by the Scottish Parliament. They will be appointed by His Majesty on nomination of the Scottish Parliament.

As the Commissioner will be an independent public advocate for patients on issues of safety the Scottish Government does not have a role in the recruitment process. The Commissioner will champion the value of listening to patients and will hold organisations to account for their responsibility to take patients’ concerns seriously.

As there isn’t a specific offence of ‘kerb crawling’, information has been provided in the following table on the number of charges and convictions for (i) Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007 S1 (1) – Person solicits relevant place for purpose of obtaining services of prostitute and (ii) Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007 S1 (3) – Person loiters in relevant place so that infer purpose obtain services of prostitute.

(a) Charges reported to COPFS, 2018-19 to 2024-25*.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30096 on 1 October 2024. 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.