Seòmar agus comataidhean

Further to the answer to S6W-24007 on 4 June 2024, Scottish Government officials regularly meet Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and have reiterated the need for effective co-operation on these matters in order to ensure that any negative impact on people receiving Scottish social security benefits can be mitigated.

The Scottish Government has consistently opposed the Work Capability Assessment reforms as proposed by the previous UK Government, and will continue to call on the current UK Government to choose to protect people's incomes and not implement the proposed changes.

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.

The Scottish Government published the National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions and the Core Mental Health Standards in September 2023.

We have made a commitment to take a phased approach to implementation, to ensure the Standards and Specification would be implemented effectively in light of existing pressures across the health and social care system.

Assessment tools to assess and support adherence to the Specification and Standards were developed and piloted in spring 2024 and will be rolled out across all boards in 2024-25.

Additionally, Public Health Scotland have reviewed the publication of the Mental Health Quality Indicator Framework and will be publishing this in interactive dashboard format including new Board and HSCP level data from 26 November 2024. This will provide transparency of key access and quality indicators relevant to the Specification and Standards in one place, with the intention to expand this collection in due course.

The removal of A1 Plus was a change enforced by Microsoft, applied to all customers globally. In effect, that licence tier has been retired by Microsoft, therefore there was no option to negotiate a deal to continue to provide A1 Plus for Glow users. Officials pressed Microsoft to afford some flexibility in regards to the A1 Plus licence withdrawal date. However, Microsoft responded that this was not possible.

The A1 licence in Glow remains in place and will continue to provide access to the web-based version of Microsoft Office until the contract end-date in September 2027. Scottish Government has commissioned Education Scotland to undertake a review of needs for any national digital provision in the future.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29283 on 24 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website search facility, which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

NatureScot culling data does not distinguish between public and private deer managers.

Significant progress has been made in recent years to improve smart, integrated ticketing and payment on public transport. Since 2019 Scottish smartcards are universal, meaning they are compatible for nearly all smart tickets available in Scotland. This includes the National Entitlement Card which is used by over two million citizens for concessionary travel. Regionally there are six integrated multi-bus operator or multi-modal schemes available in Scotland’s main cities, on a mix of mobile or smartcard platforms. The Smart, Integrated Ticketing and Payment Delivery Strategy, published on 21 August 2024 also provides detail on activity over the next period to build on this progress.

Data from the reported annual cull returns is set out in the following table:

NatureScot regularly publish this data and further breakdowns can be found on their website https://www.nature.scot/doc/naturescot-deer-census-results which includes a breakdown of reported cull information from 1996 – 2023-24.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29283 on 24 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website search facility, which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy was published in June 2023. To show how the Strategy is making a positive difference to people’s mental health, at all levels of need, it is structured around a Vision and a set of Outcomes so we can be held to account for our progress.

We published our Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan in November 2023. Both set out the actions we will take in order to make progress on these outcomes. This requires local and national leadership as we collectively work towards key national outcomes whilst maintaining local flexibility.

We are committed to robustly review, monitor and evaluate the Strategy, the accompanying Delivery Plan and the Workforce Action Plan to ensure we are committed to the right actions. We will shortly begin publication of regular reporting on progress towards our Strategy Delivery Plan.

Marking of exams is an operational matter for the SQA in its independent role as an examination body.

However, given the persistent concerns that have been raised in relation to the marking of Higher History this year, I met with the Chief Examiner and the Chair of the SQA to discuss the position on 18 September.

SQA has confirmed that, in light of the concerns, a review is underway which is being carried out by SQA's Head of Standards – an individual who has had no involvement in the marking of Higher History. I have asked for a further update once the review is complete, and have agreed with SQA that, if necessary, the findings will be reviewed independently. The findings will be published, and both SQA and Scottish Government are clear that if any issues are uncovered then action will be taken.