Specific evaluations of the Childsmile programme are undertaken by the University of Glasgow. Publications can be viewed online at https://www.gla.ac.uk/ .

More broadly, the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP) monitors the general oral health of children in Scotland. The latest NDIP statistics published in October 2023 showed that 82% of P7 children have no obvious decay, compared with 53% in 2005. In addition, the difference in the percentage of children with no obvious decay in the most and least deprived areas decreased from 26.3 percentage points in 2009 to 16.1 percentage points in 2023.

This shows the success of our flagship Childsmile Programme. Fluoride varnish is a key element of Childsmile and there are no plans to remove this aspect of the programme.

The Scottish Government takes the findings of the report very seriously. The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government.

We continue to support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services. All school pupils aged 10 and above have access to school counselling services.

The Scottish Government has also provided guidance and professional learning for school staff to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in schools.

Finally, we are also providing local authorities with £15 million per annum to provide community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children and young people, with many of these delivered through primary and secondary schools.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25557 on‎ 25 March 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

The UK Government introduced the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme in July 2023.

The scheme provides a partial guarantee to a lender making a loan to a ship-buyer or operator, so that new vessels, or refits, retrofits or repairs of existing vessels can be procured from UK shipyards.

It can provide partial guarantees covering up to 80% of the risk to lenders for a maximum repayment period of up to 12 years.

The scheme is in its infancy, and it would be prudent to evaluate its impact in time before considering any potential alternative schemes in Scotland.

Spending data on additional support for learning (ASL) is provided below. This data is collected from local authorities via the 2022-23 Local Financial Returns (LFR). These figures show that spending on ASL by local authorities reached its highest level on record, £926m in 2022-23.

Local authorities are asked to provide this data in line with guidance to ensure returns are completed on a consistent basis to allow for a reasonable degree of comparability. However, these figures may be affected by variations in local accounting practices and education strategies. It is important to bear this in mind when making comparisons between local authorities and years.

Local authorities are asked to record all centrally funded ASL expenditure under Special Education, irrespective of where it is delivered. Decisions about prioritisation and budgets, including those for the provision of services for pupils with additional support needs, are a matter for individual councils. We recognise the challenges facing authorities in balancing their need to meet a wide range of statutory duties, local priorities and local circumstances.

Table 1 shows gross revenue expenditure on (ASL) education for 2022-23, split by Pre-Primary, Primary, Secondary and Special Education.

Table 1 – 2022-23 ASL expenditure by Local Authority (£000)

In December I announced plans to provide refreshed guidance to schools on the use of mobile phones, as part of the joint action plan to respond to the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research. The existing guidance was produced in 2013 and it is right that this is reviewed in light of the evidence provided by the Behaviour In Scotland's Schools Research 2023 and PISA. I have committed that the refreshed guidance will be developed in consultation with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools. The updated guidance will be published in Spring 2024.

The Scottish Government has no plans to designate lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse ® ) as a specialist medicine or to explore options for commissioning the direct procurement of this medicine through National Services Scotland’s NHS National Procurement.

Manufacturing issues and increased global demand are the main reasons for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicine supply issues and as such it is unlikely that a central procurement of lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse ® ) or of any other ADHD medicine would offer an effective solution. This is anticipated to be a short term problem.

The regulatory powers on the supply of medicines, are reserved to the UK Government and the Department of Health and Social Care’s Medicines Supply Team are co-ordinating the shortage of ADHD medicines at a UK level. Advice has been issued to healthcare professionals including on the availability of unlicensed imports. In addition, the UK Government has added lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse ® ) to the restricted medicines lists – which means it cannot be exported out of the UK.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact of these global shortages on people living with ADHD and their families. Scottish Government officials continue to engage with the UK Government on this supply issue and other shortages. NHS Scotland has robust systems in place to manage medicine shortages when they arise. Anyone affected by this issue should speak to their clinical team.

The Scottish Government have commissioned RSM UK to provide analysis of the capacity requirements associated with the new model of neonatal care.

The scope of this work is to model the current and future demand and requirements for neonatal intensive care cot capacity, in order to inform regional implementation planning.

The work has involved engagement with operational and strategic stakeholders to collect feedback on implementation considerations, of which accommodation requirements has been documented.

Detailed analysis and quantification of accommodation capacity requirements is not in the scope of this work. However, this is a key part of the model of neonatal care described in Best Start and we expect all Boards to provide emergency overnight accommodation on the unit for parents who need it, with other accommodation for neonatal parents nearby. Boards are expected to include provision for this in their planning.

We also provide support to all families with babies in neonatal care to cover the costs of food, travel and accommodation as part of our Young Patients Family Fund.

The report is due to be finalised by the end of March 2024.

In order to receive a grant under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative, prospective applicants must set out their intention to i) establish a new practice or ii) extend an existing practice within designated geographical areas. Designated areas are defined by Scottish Government with reference to overall availability of General Dental Services. Once granted, SDAI funding is monitored to ensure ongoing compliance with a number of conditions which the grantee agrees to when signing the grant offer letter. These include.

In 2019 the Scottish Government instituted a period of legal reform for the framework underpinning Scottish road works, expanding and strengthening the range of existing powers roads authorities have.

Since 2023 Scottish Ministers have taken action on enforcement powers, through empowering roads authorities by endorsing a new Code of Practice for reinstatement, which introduced a UK leading six year guarantee for utility works. We have committed to a review of road works Fixed Penalty Notices (the fines to be levied), due to start in 2024.

Authorities already have an existing power to undertake any outstanding work directly and recharge all costs, should the utility fail to act. These are all discretionary powers, and it is for each roads authority to determine whether it is appropriate to use those powers in each situation.