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The Scottish Government will consider this point as part of wider discussions with SEPA around the recommendations arising from the review, and will issue its response in due course.

The National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2) will be developed with stakeholders to achieve sustainable management of our seas, support coastal communities, safeguarding of existing sectors and protection of the marine environment.

Further to the response to question S6W-22502 on 8 November 2023, I would clarify that there have been no costs incurred to date on the development of a National Digital Academy.

As set out, Scottish Government are currently developing options for a National Digital Academy. Once developed, these will include an estimate of future potential costs.

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 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a clinical guideline on the prescribing of Cannabis Based Products for Medicinal use (CBPMs) for people with intractable nausea and vomiting, chronic pain, spasticity and severe treatment resistant epilepsy on 11 November 2019, which was updated in October 2022. The guideline states that nabilone, dronabinol, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or a combination of cannabidiol (CBD) with THC should not be offered to manage chronic pain in adults. Clinicians working in Scotland are expected to have regard to NICE guidance on CBPMs.

The Scottish Government and SIGN will both shortly be updating their chronic pain prescribing guides that will consider the evidence around the best and most effective treatments for chronic pain.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent review of the VNS in Spring 2022 to ensure that the scheme was working well for victims. The review published its report and an easy read summary in May this year. It made 22 recommendations for change of the scheme, including in relation to data, evidence and reporting, the information available and communications.

Since May we have been considering the report in collaboration with a range of stakeholders, including criminal justice agencies and victim support organisations, to inform our formal response to the report.

As part of this work, we have been considering how the review’s recommendations could be delivered. This involves a range of possibilities, including primary or secondary legislation, as well as administrative and operational delivery. Where review recommendations may require primary legislation to deliver, we are carefully considering the options available to us for doing this.

Any decision to introduce changes to a national screening programme in Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy.

In 2024, the UK National Screening Committee is expected to make a recommendation on the use of cervical self-sampling in the screening programme. In Scotland, a working group is assessing potential models and understand any changes that would be required to the screening programme to support an initial roll-out. This work continues to be informed by developments across the UK, as well as global research.

This information is not held centrally.

The 2022 pupil census records 3740 pupils in Scotland in receipt of additional support as a result of hearing impairments and a further 69 recorded as deafblind. The level of support from a qualified Teacher of the Deaf depends upon the individual needs of each pupil. Under the Additional Support for Learning Act all teachers have a role in meeting the additional support needs of pupils with hearing impairments and those who are deafblind.

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

In relation to part (a) of the question, information regarding Deaths in Prison Custody (including apparent cause of death, location and gender) can be found on the SPS website here: https://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Information/PrisonerDeaths.aspx

In relation to Parts (b) and (ii) of the question, SPS do not record this information.

In relation to part (i) of the question, of those individuals who died by apparent suicide within the last 10 years, 14 were recorded as being on SPS’s Suicide Prevention Strategy at the time of death.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the recommendations and will issue its response in due course.

Cancer is a priority for the Scottish Government and our focus remains on increasing survival rates across all cancers. The one-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer in Scotland is around 25% whilst the five-year survival rate is just over 5%, similar to rates in the other UK nations. Only 17% of people with pancreatic cancer in Scotland are diagnosed at stage 1 and 2, which partly explains current low survival rates.

Early diagnosis is key to pancreatic cancer survival and we continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme. The programme takes a whole-systems approach to early detection and encompasses primary care, diagnostics, public education, data, innovation, and screening.

A new Earlier Cancer Diagnosis Vision was developed as part of the ambitious ten-year cancer strategy published in June 2023. The vision is to reduce later stage disease and has a focus on reducing the health inequalities gap, alongside the strategic aim to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care.