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Following detailed partnership working between the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, Police Scotland and the Crown Office (COPFS), facilitated by the Scottish Government, details of a new service specification have been developed and shared with COPFS.

The specification, which seeks to meet the parameters set out in the Lord Advocate’s statement from November 2021, will now be considered by COPFS.

If appropriate, it will then be referred to the Lord Advocate for consideration of any related statement of prosecution policy

We have worked carefully with partners to help them develop a sustainable approach which will allow for any such facility to operate to maximum effect.

Parliament will be notified when further updates become available.

The Scottish Government is committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets during this parliamentary term, in order to increase the number of these facilities across the country and to support mobile Changing Places Toilets to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

Further information will be available over the course of this parliamentary term.

The £25 million allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank from the Just Transition Fund is part of the Fund’s existing £500 million commitment over ten years, and will be invested by the Bank on a commercial basis, in line with its Investment Strategy and in support of the just transition to net zero in the North East.

The Bank reports publicly on the performance of its investments including through their annual Impact Report.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with COSLA and representatives from local authorities regarding the expansion of free school meals.

The Scottish Government provides an annual update to Parliament on our support for veterans and the Armed Forces community in Scotland. This sets out progress made in delivering the commitments we have made in our Veterans Strategy Action Plan, which is focused on achieving the vision and long term outcomes of the five cross-cutting factors and six key themes in The Strategy for Our Veterans. The accompanying written report from 2022 can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/support-veterans-armed-forces-community-2022/

The Scottish Government has clear commitments to improve education, and those include more teachers in our schools.

During the pandemic we provided £240 million of additional investment to local authorities to support the recruitment of additional education staff to support education recovery. We recently set out measures to Parliament making it clear that we will provide £145.5 million in next year’s budget to protect increased teacher numbers and support staff. Where this is not being delivered by a local authority, we will withhold or recoup funding that has been given for this purpose.

The Scottish Government remains committed to introducing a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service in Scotland.

Work is ongoing to establish the most effective means of further expanding the national thrombectomy service, including how funding will be broken down by NHS Board. Thrombectomy services are run on a regional basis with North, East and West of Scotland hubs. The Scottish Government has asked that regions provide spending forecasts, including workforce plans, which reflect the most effective means of further expanding access to thrombectomy and to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from this treatment.

Curriculum for Excellence is a flexible curriculum, and History sits within the wider curriculum area of social studies, with experiences and outcomes that allow for teaching and learning of a very wide range of topics. This ensures that practitioners are able to deliver a curriculum that is best suited to their learners in their circumstances and local context.

It also means that for the “broad general education” phase in particular (ages 3-15), whilst individual schools are able to draw on education resources which may include specific teaching on the British Empire, content on the British Empire is not embedded in a specific way within curriculum framework documentation. Nonetheless, within the broad general education there is the opportunity to teach the topic of the British Empire, including Scotland’s role, within the people, past events and societies section of social studies. Education Scotland provide a range of resources to support teachers, including for example on historical enslavement.

There is also an opportunity to teach the topic of the British Empire within the History qualifications in the senior phase, for example through the ‘Migration and Empire’ topic (for instance, the National 5 SQA Course Specification references “impact of the Empire on Scotland” and the Higher History SQA Course Specification refers to “the impact of Scots emigrants on the empire” and “The effects of migration and empire on Scotland, to 1939”) and ‘Atlantic Slave Trade’ topic.

More broadly, ensuring that the curriculum is taught in a culturally-responsive way that acknowledges Scotland’s role in historical world events, including trans-Atlantic enslavement and colonial histories, and their continuing impact today is part of a much wider set of ambitions which are included in the Scottish Government’s Anti-Racism in Education Programme.

Education Scotland’s guidance on promoting and developing race equality and anti-racism in education notes the value of nurturing a historical literacy in learners which helps them to understand all of Scotland’s history, including our historical role in empire, colonialism and trans-Atlantic slavery, and helps learners understand how Scotland’s colonial past plays a role in their current everyday lives.

Colleges operate independently of government, it is for them to decide on the shape of their curriculum, taking into account the needs of the region and communities they serve.

In terms of the delivery of national courses (such as national 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers), schools select topics from the relevant SQA units. Within the context of a history course framework, schools may opt to include topics that examine Scotland's role in the British Empire or the Atlantic Slave Trade.

For more information on how this topic might be covered in the school curriculum, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16999 on 2 May 2023. 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

We understand how distressing and debilitating Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can be, and we want to ensure that all people living with the condition in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support.

The Scottish Government has committed £1.95 million to the ‘Precision-MS: Integrating precision metrics of brain health into early treatment of Multiple Sclerosis’ study. The NHS Research Scotland Neuroprogressive Network are currently supporting 11 MS Research studies - to date 258 patients have been recruited to these.

We are working hard to deliver the commitments of our Neurological Care and Support Framework 2020-25 to ensure everyone with a neurological condition can access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms.

Through the Framework we have invested over £300k in projects specifically to improve the health and wellbeing of people with MS in Scotland.