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The Scottish Government, through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE), has provided continuous support to assist the workforce of Stoneywood paper mill, in Aberdeen.

On 22 September 2022, PACE information was supplied to the administrator, Interpath Advisory, for distribution to the workforce immediately following the announcement of redundancies, to facilitate their self-referral to PACE services. As previously advised, a PACE support and employment event took place on 29 September, which was attended by approximately 136 individuals, followed by a Jobs Fair on 10 October, which was attended by approximately 500 individuals. Additional PACE support has also been routinely provided to the retained Arjowiggins staff, which included onsite delivery on 11, 24 and 31 January 2023. Further on site delivery may take place with retained staff, should demand be confirmed.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data. Court operational matters, including the system and arrangements for jury service, fall within the remit of the independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).

The Scottish Government has not carried out an analysis of the impact that citations for jury service may have on the wider economy.

As set out in the answers to questions S6W-15835 and S6W-15839 on 21 March 2023 the Scottish Government is already taking forward a broad programme of work to improve the practical support, care and advice that is available for people who have been bereaved.

We are also working to implement some of the UK Commission’s recommendations, for example, improving access to advice and information for people affected by bereavement, ensuring people are sensitively supported during a bereavement, and adopting public health approaches to create more open-ness in talking about dying and death. We have already introduced practical changes to ensure processes for registering a death are as straightforward as possible.

We will continue to engage and listen to bereavement sector partners as we take forward our bereavement work, and will draw on the UK Commission’s findings.

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

Representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) and North Ayrshire Council participate in the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill Steering Group, chaired by myself. This Group has met three times. The last meeting was held on 17 January 2023.

Separately, Scottish Government officials leading CWB development work met with the General Secretary for the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) on August 16, 2022. Scottish Government officials also presented at the Fair Work Convention on 23 February, 2023, which brings together employers and trade unions to advocate for and promote Fair Work.

Scottish Government officials last met with North Ayrshire Council colleagues to discuss the CWB Bill consultation on 16 February, 2023. Finally, The Minister is due to attend the Ayrshire CWB Commission on 24 March 2023.

The Scottish Government remains opposed to the forced installation of pre-payment meters, and we welcome Ofgem’s recent announcement that suppliers will not be restarting prepayment meter installations next month, as previously intended. Scottish Government officials are engaging with Ofgem on its current review of guidance for suppliers on the use of pre-payment meters to ensure that the rights and interests of Scottish consumers are fully considered.

The Scottish Government welcomes The UK Commission on Bereavement’s report and the focus it brings to improving the experience of people affected by grief. Bereavement affects many aspects of our lives and we recognise that getting the right care and support following a bereavement is crucial for our health and wellbeing.

We are already taking forward a broad programme of work to improve the practical support, care and advice that is available for people who have been bereaved. That includes: prioritising bereavement support within our £15 million Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund; investing directly in bereavement support services - including for families and workplaces affected by suicide; providing wellbeing advice on the Mind 2 Mind website; widening eligibility for the Funeral Support Payment; and, uprating the Funeral Support Payment annually.

We are also exploring ways to further improve bereavement support through our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, the new Palliative and End of Life Strategy, and through the creation of the National Care Service. This will include a focus on meeting the needs of minority groups.

Finally, we will continue to engage and listen to bereavement sector partners as we take forward our bereavement work, and will draw on the UK Commission’s findings.

Our national guidance ‘Included, engaged and involved part 1: promoting and managing school attendance’ encourages Education Authorities to consider the underlying reasons for absence, including those which arise from an additional support needs.

The guidance identifies that poor attendance can often be related to, or be an indication of, an additional support need and that schools should use their staged intervention processes to ensure that any barriers to learning are identified and appropriate support is provided.

The guidance establishes requirements regarding classifying and recording attendance and absence. It is for local authorities to record the reasons for absence for their pupils within the local authority management information system SEEMiS.

The report shows that staff across schools are committed to promoting positive relationships within an inclusive environment and seek to prevent and address bullying.

We take the findings of the report very seriously and have put in place a range of actions immediately to respond. We have begun a review of our national anti-bullying guidance, Respect for All, and have established a working group of key stakeholders to support us in this.

HM Inspectors will undertake a second phase of the thematic inspection which will look at good practice in how schools are responding to bullying. Education Scotland will publish this report later this year. The findings will inform our future work.

We are engaging with the Teachers Panel and with teaching unions to discuss their experiences and how we could better support schools and pupils. The fifth wave of our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research started in February and will provide a robust national picture of current relationships and behaviour. We will use this research and engagement with stakeholders, including the Scottish Advisory Group for Relationships and Behaviour in Schools, to inform the development of further future policy, guidance and support for schools and school staff.

The latest set of smoking-attributable deaths and smoking attributable hospital admissions up until 2021, will be published as a ScotPHO update on 21 March 2023. This can be accessed from

Smoking attributable deaths - ScotPHO

Smoking attributable admissions - ScotPHO

Information on smoking-attributable NHS costs is not held centrally by Public Health Scotland.