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The Scottish Government is currently consulting on whether, and if so how, to introduce mandatory calorie labelling in the Out Of Home Sector in Scotland. The consultation closes on 1 July and can be found at: https://consult.gov.scot/population-health/mandatory-calorie-labelling/ .

The consultation encourages those who may find calorie information upsetting – for example, people with disordered eating, eating disorders, distress around eating, or people with a higher weight – to comment on the proposals.

Responses to the consultation will help inform the further development of policy proposals as well as impact assessments. We are aware of concerns expressed by those affected by eating disorders and are taking those seriously as part of the impact assessment process. Officials engage regularly with Beat, the leading charity for those with an eating disorder, to ensure that we fully understand the nature of its concerns and to share any supporting evidence where available.

In addition, officials, in collaboration with Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland colleagues, are conducting a Health Inequalities Impact Assessment. This includes, among other things, direct engagement with those who have clinical expertise in relation to eating disorders as well as weight stigma experts.

Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution.

This model will aim to reduce stigma and criminalisation experienced by women and encourage better access to services.

There are several considerations which must be made in designing the model, including ensuring its alignment to the Equally Safe Strategy and our unique legal landscape in Scotland. The model must operate effectively not only to hold those who buy sex to account, but to deter them from purchasing sex. Any changes proposed to the current criminal law would require legislation to be brought before Parliament in the normal way in due course.

The criminal law is only one aspect of the model and it is vital that a package of measures is developed in parallel to underpin any changes which are brought forward.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08695 on 7 June 2022. 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 is open to considering all interventions that can be demonstrated to improve access to and engagement with hepatitis C testing and treatment.

People who are at risk as a result of their drug use often experience a range of health and social issues. That’s why eliminating Hepatitis C from Scotland requires a person-centred approach. NHS Tayside became the first region in the world to achieve elimination by using a person centred approach, leading to better engagement and more successful treatment.

A range of work is under way in partnership with the Scottish Health Protection Network Hepatitis C group to embed this learning more widely; In the meantime, we have funded pilots, such as the Cocoon Project, which is specifically focused on those who inject drugs. The pilot will be evaluated in due course and any learning will be shared to enable a system-wide improvement across Scotland.

Crown Estate Scotland (CES) and the Scottish Government were informed of The Crown Estate’s Round 4 results at the same time. These results indicated a significant change in the offshore wind market. As the ScotWind registration and application process had already opened, CES informed Scottish Ministers that it intended to pause the process in order to conduct a rapid review. The Scottish Government provided advice on process and implications for broader offshore wind policies in Scotland. During the review, Scottish Government were kept regularly informed of the review’s progress through to completion as delivery of the review as swiftly as possible was key to keeping the ScotWind process on track.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 must be implemented effectively so that, once in force, it offers robust protections to victims. The Scottish Government is working closely with justice partners to agree a suitable commencement date for the Act.

To complement the implementation of the Act, we are developing a new hate crime strategy for publication later this year, which will help to guide how we successfully tackle hatred and prejudice in Scotland.

To support this, I chaired the inaugural meeting of the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group on 28 April. This group will provide a collaborative, multi-agency approach to the Strategy’s development.

In the period between 2012 and 2021 there have been 72,683 hernia mesh repairs. Rectopexy mesh analysis is not currently produced. Public Health Scotland are in the process of developing the correct codes to use for future analysis.

Now that the Public Inquiry is complete Scottish Ministers are considering the terms of the report received on 18 February 2022 and should be in a position to make a decision in due course.

Following an independent expert review process, 9 projects were funded through the CSO's Long-term effects of COVID-19 call Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

CSO funded research project start dates are confirmed through submission by the corresponding host institution of a completed start certificate ( Form7-Start-Certificate.docx (live.com) )

The following table shows the confirmed start dates and derived end dates for the 9 projects funded through the Long-term effects of COVID-19 call

The Scottish Government recognises that there are potential risks associated with playing instant win games. Instant win games can have some of the characteristics of commercial gambling products such as increased speed of play and instant gratification which are associated with higher risk of harm. Instant access to these activities through online methods can also create more continuous-play formats which are the most highly associated with harms.

The Scottish Government understands that the Gambling Commission, the body responsible for the regulation of the National Lottery, has recently investigated the National Lottery £10 instant win games. These have now been withdrawn due to the possible link between higher priced games and problem gambling. The new operators of the National Lottery are obligated to ensure that those at risk from gambling harms are protected from them. The Scottish Government would therefore expect the new operators to take the appropriate measures to protect people from harm.