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The Scottish Government has welcomed the recommendations that Audit Scotland has made in its report and there are a number of areas highlighted in the report where progress has already been made.

The first of these is bringing the responsibility for the tertiary education and skills system within a single Ministerial portfolio. This represents a material change to the leadership and oversight of both agencies responsible for delivering improvements to our skills system and provides clear lines of accountability.

New governance arrangements have recently been established to oversee a number of collaborative projects in this space. This is the Shared Outcomes Assurance Group which brings together the Senior Responsible Officers from both agencies and government to provide constructive challenge, seek assurance on delivery and to identify solutions to any issues and challenges arising.

There are also numerous examples of positive collaborative working that are already well established, including delivery of apprenticeships, the Young Persons Guarantee and the National Transition Training Fund.

We will update Parliament on how we plan to take forward our response to the report’s recommendations in due course.

The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their psychological, physical, social and financial wellbeing through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. Police Scotland have a network of ‘Wellbeing Champions’ who offer Officers and Staff guidance and signposting to the most appropriate support available to them. These support services include occupational health and the HELP employee assistance programme which offer counselling, specific interventions and guidance. Police Scotland offer post traumatic support for all police officers and members of police staff who are directly involved in potentially traumatic incidents through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM). Mental health is also very much the focus of health and wellbeing training offering at present, Police Scotland are working with 2 delivery partners, ELEOS and Lifelines Scotland, on a weekly schedule of training activity. The training aims to raise awareness and support the emotional and psychological wellbeing of the Police workforce.

The information requested is not held centrally. The recording of absences, in relation to Police Scotland’s workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

This is a matter for the Integration Authorities. The information is not held by the Scottish Government.

The UK National Screening Committee, an independent scientific body that advises all four UK nations on screening, currently recommends that women between the ages of 50 and 70 are invited for three yearly breast screening. Therefore, while programme capacity remains challenging due to COVID-19, the pause on self-referrals allows appointments to be prioritised for the recommended screening population, for whom evidence shows clear benefits.

The organisations that oversee screening in Scotland, including the Scottish Screening Committee (SSC), National Screening Oversight (NSO) and the Breast Screening Programme Board (BSPB) agreed that self-referrals for women aged 71 and over should resume once capacity allows. However, in recognition of the anxiety the pause is causing, officials are exploring if there are options to accelerate the restart that would not unduly impact appointment times for the eligible screening population. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government continues to stress that if anyone, of any age, is concerned they may have symptoms of breast cancer, they should immediately make an appointment with their GP Practice.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05885 on 7 February 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

Up to 930,000 young people will be eligible to travel for free under the scheme and we are absolutely determined to ensure that everyone who is eligible for and wants a free bus pass gets one. I appreciate that we still have a long way to go to reach all 930,000 eligible young people but now that covid restrictions are easing, we are encouraging all young people and parents to apply for their cards. To assist with take up, we plan to launch an extensive marketing campaign in the coming weeks.

We welcome the 4 key recommendations in the report from Endometriosis UK and work is already underway to implement each of these.

Diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis must improve and that is why the Scottish Government has made it a priority in the Women’s Health Plan. We are committed to improving access for women to appropriate support, diagnosis and the best treatment for endometriosis.

The first meeting of the Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board took place on the 25 January and will ensure progress of the Women’s Health Plan is achieved at pace and implemented effectively. The Scottish Government will also publish a Women’s Health implementation plan by Spring this year, which will set out more detail around how the actions will be implemented. The report from Endometriosis UK will help inform our implementation plan.

Scottish Government ran a very successful five-week, multi-media marketing campaign last autumn to raise awareness of the new standard. This was supported by over 96,000 leaflets distributed to all libraries in Scotland as well as posters, website and an online campaign toolkit shared with over 500 partners.

Independent analysis showed the campaign reached 95.2% of its target audience and follow-up analysis in December 2021 showed 88% were aware of the new standard.

Furthermore, Scottish Government has published material online through social media and a dedicated website and the Cabinet Secretary has written on several occasions to MSPs with information and FAQs to support their constituents.

We welcome that the unions are sharing their ideas and views. Transport Scotland officials attended the launch of the unions’ publication, and the previous Minister for Transport discussed various subjects covered in that report in his engagements with the unions.

Our focus is currently on the mobilisation of ScotRail Trains Ltd, which will provide passenger services within the public sector, under Scottish Government control, from April. Discussions with rail trade union representatives are underway, ensuring continued engagement, as part of the transition on 1 April 2022 of ScotRail to ScotRail Trains Ltd.

I am keen to meet the unions and advance a constructive dialogue on these matters and, to that end, a meeting is scheduled with all four rail trade unions for 10 February.