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The dates of Scottish Screening Committee (SSC) meetings since January 2023 are listed below and hyperlinked to the published minutes where available.

18 April 2023 Scottish Screening Committee minutes

The SSC last met on 6 March 2024. The minutes for this meeting are due to be published shortly.

At this time there is no agreed pay award for Scottish Government.

Following a period of negotiation the Scottish Government made a formal pay offer to the recognised trade unions (PCS, Prospect, and FDA) on 14 July 2025. The offer was rejected by PCS and Prospect. FDA indicated they could not recommend acceptance to their members. We will continue to explore next steps with the trade unions to find a solution.

The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information.

Trading Standards Scotland reports any suspected criminality directly to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service.

Vaccination is globally recognised as being second only to clean water in terms of its transformative impact. The Scottish Government is working with NHS Health Boards and Public Health Scotland through the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) to improve public confidence in vaccination.

Scotland's 5-year Vaccination and Immunisation Framework and Delivery Plan, published in November 2024, includes goals to increase uptake and reduce inequalities in vaccination. To do this, SVIP will continue to build on existing practice to build confidence through a range of actions, including: making vaccination, and information about vaccines, more easily accessible; improving the patient experience; working with different communities to understand and respond to any concerns or questions; and supporting the workforce to have confident conversations about vaccines with patients and members of the public.

SVIP continues to build on and develop partnerships with community, third sector and religious organisations to co-produce and disseminate factual information for those who have questions about vaccination.

The Scottish Government is also aware of the harms false health information can cause and is looking at what approaches can be taken based on the latest evidence.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a programme of Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus local area visits to Scottish territorial NHS Boards which provides an opportunity to explore the levels of psychological support available for people living with HIV.

Throughout visits we have observed areas of excellent practice in relation to psychological support for people living with HIV, including some Boards bringing clinical psychology pathways into routine HIV care to ensure holistic HIV management and digital solutions for those who live in more rural areas where peer support may be more challenging. We continue to work with NHS Boards and encourage sharing best practices to address any gaps identified throughout these visits.

The Scottish Government has allocated a budget of around £1.7m per year to support delivery of the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan 2023-26. This funding includes a range of projects focused on HIV testing and prevention including Terrence Higgins Trust HIV Self-Test service, three Emergency Department opt-out testing pilots and a workforce education project led by Waverley Care to reduce stigma in health and social care settings.

In addition to this, we are also proving funding for the roll out of blood borne virus opt-out testing in Emergency Departments starting with those NHS Boards with the highest prevalence.

All children and young people should receive the support they need to reach their full potential. Independent schools have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for pupils with disabilities. The Scottish Government encourages parents to discuss any reasonable adjustments that may be required for their child with their school in the first instance. Where there are concerns that a disabled pupil is being discriminated against in school, families have recourse to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, education authorities have a duty to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of pupils for whose education they are responsible. These duties apply when an education authority has placed a child or young person at an independent school.

Where a child or young person has been placed in an independent school by their family, education authorities have a discretionary power, rather than a duty, under the 2004 Act to provide support. In these circumstances, it is a matter for individual education authorities to decide whether support should be provided. Education authorities are supported in implementing the 2004 Act through the statutory Code of Practice, Supporting Children's Learning, 3rd edition.

The quality of housing in Scotland has improved over the years due to the action of this Government. The introduction of the Scottish Housing Quality Standard in social housing in 2012 and strengthening of the Repairing Standard for the private rental sector in 2024 shows our commitment to making improvements. The Scottish House Condition Survey shows that the condition of our housing across all tenures continues to rise. However, we recognise that different sectors are moving at different speeds, and some types of housing need particular attention, which is why the government committed to having a tenure-neutral standard.

However, the work on the tenure-neutral housing standard was paused last year to prioritise key actions required to respond to the housing emergency declared in June 2024, putting additional pressure on household finances whilst the cost-of-living pressures persisted.

While our focus remains on responding to the Housing Emergency, Scottish Government has an ambition to ensure full alignment of housing standards in the future.

The Scottish Government does not hold the data requested as exits from the Scottish Landlord Register and changes in portfolio size are not tracked.

The following table shows active registrations on the Register in March 2024 and March 2025.

The Scottish Government commissioned a report into the security of supply of Scotland’s electricity system. This report, Electricity system security of supply in Scotland, was published on the ClimateXChange website in December 2023.