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The Scottish Government has commissioned Public Health Scotland to lead national-level monitoring and evaluation of the Emergency Department Opt-Out Testing programme. This evaluation will include both quantitative and qualitative components to assess the programme’s impact, as well as cost-effectiveness modelling. Key metrics will focus on testing rates for blood borne viruses, diagnoses, linkage to care and the uptake of treatment. The evaluation will also explore the experiences of patients, Emergency Department staff, and other stakeholders to identify facilitators and barriers to implementation and engagement. The evaluation will be co-developed and delivered in collaboration with Glasgow Caledonian University, NHS Boards and frontline clinicians involved in the programme rollout.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), in its minutes of 10 October 2023, advised that the adult flu programme should run from the beginning of October to the end of November, with Health Boards able to apply flexibility as appropriate.

The Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) has been operationalising this advice since winter 2023-24. For each immunisation programme, SVIP looks at the precise numbers of those eligible, as the denominator fluctuates each year, and planning is undertaken to operationalise accordingly.

Planning for winter 2026/27 will commence in spring 2026 and we will align programme dates with the JCVI advice as normal.

Progress towards eliminating hepatitis C (HCV) in Scotland is monitored by Public Health Scotland (PHS). PHS’s latest HCV surveillance report, published in January 2025, described progress as “hugely encouraging”. For example, there was evidence to indicate the vast majority (89%) of individuals diagnosed with chronic HCV having cleared their infection.

However, the latest report only includes data up to 2023/24, so it is too early to say conclusively whether every indictor for HCV elimination has been reached. An update on Scotland’s progress towards achieving HCV elimination targets will be available in the next iteration of the PHS HCV surveillance report, which is due to be published in November 2025. In the meantime, identifying undiagnosed infections remains a top priority, and we continue to focus on testing and treating more people as we push towards the elimination of hepatitis C in Scotland.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are currently coordinating a review of the UK’s progress towards HCV elimination in order to submit a dossier to the World Health Organization. Formal accreditation of HCV elimination from the World Health Organization is considered on a UK-wide basis and the Scottish Government continues to work collaboratively with partners to consider next steps, baring in mind potential differences in progress across the four nations.

It is also vital that we continue to monitor, test and treat for HCV beyond the elimination goal to ensure that we retain the elimination status and prevent cases recurring in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has no plans to consider making flu vaccination mandatory for any eligible groups, including public-facing NHS staff.

There is evidence that mandatory vaccination damages confidence in vaccination and provokes a negative reaction in those for whom it is mandated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the UK Government briefly made COVID-19 vaccination a mandatory condition of employment for frontline health and social care workers and staff in care homes, but quickly rescinded it due to significant opposition from the staff group. Although never mandated by Scottish Government, some private Scottish health and social care employers did require COVID-19 vaccination, and some health and social staff conflated their employers’ position, and that of the UK Government, with that of the Scottish Government. Some workers still have residual objections in regards to this, which impacts their views on workplace vaccination. Our policy is therefore to provide evidence-based, scientific rationale that encourages the workforce forward for vaccination on a voluntary basis.

Taking up the offer of the flu vaccine is the best way for people to protect themselves and those around them from getting ill; however it must be an individual's choice to get vaccinated. The Scottish Government ensures that accurate and trusted information is available to the public to help them to make an informed decision.

We continue to encourage all eligible individuals, including NHS staff, to take up the offer of the flu vaccine.

All those aged 75 years and over are eligible for both flu and COVID-19 vaccination, and will be offered both vaccines at the same appointment. Invitations for these cohorts will have been sent out by the start of November.

Additionally, in October, the Scottish Vaccination & Immunisation Programme runs a flu and COVID-19 mid-programme data refresh. This is designed to pick up those who may have become newly eligible due to developing a new clinical condition, or for those who have moved into Scotland, since the initial data was run in the late summer. These new invites are sent throughout November.

Scotland is committed to being an international leader on climate justice: our £36 million Climate Justice Fund has demonstrated this commitment and supports those most affected by the climate crisis in ways that are participatory, rights-based and inclusive. We are currently considering options for Scottish Government attendance at and around COP 30 and we will announce plans in due course.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all children and young people receive high quality relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education, which is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the Scottish curriculum. Curriculum for Excellence is the national approach to learning and teaching providing flexibility for teachers to deliver a curriculum tailored to local needs within an overarching framework.

The RSHP experiences and outcomes specify the need for children and young people to gain knowledge appropriate to their age and stage of education. RSHP education is intended to help children and young people build positive relationships while requiring that key aspects are presented in an objective, balanced and sensitive manner including in respect of the law on sexual behaviour. Teachers therefore have the flexibility to include content on consent and digital harm if they feel it appropriate to a RSHP lesson.

There are many resources available to teachers to help them deliver meaningful RSHP learning and these are summarised on Education Scotland’s website. One of these resources, www.rshp.scot, was includes learning activities on consent and how children and young people can learn to be safe and happy online. In addition, the Scottish Government also published a resource for professionals to help them support young people aged 11 to 18 in their understanding of healthy relationships and consent. The Key Messages for Young People on Healthy Relationships and Consent reiterate age-appropriate messages on the themes of consent, bodily autonomy and mutual respect.

The Scottish Government has also provided support for the development of the Digital Discourse Initiative (DDI) by Time for Inclusive Education and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). The DDI online learning provides teachers and school staff with an improved knowledge and understanding of how modern social media platforms work and their role in facilitating online disinformation and prejudicial content. We have also published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender based violence. Misogynistic behaviour has been identified as an emerging concern within schools. The publication of this framework demonstrates our commitment to take swift action to respond to current concerns and ensure pupils and staff are properly supported. We are in the process of commissioning an independent review to establish further areas for improvement. We continue to take forward a range of additional actions in schools to address gender based violence and sexual harassment. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland Programme is working to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls. We also continue to implement ‘Equally Safe’, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40670 on 30 September 2025.

Ministers would be pleased to meet with the Scottish Traditional Building Forum (STBF).

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.

There is an opportunity for Scotland to become a leader in green data centres given our capacity to generate energy from renewable sources.

In 2023, 70% of electricity generated in Scotland was from renewable sources – a marked increase compared to less than one-third (32%) a decade previously. As of June 2025, there is an estimated capacity of 76.5 GW of renewable energy projects, including storage, in the planning pipeline in Scotland. This means there is ample opportunity to use excess renewable generation for data centres, helping to reduce the impact and taxpayer costs of network constraints, with £390 million paid to Scottish wind farm operators in 2024 alone. As the National Energy System Operator (NESO) recognised in its 2025 Future Energy Scenarios, up to a fifth of Great Britain’s future data centre demand could be based in Scotland.

While we have no immediate plans to introduce planning guidance for energy-intensive developments, strategic planning is being undertaken by the Scottish Government to accommodate any infrastructure demands of AI technologies, such as AI data centres. Together with the UK and Welsh Governments, we have jointly commissioned NESO to produce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) for Great Britain. The SSEP will spatially optimise a specified volume of flexible data centre demand (1-2GW). This will indicate where opportunities for energy system benefits exist, such as co-location of renewables and data centres, supporting the development of government policy on the spatial location of data centre demand. The Regional Energy Strategic Plan for Scotland will further enable the coordinated development of the energy system across multiple vectors.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) designates all green data centres of a major scale as part of National Development 12: Digital Fibre Network. What constitutes a major development is defined within the The Town and Country Planning (Hierarchy of Developments) (Scotland) Regulations 2009.