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On 16 March 2020, the Scottish Cervical Screening Programme replaced cervical cytology (looking at cells under a microscope) with a more sensitive test which screens for human papillomavirus (HPV). The new test is more effective at identifying those at risk of developing cervical cancer, meaning women who don’t have HPV will be invited for a cervical screening test every five years instead of every three.

A news release was issued by the Scottish Government to announce this change to the programme on 15 March 2020, and the information available on NHS inform and public information leaflets was updated to reflect the change.

Due to the impact of Covid-19, the cervical screening programme was temporarily paused on 30 March 2020. This meant that some of the communications materials that had been prepared to raise awareness of the move to HPV testing were not released until Cervical Screening Awareness Week in June 2021.

Later this year, the Scottish Government plans to launch a campaign to communicate the benefits of cervical screening. Further awareness raising of the move to five year routine testing will be undertaken to coincide with this campaign.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

1. It is anticipated that the replacement for HMP Barlinnie (HMP Glasgow) will be completed in 2026.

2. HMP Glasgow is estimated to open during 2026. A Planning Permission in Principle application was submitted to Glasgow City Council in December 2019 who subsequently approved the application and issued the planning decision notice, in August 2020. Full details of the application are publicly available on Glasgow City Council’s Planning Portal.

Data on the number of heat pumps in Scotland can be found on page 27 of the ‘Renewable Heat in Scotland, 2019’ report, which was published in October 2020: Renewable-Heat-in-Scotland-2019_new.pdf (energysavingtrust.org.uk) . The report states that there are, as of 2019, 17,140 heat pumps in Scotland. The next report is due to be released in October 2021.

The impact assessments for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) published on 16 March 2020 recognised that a single scheme administrator would likely be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the scheme, in line with the Scottish Government’s preferred scheme design. We therefore have no plans to update any of these impact assessments in light of the approval of Circularity Scotland Ltd as scheme administrator of DRS.

SEPA maintains a robust programme structure to plan, track, and deliver the regulator function for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Capital and resource funding for this programme are agreed between SEPA and the Scottish Government as part of the annual Budget process.

Once DRS goes live, the costs of registering producers with SEPA and regulating producers and the scheme administrator in respect of their obligations under DRS will be recovered through the annual registration fee of £360. This fee is to be paid to SEPA by producers with a turnover of greater than £85,000 per year.

The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) proactively notifies victims of decisions not to prosecute in all solemn cases and all summary cases within the specified case remit of the COPFS Victim Information and Advice (VIA) service, including Domestic Abuse and Hate Crime. COPFS proactively notifies victims of decisions to discontinue prosecutions in all categories of cases. COPFS advises all victims of all decisions not to prosecute on request.

COPFS is exploring possible approaches to extending the current notification scheme to all relevant summary cases, including possible IT solutions.

The recording of information on the lobbying register is a matter for regulated lobbyists in line with the requirements of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016.

All Ministerial engagements are proactively published by the Scottish Government and are available at the Gov.scot website .

Any changes to the lobbying register would be a matter for the Scottish Parliament to consider in the first instance.

We recognise the serious and immediate recruitment issues being experienced by the sector. Tourism and hospitality businesses have been extremely hard hit by the pandemic and the ability to employ committed, talented and enthusiastic staff will be an important part of the recovery, not just in Edinburgh but throughout the whole of Scotland.

To address recruitment issues, we are working with key sector organisations in the public and private sector to support a recruitment marketing campaign. This was launched on the 5 th July. In the first three weeks of the campaign, there has been 12,223 new users on the Career Scope website, where we are signposting people to find available jobs.

The campaign will promote a range of roles within the industry and help people find a job that suits different skill sets. It will support businesses fill staff shortages that have occurred as a result of Brexit and encourage those aged 18-30 to play their part in helping businesses recover from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by applying their skills to the diverse job opportunities available now.

The campaign has been developed in conjunction with the sector, and lead partner the Scottish Tourism Alliance, and is supported by £100,000 of Scottish Government funding.

The responsibility for publishing the Deloitte audit report of the Crofting Commission lies with Audit Scotland. Officials have advised that the report will be in the public domain in November 2021.

COP26 will be the biggest international summit the UK has ever hosted, meaning that the policing operation is considerable and will require large deployments of both Police Scotland officers and mutual aid officers brought in from other parts of the UK.

Decisions on how to allocate these resources are a matter for the Chief Constable. However, the recent HMICS review into Police Scotland’s planning for the event offers a high degree of assurance around the service’s ability to balance business as usual policing with delivering a safe and secure COP26.