Seòmar agus comataidhean

Public inquiries under the Inquiries Act 2005 do not determine civil or criminal liability. Those are matters for the courts.

The Lord Advocate is responsible for the investigations of deaths. This function is wholly independent of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is currently inviting views from the public on aims and principles for the Covid public inquiry, to help shape the terms of reference for the inquiry. A mailbox where views can be shared has been set up and will remain open up to 30 September. We are also arranging meetings with key stakeholders, including representatives of those bereaved during the pandemic, who remain at the centre of our engagement.

The Scottish Government has provided funding for International Development work by Police Scotland in Malawi and Zambia since 2016. The funding provided in 2019-20 was £449,831 and the funding for 2020/21 was £162,000. The current funding supports Police Scotland’s work on a “Rights & Equalities for Marginalised Groups” programme, which helps tackle local issues in Malawi and Zambia, working with a wide range of marginalised groups such as women, children, those with disabilities, LGBTI and people with albinism. The ability to deliver the programme has been impacted by Coronavirus but Police Scotland hope to re-commence in-country training next year.

The vast majority of medicinal cannabis products remain unlicensed with a limited, or non-existent, peer-reviewed clinical evidence base. Under the current rules, only specialist doctors on the General Medical Council’s specialist register can prescribe cannabis-based products where there is clear published evidence of benefit. We are encouraging companies to participate in clinical trials so that these products can be tested for quality, safety and efficacy and brought forward for approval through the medicine regulatory and health technology assessments processes. This will enable these products to be readily available through the NHS – provided they met the clinical safety requirements for licencing and the clinical and cost effectiveness approval for routine use in the NHS.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02795 on 21 September 2021. 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 .

Our focus has been, and remains, on keeping our school communities safe including minimising the risk of any long-term impact of the pandemic. The First Minister confirmed in her update to Parliament on 14 September, that we are retaining the current suite of mitigations in schools for the time being. This decision follows the latest recommendations of the advisory sub-group on education and children’s issues, and was taken after very careful consideration. The measures in place in schools and across wider society are crucial in reducing infection but we will continue to keep the requirements under very close review.

The work of Police Scotland’s International Development and Innovation Unit is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. The Scottish Police Authority has responsibility for oversight of Police Scotland and to scrutinise the decisions of the Chief Constable.

Scotland has a strong and enduring commitment to securing democracy, the rule of law and human rights across the world. We expect all states to recognise fundamental human rights, comply with human rights legislation and condemn human rights abuses wherever they occur. Through International Engagement we will share our experiences, values and expertise in areas such as justice, education and climate change, with a view to seeing the human rights of people across the world fully realised.

The Scottish Government does not collect statistics on private or fee-paying schools, including on the destinations of their leavers. Scottish Government statistical collections focus on publicly funded and Grant Aided schools for which it provides funding.

In the National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan, we set out our approach to measuring the poverty related attainment gap with 11 key measures identified to assess progress. We have plans to formally review the 11 NIF measures with partners to ensure they are comprehensive, as we recognise that national data needs to provide an accurate understanding of the wide range of learners’ achievement. Local authorities and school leaders are also able to use local knowledge and data to ensure support is targeted towards the children and young people who require it most.

Our priority remains keeping children, young people and school staff safe. The guidance on reducing COVID risks in schools, has been updated and was published on 15 September. It is in line with current advice from the COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s issues. The sub-group keeps the mitigations in schools and Early Learning and Childcare settings under constant review, and will consider the issue of parental attendance at school sporting events at its next meeting on 21 September.

Our consultation on the National Care Service is very wide ranging. We are aiming to capture as many experiences of care as possible from across the whole population of Scotland. We particularly want to hear from people who access social care now, their families and friends, unpaid carers and social care workers as well as people who will access social care in the future.

We have had around 200 responses to the consultation so far on our digital consultation hub. We are also holding open digital consultation events as well as a wide range of other events and meetings with organisations and groups. We do not have information on how many of the people taking part in our consultation events or responding to the consultation are older people.

All responses to the consultation, whether received through our consultation hub or via other means, including at the events and meetings and paper copies of responses, will be carefully analysed together with contributions to our engagement events and we will publish this analysis.