Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is actively working with partners and people with lived experience to develop Scotland’s approach to self-harm; this is a commitment in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery plan.

In developing our approach we are considering how best to deliver our objective to ensure compassionate, trauma informed responses to people in distress who self-harm, whilst also reducing stigma.

Our initial work on self-harm included commissioning Samaritans Scotland to undertake research, which resulted in the publication of ‘Hidden too long: uncovering self-harm in Scotland’ ( https://media.samaritans.org/documents/HiddenTooLong_uncoveringself-harminScotland.pdf ). In line with that research, we have continued to engage with partners and people with lived experience to better understand the prevalence and nature of self-harm. Through the Mental Health Recovery and Renewal fund, work is being commissioned to pilot self-harm support services, develop a website to support people who self-harm and design a programme of learning for professionals. Crucially, this research, engagement and evaluation from pilots will inform our policy approach.

The following table details staff headcount including the current annual budget allocation for the Scottish Government’s overseas offices, including salary costings, upkeep, day-today running and hospitality costs.

A list of organisations which provided advice or information as part of the development of the guidance is contained within ‘ Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools’ . They include:

• Association of Directors of Education Scotland
• Children in Scotland
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Education Scotland
• Engender
• LGBT Youth Scotland
• National Parent Forum of Scotland
• Rape Crisis Scotland
• Sportscotland
• Stonewall Scotland
• Scottish Transgender Alliance

The regulation of nuisance calls and texts is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is committed to doing all it can to tackle this issue – and the scams that can underpin them – using our devolved powers.

Many of the proposed actions from the Nuisance Call Commission 2017 have been progressed and delivered. However, we recognise that further work needs to be done. That is why on 19 March 2021 we published Scotland’s Scams Prevention, Awareness & Enforcement Strategy 2021-24.

The strategy introduces a new framework for tackling scams, with an emphasis on: disrupting scams at source; building capacity, skills and resilience amongst individuals to avoid the risk that scams pose; streamlining the reporting and advice landscape so that people can access the right support at the right time to meet their needs; and improving coordination and intelligence sharing between frontline advice providers, enforcement bodies and wider advocacy organisations.

A key part of this work is supporting technological innovation. Since 2017, we have been providing funding to Trading Standards Scotland for the purchase and roll out of domestic call blocker devices to the homes of individuals in some of the most vulnerable circumstances in Scotland. A recent report on the effectiveness of these call blockers by Trading Standards Scotland indicated that the devices have blocked 779,633 calls and an estimated 1,265 scams have been prevented.

A new Strategic Partnership was established on 12 August to oversee delivery of the strategy, including development of a robust monitoring framework to assess impacts over time. A progress update report will be produced by the end of 2022-23.

We are still in the early stages of development in relation to the Carbon Neutral Islands project, and are engaging relevant stakeholders to ensure that the voices of islanders are fully heard. It is therefore too soon to determine how much funding will be needed.

By developing Carbon Neutral Islands that attract jobs and investment, the project aims to retain and bring more people to Scottish islands. It will be informed by the development of the Islands Bond policy and align with Strategic Objective One of the National Islands Plan which states that we will address population decline and ensure a healthy, balanced population profile.

Yes.

The Scottish Government continues to take forward the recommendations of the Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland which were reviewed positively by Professor Duncan Morrow in March 2017. The work has been focussed and delivered through education projects in schools, colleges, communities and workplaces for children and adults.

It is important that we all take responsibility to do more to rid Scotland of bigotry and prejudice. The Scottish Government is fully committed to tackling sectarianism in Scotland and have invested an unprecedented £15 million since 2012 including £557,000 in 2021- 22.

As was announced in the programme for government, we will open a Scottish Government office in Copenhagen next year to increase Scotland’s economic and cultural visibility in the Nordic region. In this parliamentary session, we will also open an office in Warsaw, as part of our continued commitment to enhancing our external reach and voice.

We anticipate that the new offices will be similar in budget and staffing numbers to existing Scottish Government overseas offices. The budget for these additional offices will be established as part of ongoing planning processes and upcoming budget considerations.

The following table presents the information requested.

Table 1 : Number of people that died within 90 days of discharge following an orthopaedic or any type of surgery, with pulmonary embolism and deep-vein thrombosis among the causes of death.