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Public Health Scotland have produced regular Official Statistics post introduction of NHS dental payment reform. The most recent version was published on 27 August 2024 and provides the activity levels for all treatment items, each month since introduction. Statistical information will form the basis of ongoing monitoring of dental sector activity.

The data available through NHS dental payment reform reflects the revision to fee codes that was delivered in November 2023. Activity and treatment trends are available in the Public Health Scotland statistics that have been published post reform.

The Scottish Government is complying with its duty to maintain a register of captive bred schedule 4 birds held by keepers in Scotland, as required under the Wildlife and Countryside (Registration and Ringing of Certain Captive Birds) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) carry out this function for Scotland with the agreement of the Scottish Ministers.

Section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 introduces an offence of significant environmental harm and sets maximum penalties for convictions for this offence. As set out in the Scottish Government’s draft Annual Report on the Scottish Government's commitment to align with the European Union where appropriate that was laid on 31 October 2024, we are considering Directive (EU) 2024/1203 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on the protection of the environment through criminal law. As a part of our consideration of this Directive, we are assessing the provisions for qualified offences for conduct that causes widespread and substantial environmental damage to particular features of the environment, and comparing this with existing provisions in Scots law to protect the environment.

The Scottish Government continually reviews the support available to communities through the CARES scheme and uses this information to inform future support. An evaluation of the current contract, which is due to end on 31 March 2025, will be completed prior to the beginning of a new contract. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to input into this evaluation.

The Scottish Government has published an Invitation to Tender for the new CARES contract with a submission deadline on 26 November 2024. Ahead of publication, the Scottish Government gathered information from stakeholders via an in-person supplier engagement event and Request for Information. The feedback gathered from these engagements were taken into consideration when developing the new CARES Statement of Requirement.

The Scottish Government takes into account a broad range of data and evidence when considering priorities to improve and support literacy including reading.

For example, Scotland’s performance in the PISA (Reading) international survey in 2022 was above the OECD average and higher than 24 other countries. 9.6% of students in Scotland performed at “PISA Level 5” or better in reading, which is defined by the OECD as top performers, and above the OECD average of 7.2%.

The most recent Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data for literacy showed that 73% of primary school pupils achieved the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Level for literacy, the highest figure on record. The poverty related attainment gap in primary literacy was the narrowest on record.

The focus remains on improving further, and the answer to S6W-30944 on 12 November 2024 provides a summary of the action being taken to support reading and literacy in schools. 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.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to implementing the recommendations of the Pathways Review: Pathways: A new approach for women in entrepreneurship - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). Record levels of funding have been allocated to support women’s enterprise, including the £1.3m Pathways Fund in 2023 and a further £2.6m of funding in 2024-25 for the Pathways Fund and Pre-Start regional pilot.

The successful applicants of the Pathways Fund have been notified and will be announced shortly. The funded projects addressing the challenges faced by women and other under-represented groups while promoting the key Pathways themes of access to support, education, finance and investment.

These interventions are foundational to the full implementation of the Pathways Review and the Scottish Government remains determined to unlock the full potential of Scotland’s female business leaders.

In his latest letter to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee (NZET) on 11 October, Ferguson Marine’s interim Chief Executive reported that recent acceptance sea trials were successfully completed and assured the Committee that a definitive handover date will be provided as soon as it is confirmed. I will then write to the NZET Committee to give the Scottish Government’s response to the latest progress update on the delivery of MV Glen Sannox. The vessel is now in the final stages of delivery, with all parties collaborating to complete the remaining technical details.

We want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. As part of our approach, we recognise that online platforms, including social media, can have both a positive and negative impact on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing and that it is important to support people to use social media in a healthy and balanced way.

Keeping children and young people safe online is a priority for the Scottish Government and while we recognise that regulation of the internet remains a reserved matter, we have successfully engaged with the previous UK Government to strengthen protections for children in its Online Safety Act. The Minister for Victims and Community Safety and I met with the online safety regulator Ofcom in August to discuss their strategy for online safety in Scotland.

Following the appalling acts of violence and disorder seen elsewhere in the UK over the summer, the First Minister wrote to social media companies Misinformation, racism and hateful material online: letter to social media companies - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) asking them how they are combating the spread of misinformation and steps being taken to address racist/hateful speech across platforms, and officials are considering responses. Our commitment to this work was further set out by the First Minister recently in response to a question on this issue in Parliament Written question and answer: S6F-03493 | Scottish Parliament Website

We have provided over £400,000 to children and young people’s organisations since 2020, to fund a range of initiatives including the Young Scot Aye Feel online hub and the Mind Yer Time resource, with some of the work focusing on addressing social media usage amongst children and young to help them navigate online spaces and use screen time in a healthy and positive way.

Additionally, our national resource for parents - Parent Club - has a range of information and advice to support parents to manage their child’s screen time, and to have informed conversations with their children on screen time, social media and internet use. The Scottish Government funded public awareness campaigns in 2022 and 2023 to inform parents and carers about the risks of online harm and how to protect their children online which linked to Parent Club resources. In addition, the Scottish Government has recently published guidance for schools on the issue of mobile phones in schools, which supports education authorities and schools in their consideration of limiting access to mobile phones in schools.

In September 2021, the Scottish Government published the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People: Principles and Standards of Care: Children and young people - national neurodevelopmental specification: principles and standards of care - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) which sets out seven standards for service providers to ensure children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles receive support that better meets their needs. This recognises neurodevelopmental differences are estimated to affect around 10% of pupils in Scotland’s mainstream schools, and their additional support needs.

We are working with Health Boards and Local Authorities towards implementing the Specification in full. As part of this, we have provided over £1 million to fund five pilots which are focusing on various aspects of the Specification, including implementing our Getting It Right For Each Child approach and multi-agency working. We are working to share the learning from these with all appropriate stakeholders to support wider implementation of the specification across Scotland and inform future service improvements.

More broadly, every child and young person should be able to access support for their mental health and wellbeing when and where they need it. Since 2021, we have provided local authorities with £15 million per annum to deliver community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for 5-24 year-olds and their families.

A Scottish Government official met with pupils and representatives of the Council, at Beath High School on 18 March 2024. This was an opportunity for pupils to present on their concerns and for them to get an understanding of the School Food Regulations and that flexibility exists for Fife Council to address the issues raised by the pupils in a way that balanced local preferences alongside nutritional needs. Following the meeting, Fife Council and the pupils were to discuss matters further to identify what changes could be made to the meals offer in their schools.