Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government published the implementation evaluation of No One Left Behind and Young Person’s Guarantee in August 2023.

This evaluation considered progress in implementation and delivery, the experiences of service providers and service users, barriers and enablers to implementation and identified lessons from early delivery.

The implementation evaluation is available at: No One Left Behind and the Young Person's Guarantee: implementation evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Since 2011, Transport Scotland has invested over £65 million, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, to support the installation of over 2,800 public EV charge points across Scotland as part of the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) EV charging network. These public EV charge points are owned and operated by over 400 separate public, private and third sector organisations.

As a direct result, Scotland has over 4,880 public EV charge points and the best provision of public charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region in the UK.

Overall reliability across the CPS network is typically very good, with all charge points on the network up and running around 95-98% of the time each month . The reliability of EV charge points will soon be regulated following the introduction of new UK-wide Public Charge Point Regulations , which were introduced under powers reserved to the UK Government, and came into force in November last year. All public EV charging networks in Scotland must comply with these new regulations, with the charge point owner and operator responsible for compliance.

The Scottish Government launched a new Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (EVIF) in January 2022. Through a partnership approach with Scotland’s local authorities, it aims to leverage £60m of public and private funding to double the network to 6,000 charge points by 2026. A greater commercial sector involvement underpinned by fair, transparent pricing will help to drive up reliability standards across Scotland and encourage more drivers to make the switch to EV

Public Health Scotland is currently leading the national roll-out of online postal self-sampling to test for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with funding from Scottish Government. The service will initially offer testing for the most common STIs which are chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and HIV. The scope of the service will be kept under review, with potential to add further tests if evidence suggests this would be an effective and cost-effective approach.

Testing for hepatitis C is currently available through a range of routes, with a particular focus on settings which are most likely to be accessed by people at highest risk of infection, such as drugs services and prison healthcare. The Scottish Government has also funded research and pilot projects – including opt-out testing in three Emergency Departments – to help identify optimal approaches to testing for hepatitis C and other blood borne viruses in order to achieve our elimination goals.

Transmission Owners in Scotland have worked with Scottish Government officials to consider the challenges around the consenting of major grid developments through a short life working group established in October 2022. The group made multiple recommendations including setting out clear steps to enable the determination of applications within 12 months and the need for legislative changes to the UK Electricity Act 1989. The UK Government has committed to a review of Scottish consenting processes under the UK Electricity Act 1989, and we are working closely with them as they consider the scope of the review.

We have also laid a statutory instrument in the Scottish Parliament which introduces new measures to simplify the planning process and extend the existing Permitted Development Rights (PDR) for electricity undertakings. Subject to parliamentary scrutiny, the changes are expected to come into effect on 24 May 2024.

It is vital that everyone has the opportunity to engage in decisions about future development. We are clear that this engagement must begin as early as possible by developers, at the pre-application stage. It should be effective, collaborative and meaningful, in order to truly influence the final application.

Once a section 36 or 37 application has been submitted to the Energy Consents Unit, members of the general public or groups may make direct representations and comment to the Scottish Ministers.

Scottish Ministers take these views into account, alongside all other application documentation in making their decision.

The Electricity Act 1989 preserves the requirement for local planning authorities to be consulted and for a public inquiry to be required in particular circumstances. The Scottish Government is clear that the views of local planning authorities are an important consideration in the decision making process.

Modelling undertaken by Sheffield University looked at how alcohol consumption in Scotland changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the longer-term implications over 20 years of these changes for public health. This found that on average, people in Scotland who were drinking within the UK low-risk drinking guidelines of 14 units/week reduced their alcohol intake in 2020, while those drinking above the guidelines increased their drinking by an average of 2 units/week.

The modelling then explored 4 illustrative scenarios for how these changes in drinking persisted, or not, from 2022 onwards and compared these to drinking having remained at pre-pandemic levels throughout. In the best-case scenario where it was assumed that alcohol consumption reverts to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, it was estimated there would be an additional 663 deaths, 8,653 hospital admissions, 22,122 years of life lost and £10.9million in NHS hospital costs over 20 years. Where it was assumed that consumption changes during the pandemic would persist in the long-term, it was estimated there would be an additional 7,924 deaths, 91,332 admissions, 239,002 years of life lost and £111.2million in hospital costs over 20 years.

This harmful health impact of the pandemic on alcohol-related outcomes was estimated to fall disproportionately on the most deprived groups, further increasing existing inequalities in health.

The Public Health Scotland (PHS) evaluation into the impacts of Minimum Unit Pricing found the largest estimated reductions in deaths and hospital admissions, during the study period that were wholly attributable to alcohol consumption were seen in men and those living in the 40% most deprived areas.

• The evaluation found the largest estimated reductions in deaths and hospital admissions, during the study period that were wholly attributable to alcohol consumption were seen in men and those living in the 40% most deprived areas

The Scottish Government has worked with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to develop ‘Perinatal mental health curricular framework : a framework for maternal and infant mental health’. This framework sets out the different levels of knowledge and skills required by members of the Scottish workforce who have contact with mothers and their babies, to enable them to support mothers, babies and their families to have positive well-being and good mental health during the perinatal period.

The Scottish Government has also worked with NES to advance training on Perinatal and Infant Mental Health. Training in evidence-based approaches and interventions is delivered to staff across sectors and across practice types including informed, skilled, enhanced and specialist, as appropriate to their role.

This includes education and training within Perinatal and Infant Mental Health through e-learning modules which are available on TURAS, covering seven topic areas of essential knowledge. We have also worked with NES to create a specialist Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Learning Programme which allows NES to track the progress of staff in Specialist Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Services including Mother and Baby Units, Community Perinatal Mental Health Teams and Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Interventions.

During 2024-25, NES will continue to promote training at all levels across the sectors that support the development of positive relationships and attachment in the early years. This will be achieved through increasing workforce capacity to deliver evidence-based parent-child relationships focused interventions and approaches from the antenatal period, through infancy and across childhood.

Any decision to introduce changes to a national screening programme in Scotland is guided by the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which advises all four UK nations on screening policy. The UK National Screening Committee is expected to make a recommendation on the use of cervical self-sampling in the screening programme later this year.

The Scottish Government recognises the potential of cervical self-sampling to improve uptake of cervical screening. In Scotland, a working group has been established to consider potential models to understand any changes that would be required to the screening programme to support an initial roll-out. This work will be influenced by the on-going work of the UK NSC and emerging global research.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26587 on 15 April 2024. 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 .