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The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Managed Clinical Network Scotland (PIMHNS) has developed a workstream ‘Parents as Patients’ to develop guidance around joined-up working (i) between perinatal/infant mental health services and other mental health services (e.g. general adult mental health, unscheduled care, liaison mental health), and (ii) between perinatal/infant mental health services and other relevant medical care services (particularly primary care and acute hospital care). The important role of the third sector will feature in both. Initial meetings of two Short Life Working Groups (SLWG) have taken place to progress these workstreams, along with amending the existing care pathways which were published in 2021 ( https://www.nn.nhs.scot/pmhn/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2021/06/Care-Pathways-full.pdf ) .

Both SLWGs will focus on the themes of:

• Interfaces – to cover both care between specialist and general or universal services. This would also include principles of joint working and good practice.
• Education and training – to address knowledge of parent infant relationships and infant mental health needs as well as child protection issues and risks in relation to childbearing.

The final guidance and updated care pathways are due to be published in the final quarter of the financial year.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly made it clear to the UK Government that the best way to ensure that there is a quick, fair and equal solution for all affected sub-postmasters is for a UK-wide Bill. It is not too late for the UK Government to change their position, and we will continue to press for a UK-wide solution as the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill progresses through the Westminster Parliament.

If the scope of the UK Bill is not extended we will do everything in our power to work as quickly as possible to introduce Scottish legislation that delivers justice for all those affected. Any such legislation can however only be passed after the UK Bill has been passed, to allow account to be taken of any amendments made during passage at Westminster. This is required to ensure full compatibility with UK legislation and the UK compensation scheme, in which the Scottish Government has no locus.

The Scottish Government have regular and consistent engagement with representatives of the care sector.

Recent engagement has explored resilience, viability, surge pressures, fair work, Healthcare Framework for Adults Living in Care Homes, workforce challenges and support, including NCS design and Workforce Charter.

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 .

I replied to the UK Secretary of State on 27 March 2024 to reiterate the Scottish Government position that Scottish Ministers consider that the responsibility for regulation of the Scottish Parliament’s membership should rest primarily with its Members.

SEPA’s 2018 National Flood Risk Assessment set out the numbers of properties at risk of flooding now and in the future. The numbers have not changed since that assessment, which are that 284,000 properties are at risk of flooding now and by the 2080s this number is expected to increase by 110,000 through climate change.

Improving resilience to flooding is a priority for the Scottish Government and we continue to work with, and support, local authorities to fulfil their obligations to deliver flood risk management. To support flood protection measures, the Scottish Government provides £42 million each year to local authorities. In August 2020, the Programme for Government also committed an additional £150 million over 5 years to support flood risk management actions.

It is clear that climate change must become a core consideration in decision making for our places and communities if they are to achieve a level of flood resilience. We will consult on a Flood Resilience Strategy for Scotland this spring. The Strategy will initiate a transformational change to flood management to adapt our places and set Scotland on a long-term course towards a sustainable level of flood resilience.

A recent audit of the Multi-function Devices (MFD) highlighted that there was an issue with this particular MFD and this was taken forward by BIT, who deal with software issues in the first instance. Additionally, there were five entries recorded for this MFD in December, none in January and two in February.

The Contract Manager for the MFD contract with Agilico has confirmed that this MFD has now been replaced with a model with an identical specification and that no further issues have been recorded since.

The Scottish Government recognises that social prescribing can be an effective method of improving an individual’s physical, mental and social health. It plays an important role in helping us achieve our commitment to prevention, holistic care and Realistic Medicine. Our Primary Care Community Link Worker programme has been in place since 2014 and a 2017 commitment to create 250 Community Link Worker posts in general practice has been achieved.

Due to the wide range of activity which is described as social prescribing, there are many Scottish Government policies and resources which play a role in supporting its delivery. For example, we recognise the important role played by local organisations in supporting the health and wellbeing of their communities and we are working with the community and voluntary sector to look at how we can enhance the capacity of the sector to help those organisations address the challenges they face. The ongoing development by the ALLIANCE of the ALISS online database helps to provide information on community resources and our Green Health Partnership programme led by NatureScot helps to promote the connection between health and the natural environment.

We recognise that there may be a need for more national guidance to support Community Link Workers. We are currently considering how to take that forward in relation to the Community Link Worker programme in Primary Care. While this work will focus on Link Workers in Primary Care, we hope that there will be wider learning that may be able to be shared with the wider social prescribing community.

In the following table I have outlined the amount of grant money awarded to each board since 2007. We are unable to confirm the amount to each dental provider as it would potentially breach commercial in confidence.