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The Scottish Government previously engaged with key dog control interests in Scotland, including canine trainers and behaviourists, to help assess the principle of introducing new safeguards for XL Bully dogs, and we continue to regularly engage with a wide range of stakeholders to consider the impact of the new safeguards and to consider whether any additional support is needed

The Scottish Government understands the concerns expressed by dog owners about the impact that the new controls may have on their dogs. The Scottish Government takes animal welfare very seriously and is committed to the highest possible welfare standards. There is however a balance to be struck between protecting animal welfare and protecting public safety.

Helpful and practical support and guidance has been published on the Mygov.scot website ( XL Bully dogs in Scotland - mygov.scot ) to ensure owners are made aware of how to comply with the new safeguards on XL Bully dogs.

That Mygov.scot webpage contains links to the support available from both the Dogs Trust and PDSA to assist with muzzle training XL Bully dogs.

Our Equally Safe strategy, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, acknowledges the significant impact domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) can have on children and young people and their families lives, including impacts on their health, education, wellbeing and future life chances.

Through Equally Safe, which is co-owned by COSLA and the Scottish Government, we are working collaboratively with key partners to ensure that its principles are embedded into the work we do that supports children, young people and families who have experienced VAWG. This includes ensuring support is available through Child Protection and Adult Support and Protection systems, housing and homelessness support services and community justice support services amongst others.

We are also investing £19 million a year in specialist services and projects through the Delivering Equally Safe (DES) Fund, £18.5m for specialist advocacy support for victim/ survivors of gender based violence from the Victim Centred Approach Fund and £573,300 through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund for improving children and family wellbeing.

The DES fund supports 83 projects that undertake work with children and young people who have experienced or witnessed VAWG, including funding to projects delivering the CEDAR programme, which aims to help mothers support their children in their recovery from domestic abuse. Funding is also given to support the role out of Safe and Together, an internationally recognised suite of tools and interventions designed to help professionals in children and family services become domestic abuse informed.

We will continue to ensure support for children, young people and families through our commitment to the Equally Safe strategy.

The SPCB is required under the Scottish Parliamentary Pensions Act 2009, Schedule 2, to pay an Office Holder resettlement grant to an individual who –

(a) stops being the holder of a pensionable office, and

(b) is not appointed as the holder of a pensionable office during the following 90 days.

Under the Act, there is no provision to withhold or refuse the payment.  Payment of the resettlement grant is made as a one-off lump sum payment on the next available pay day after the 90 days have lapsed.

Like other NHS Boards and across the UK, NHS Ayrshire and Arran continue to experience challenges in their A&E performance primarily due to capacity shortages. Officials meet regularly with NHS Ayrshire and Arran to ensure progress against their delivery plan which focuses on reducing hospital occupancy and increasing alternatives to admission or attendance. The board have a number of actions underway to support performance recovery including optimisation of their call before you convey and care home referral pathway where residents receive assessment and care within a community setting, avoiding the need for onwards attendance to the acute sites.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is working with NHS Boards including NHS Ayrshire and Arran to support delivery of the Urgent and Unscheduled Care collaborative, to ensure sustainable ways of delivering services, improving access for patients, and reducing unnecessary demand for services.

As set out in answer to question S6W-25450 on 27 February 2024, NHS Scotland currently offers a whole gene screening panel for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer to test for faults in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 and a range of other target genes. At present, this testing is available to people from specific population groups (including those of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage) if they meet clinical criteria that indicate a higher genetic risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

The Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine (SSNGM) was established in 2022 to develop a fully considered and sustainable genomic medicine service for Scotland. The SSNGM contains specialist Scottish Genomics Test Advisory Groups (SG-TAG) for both cancer and rare and inherited conditions, whose role is to review and assess the clinical validity and utility of new tests, and changes to the referral criteria for existing tests.

The SSNGM plan to initiate a review of the existing hereditary cancer testing pathways in 2024. This review will include both the referral criteria for our existing genomic test offering and alternative testing methods and will make recommendations via the SG-TAG process.

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 published our ten year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan ( Cancer Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 ) in June 2023.

Over the next 10 years, our strategic aim is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care. The Strategy and Plan take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. We continue to place an emphasis on the less survivable cancers, including brain cancer, and improving their outcomes.

As part of this strategy, we developed a new Earlier Cancer Diagnosis Vision.

The vision includes continuing to deliver our Detect Cancer Earlier Programme, working with primary care clinicians to ensure they have direct access to diagnostic tests and quality education sources, as well as developing public campaigns to educate and empower those with possible symptoms of cancer to act early.

In addition to this work and in order to support radiology diagnostic capacity, we have funded mobile scanners to provide additional capacity for MRI and CT supporting cancer patients across NHS Scotland.

The Scottish Government has carefully considered Professor Ken Muir’s report Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education which produced important recommendations for Scottish education. In response to a wide range of reports and evidence, the Education Reform Programme will deliver significant changes for the education system, including a new national agency and a Centre for Teaching Excellence.

Providing equitable support to the profession, including in relation to curriculum and assessment, is a fundamental consideration of all aspects of the Education Reform Programme. Education Scotland continues to deliver its functions while the new organisations are being developed, and continually reviews its support offering to ensure it is effective and fit for purpose.

The Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts confirms the investment in the NHS estate in each parliamentary session as:

2022-23 = £516m

2021-22 = £536m

A link to the Consolidated Accounts for each year is provided:

Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts: year ended 31 March 2022

Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts: year ended 31 March 2023

Public Health Scotland is responsible for ongoing surveillance of hepatitis C and will monitor achievement and maintenance of the elimination target in Scotland. This intelligence, combined with expert advice such as through the Scottish Health Protection Network’s Viral Hepatitis Group, will be used to inform an effective, flexible and evidence-based approach to maintaining elimination. It should also be noted that some of the key interventions for hepatitis C elimination, such as such as injecting equipment provision, will continue to be important for preventing other blood borne viruses and health outcomes.

Community optometrists across Scotland will normally refer patients who require secondary care directly to the hospital eye service in the relevant Health Board. Patients with suspected papilloedema require an emergency referral in common with some other ophthalmic conditions. Pathways for direct emergency referrals from community optometrists exist in all Health Boards in Scotland and are used regularly.