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The Scottish Government awarded the Scottish HepatoPancreatoBiliary Network funding of £653,000 over two years to redesign the pancreatic and liver cancer pathways. The Pathway Improvement Project is now live across all health boards.

This pilot is the first of its kind across the UK. It aims to provide a nationally more efficient, standardised patient centred pathway for cancer patients, with earlier diagnosis, referral and management decisions following a Realistic Medicine approach.

The funding comes to an end in March 2024 and an evaluation of the pilot’s achievements against these aims will be completed to inform decisions about future funding.

Through the Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) continue to design and support the implementation of optimal cancer diagnostic pathways. As reflected in the Cancer Strategy, lung, head and neck and colorectal cancer have been identified as the first tranche, following an extensive evidence review with clinical experts. Once developed, this exercise will be repeated to determine the next optimal cancer pathways to be developed for NHS Scotland.

In the meantime, work continues to establish Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) across NHS Scotland – interim evaluation shows that HPB is one of the most common cancers being diagnosed through the new fast-track diagnostic pathways. There are currently five RCDSs in Scotland.

The 2016 Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy set out a series of national actions and local expectations to support local authorities in the development of their local digital learning and teaching offer. As set out in the strategy Education Scotland have ongoing engagement with local authorities, providing advice, support and professional learning and we know that many local authorities have made significant improvements in their use of technology in education in recent years.

Since publication of the 2016 strategy, both the technology and level of system maturity have moved on significantly, particularly following the pandemic. With a range of new and emerging technologies available, it is crucial that we continue to work with local authorities to ensure digital learning and teaching remains of a high standard now and in the future.

The refreshed digital strategy for education will build on existing practice and learning from the pandemic to support the ongoing evolution of the role of technology in Scotland’s education system.

The 2023 Programme for Government set out that the Scottish Government will begin a review of abortion law, within specified limits, following the Scottish Parliament’s consideration of the legislation on safe access zones.

The review will aim to identify potential proposals, by the end of this parliamentary term, for reforms to ensure that abortion services are first and foremost a healthcare matter. In addition, initial scoping work to prepare for this review has started.

The Scottish Government has, since March 2023, been supporting Gillian Mackay MSP on her Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill which was introduced into Parliament on 5 October 2023.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS does not have a policy for gender self-identification. SPS does however retain the right to place people in a way that both meets the needs of the individual and ensures the safety and wellbeing of all those in our care.

This information is not held centrally.

The 2022 pupil census records 3740 pupils in Scotland in receipt of additional support as a result of hearing impairments and a further 69 recorded as deafblind. The level of support from a qualified Teacher of the Deaf depends upon the individual needs of each pupil. Under the Additional Support for Learning Act all teachers have a role in meeting the additional support needs of pupils with hearing impairments and those who are deafblind.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a clinical guideline on the prescribing of Cannabis Based Products for Medicinal use (CBPMs) for people with intractable nausea and vomiting, chronic pain, spasticity and severe treatment resistant epilepsy on 11 November 2019, which was updated in October 2022. The guideline states that nabilone, dronabinol, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or a combination of cannabidiol (CBD) with THC should not be offered to manage chronic pain in adults. Clinicians working in Scotland are expected to have regard to NICE guidance on CBPMs.

The Scottish Government and SIGN will both shortly be updating their chronic pain prescribing guides that will consider the evidence around the best and most effective treatments for chronic pain.

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 nations of the United Kingdom on screening policy.

In 2024, the UK National Screening Committee is expected to make a recommendation on the use of cervical self-sampling in the screening programme. In Scotland, a working group is assessing potential models and understand any changes that would be required to the screening programme to support an initial roll-out. This work continues to be informed by developments across the UK, as well as global research.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent review of the VNS in Spring 2022 to ensure that the scheme was working well for victims. The review published its report and an easy read summary in May this year. It made 22 recommendations for change of the scheme, including in relation to data, evidence and reporting, the information available and communications.

Since May we have been considering the report in collaboration with a range of stakeholders, including criminal justice agencies and victim support organisations, to inform our formal response to the report.

As part of this work, we have been considering how the review’s recommendations could be delivered. This involves a range of possibilities, including primary or secondary legislation, as well as administrative and operational delivery. Where review recommendations may require primary legislation to deliver, we are carefully considering the options available to us for doing this.

Further to the response to question S6W-22502 on 8 November 2023, I would clarify that there have been no costs incurred to date on the development of a National Digital Academy.

As set out, Scottish Government are currently developing options for a National Digital Academy. Once developed, these will include an estimate of future potential costs.

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 recognises the vital role that universities play in supporting innovation and contributing to economic and societal challenges, as we recently recognised in our National Innovation Strategy.