Seòmar agus comataidhean

We recognise the significant impact that long COVID can have on the health and wellbeing of those most severely affected across Scotland and welcome the COVID-19 Recovery Committee's consideration of this very important issue.

We are carefully considering the report and its recommendations in full, and will provide a response to the Committee in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we are making available £3 million from our £10 million long COVID Support Fund over this financial year to support NHS boards to increase the capacity of existing services supporting those with the condition, develop these into more clearly defined local pathways and provide a more co-ordinated experience for those accessing support.

Discussions between the Scottish Government and COSLA took place in April 2023 regarding the allocation of funding through the Edinburgh Process strand of the Nature Restoration Fund.

The Digital Prescribing and Dispending Pathways Programme is currently in the planning and development stage, and I expect to be able to confirm the timetable for full roll out in due course.

We are working closely with the Board and a Task Force has been set up to help the Board address local access issues. Unregistered patients will continue to be able to access emergency and urgent care via the Public Dental Service.

Scottish Government has also put in place a set of recruitment and retention incentives which pay £25,000 over a two year period to newly qualified dentists and those returning to the workforce after a five-year period, who wish to provide NHS dental care in Dumfries and Galloway. Grant funding of up to £100,000 is available to dentists that wish to establish a new, or expand or purchase an existing, NHS dental practice within the Board area.

We are also working apace on payments reform which will comprise a new, modernised system that will provide NHS dental teams with greater clinical discretion, and transparency for NHS patients. We are confident that this will help to sustain and increase NHS dental access as we move forward.

The Scottish Government continues to implement the 2018 GP Contract.

Five years on from the joint agreement between Scottish Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) on the 2018 GP contract, Health and Social Care Partnerships have made significant progress in the implementation of Primary Care Improvement Plans (PCIPs).

As of March 2022, 3,220 WTE multi-disciplinary team (MDT) members had been recruited to work in and with GP practices and the community, reducing practice workload and ensuring more patients see the right healthcare professional at the right time. An update on progress on MDT recruitment throughout 2022-23 will be published on 28 June 2023.

I refer the member to my answer to S6W-17651.

On 27 April 2023 the National Incident Management Team (NIMT) met to discuss the latest position on COVID-19 in Scotland. In the light of their latest assessment the NIMT has proposed, and the Chief Medical Officer has agreed, that they will no longer meet. As the WHO has made clear, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over but our view is that it does now appear to be in the calmer phase of the pandemic which was discussed in COVID-19 Scotland’s Strategic Framework Update published in February 2022. Scotland no longer produces a separate threat level for COVID, and the UK no longer produces an alert level. Public Health Scotland now reports on COVID-19 alongside its surveillance of other respiratory disease pathogens. Other countries have also recently moved away from emergency responses standing apart from normal measures to protect public health.

COVID-19 has not gone away, and we continue to encourage the Scottish population to take sensible precautions, including taking up the offer of vaccination when invited, to protect themselves and others. As part of our enhanced surveillance system we continue to monitor, assess and be ready to respond to COVID-19 and other threats to the health of the population of Scotland.

I am pleased to announce the publication of the Scottish Government’s fifth Thematic Progress Report on implementation progress following Dame Elish Angiolini’s Final Report.

It shows that 58 of the non-legislative recommendations are now complete leaving only 10 still in progress. A further 2 recommendations will be kept under review and 2 are being progressed in other areas of Scottish Government. This marks the transition of focus from the non-legislative work to those recommendations that require legislation to implement.

These improvements are laying foundations to deliver further transformative change ensuring there are robust, clear and transparent mechanisms in place for investigating complaints or other issues of concern in relation to policing in Scotland.

I commend Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland for their dedication to this important work.

The report can be accessed here: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805257912

The Scottish Government and delivery partners such as Circularity Scotland, SEPA, and Zero Waste Scotland have regularly engaged with businesses on the Deposit Return Scheme. There are a number issues which businesses are working with partners on to ensure all involved are ready for launch on 1 March.

We have taken action to address a number of matters which are within our control and which businesses had raised concerns about. These include, but are not limited to:

• needing more preparation time to ready their business for the launch - we have given businesses an additional six and a half months to prepare for the scheme launch.

• impact on the hospitality industry - we exempted all premises that sell 90% or over of their drinks products for consumption on the premises from acting as a return point.
• impact on small producers – we completely excluded from the scheme products that sells fewer than 5,000 items a year.
• miniatures and other smaller containers may cause problems at return points – we completely excluded from the scheme all drinks containers under 100ml.
• administrative burden for retailers applying for exemptions – we have simplified the online process for retailers to apply for an exemption from operating a return point.

As we continue to prepare for a successful launch of the scheme we continue to wait on the UK Government to take any action to agree an exclusion from the Internal Market Act.

The Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) comprises £65 million for the current Parliamentary term. In 2022-23, the Nature Restoration Fund made its annual allocation of £13.5 million available through two main strands, each of which is further sub-divided, as follows:

• The competitive strand, which is subdivided into;

- ‘ Helping Nature ’ projects less than £250,000 lasting 1-2 years

- ‘ Transforming Nature ’ projects greater than £250,000 lasting 2-4 years

• The Edinburgh Process strand, which is subdivided into;

- Direct allocations to Local Authorities and the National Parks

- A competitive top-up fund open to Local Authorities only

In 2022-23, the competitive strand comprised approximately £7 million (details of which can be found on NatureScot’s website at https://www.nature.scot/funding-and-projects/scottish-government-nature-restoration-fund-nrf ); and a further £6.5 million was distributed through the ‘Edinburgh Process’ strand. I also refer to my answers in response to S6W-17674, S6W-17675, S6W-17677, S6W-17678 and S6W-17679 on 18 May 2023.

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