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As announced in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will work with COSLA in the coming year to prepare schools and infrastructure for the expansion of universal free school meal provision to Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils. Expansion will take a phased approach, rolling out first to those in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, before expanding to all Primary 6 and Primary 7 pupils in 2026.

We have been working closely with COSLA and other stakeholders over the summer and will publish the first Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan and accompanying Workforce Action Plan in Autumn 2023.

The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group was established to ensure a multi-agency, strategic approach towards the development and delivery of Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy .

Members are drawn from the following organisations:

• Age Scotland
• BEMIS
• CEMVO
• COPFS
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• Equality Network
• Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA)
• Interfaith Scotland
• Police Scotland
• Respectme
• YouthLink Scotland
• Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (observer)

Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) (observer)There is currently no expectation in the Terms of Reference for the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group that individual names of members from attending organisations will be published.

Whilst responsibility for recruitment and retention of pharmacists and the wider team in community pharmacies is a matter for individual community pharmacy contractors, the Scottish Government has increased the number of pharmacist pre-registration training places available from 170 to 224 currently. A further 44 places will be available by 2024-25.

In order to aid retention of pharmacists in community pharmacy we have developed a Community Pharmacy NHS Post Registration Foundation Programme, which sees up to 130 places made available for a two and a half year programme for early career pharmacists. The programme is an experiential learning programme designed to develop confidence in pharmacy practice specific to Scotland, building on the skills and resilience established during the pre-registration Foundation Training Year. A Scottish NHS community pharmacy contractor will employ post-registration pharmacists qualifying in the summer of each year as pharmacists in a permanent role.

We are also already investing in and providing a greater mix of enhanced experiential learning in clinical practice for undergraduate pharmacy students, including in community pharmacy, to help them gain valuable experience in this setting. This is a key addition in preparing students with the relevant skills and experience for the changing demands of the workforce, including collaborative practice. It is also an important first step in helping to build a career pathway for pharmacists.

Island and rural carers will benefit from the introduction of Carer Support Payment, which will replace Carer’s Allowance in Scotland, including through support from Social Security Scotland’s local delivery service and better signposting to wider support available to carers. Island communities will also continue to benefit from the extra support only available in Scotland from the Carer’s Allowance Supplement. By the end of this year, carers in Scotland continuously in receipt of the Carer's Allowance Supplement since its introduction in 2018 will have received over £3,300. The Carer Support Payment is being delivered in the context of wider cross-governmental work to positively impact rural and island communities, such as the commitments in the National Islands Plan to tackle the higher costs of fuel, transport and housing as well as to drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Further planned improvements for Carer Support Payment are set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation published on 24 March 2023. We will continue to engage with rural and island carers and organisations in developing Carer Support Payment and to ensure our plans to join carers to wider carer support services, such as income maximisation, meet the needs of island and rural carers.

In response to the emergence of the new Covid-19 variant BA.2.86, we have taken the precautionary measure of bringing forward the vaccination of those at highest risk – notably residents in care homes for older adults, those aged 75 and over and those aged 12 and over with a weakened immune system.

Although there is currently insufficient data to assess the potential severity, transmissibility or immune escape of BA.2.86, it is felt that this ‘no regrets’ approach is wisest until we understand more about this variant.

Officials and Public Health Scotland are working closely with Health Boards to operationalise this change to the programme, which happened after some Boards had already scheduled their lower risk groups from 18 September, in line with the original plan. We have instructed them to honour these appointments.

This means that although many of those at highest risk will be called forward sooner than the original plan, this will not apply to everyone. We are however endeavouring to bring forward as many of these appointments as we can, while honouring appointments that had already been scheduled before the change.

To this end, some Boards began vaccinating in care homes the week of 4 September, six weeks earlier than originally planned.

A letter to all MSPs on the re-phasing will be issued shortly.

Patient care and service delivery are the statutory responsibility of local healthcare providers. NHS Boards are responsible for working with their partners to plan and provide health services which meet the needs of their populations.

When a patient has an experience that does not meet their expectations, they should contact their local Health Board at NHS Inform.

The Scottish Government remain committed to supporting all Boards to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We have allocated £48.6 million of supplementary funding to Boards this year via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. This is in addition to the £36.7 million directly allocated to Health Boards via the Outcomes Framework in 2022-23, and to the total package of core funding that Health Boards receive.

The Scottish Government is working closely with Public Health Scotland (PHS), territorial Health Boards and other key partners to promote uptake of immunisation against vaccine-preventable disease in young people, including our student population.

PHS has targeted new students through a range of communications, highlighting the importance of ensuring that their vaccinations, particularly MMR and MenACWY, are up to date prior to arrival at college or university. These complement specific resources for new entrants arriving in Scotland, including new international students. Information about vaccines for new students can be found at Vaccines for students | NHS inform

( https://www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/vaccines-for-students/ ).

Uptake of vaccinations among young people in Scotland remains high and is delivering lifesaving benefits.

PHS publishes information on COVID-19 hospitalisations on their interactive dashboard ( COVID-19 & Respiratory Surveillance (shinyapps.io) ) which is updated weekly on a Thursday at 9.30am. Data can be downloaded from here and filtered to the desired timeframe. Since 1 January 2023 to 10 September 2023, there were a total of 8,076 acute COVID-19 hospital admissions in Scotland (as reported on the dashboard on Thursday 14 September). Note that data for the most recent week is provisional and may be subject to change.

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

There is a total of 84 body worn cameras available across the SPS estate.