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There are 3 dental schools in Scotland at Aberdeen, Dundee, and Glasgow Universities. There are no plans for any new dental courses to be introduced at the current time.

The available spend information on youth work by local authority for 2020-21 and 2021-22 is set out in the following table. Please note that the information you have requested is not available at individual local authority level prior to 2020-21.

We want all children and young people, including those with dyslexia, to receive the support they need to reach their full potential. The Additional Support for Learning Act places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. We are committed to supporting teachers and school staff to meet these needs.

We have provided a range of free professional learning opportunities for teachers aimed at supporting practitioners to further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in supporting learners with dyslexia, and reduce barriers to learning. This includes the Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit and identification pathway, launched in 2017, and the Dyslexia and Inclusive Practice online professional learning modules, which enable staff to gain professional recognition in this area.

We are committed to ensuring that every child has access to a device by the end of this Parliament, in 2026. We are working with COSLA and local authorities to plan and deliver this programme, ensuring it meets the needs of all learners.

The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan is open for consultation until 9 May 2023. The final version of the Energy Strategy and Just Transitional Plan will be published once we have conducted a thorough review of the consultation responses and engaged with the full range of stakeholders.   The Scottish Government’s position on oil and gas is part of the consultation process and we will provide an update in the final Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. We are not pre-empting responses.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Despite the system wide pressures, health boards continue to deliver a primary care out of hours service for the provision of urgent care when GP Practices are closed. Although the 2022 OOH workforce survey showed a decrease of around 97 whole time equivalent GP’s working in the service, it should be noted that the data collection was incomplete with not all Health Boards providing full returns so this figure should be approached with caution as it is not directly comparable with data from previous surveys.

It is also important to note the increased number of other professions which reflects that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

The Statutory Guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund sets out the responsibilities for Local Authorities in their administration of the Fund, including promotion and raising awareness across all potentially eligible individuals. This includes providing information on the Fund and making clear guidance available on how to apply for a grant. Local Authorities are also required to ensure that other services which have contact with people in crisis have up to date information about the Fund, including promotional posters and leaflets.

As recently indicated by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government in correspondence to the Committee for Social Justice and Social Security, the Independent Review of the Scottish Welfare Fund is due to publish soon and will inform next steps across a range of areas, including accessibility and promotion.

The Scottish Government, along with the other UK nations, takes advice on whether or not to introduce any new screening programmes from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group.  

The UK NSC conducts an Annual Call for Topics, which allows members of the public and stakeholders to submit new potential screening programmes for the Committee to consider and assess against internationally recognised criteria. In the 2021/22 Call, Metachromatic leukodystrophy was submitted and accepted for review.  

It is not yet possible to say when this review will be complete, but we continue to monitor the situation closely. Should the UK NSC recommend screening following this review, the National Screening Oversight (NSO) and Scottish Screening Committee (SSC) will then consider the best course of implementation for Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) along with partners in the UK Clinical Research Recovery, Resilience and Growth programme considers it important that clinical trial populations reflect the populations that could benefit from the treatments as closely as possible. For this reason, a theme of this programme is the widening of opportunities for people to participate in clinical research. CSO is working with partners on the UK-wide Be Part of Research initiative and invests in the Scottish Health Research Register and Biobank (SHARE) with this aim. CSO is also funding a research project looking at ways to support ethnic diversity in clinical trials populations.  

The Scottish Government has been made aware of incidents of force-fitted installations of prepayment meters across different suppliers, although it does not hold information on the number or nature of those incidents. While policy on energy markets is a matter reserved to the UK Government and the responsibility for supplier guidance sits with Ofgem, the Scottish Government opposes the forced installation of prepayment meters, which increases the risk of self- rationing and self-disconnection. The additional costs associated with prepayment meters also lead to increased debt.

We are engaging with Ofgem regarding its request to suppliers to immediately halt forced installations and remote switching to prepayment meters until 31 March 2023, as well as its consultation on the rules and guidance on the use of prepayment meters by suppliers. We will use this engagement to ensure that the rights and interests of Scottish consumers are fully considered.