Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11684 on‎ 4 November 2022. 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

This information is publicly available and can be found on the website of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service - https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/fatal-accident-inquiries

Delivery of the police 101 and 999 services and the recruitment and deployment of resources are operational matters for the Chief Constable, with oversight provided by the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government will continue to support the Chief Constable, who along with the Scottish Police Authority, will ensure the capability and capacity of Police Scotland.

Police Scotland’s call handlers continue to work hard to ensure that calls to the service are answered as quickly and as safely as possible. Figures published by the Home Office for July 2022 show that Police Scotland was well above the UK average for 999 call answer times with 79.9% of calls answered in under 10 seconds, compared to 68.3% for the rest of the UK.

The National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Young People currently covers bus travel only. At this time, there are no plans to extend this to rail.

On public transport fares more broadly, the Scottish Government is progressing its Fair Fares Review to develop and assess options to create a fairer, more transparent system of fares across all modes that maintain and increase affordability for those who need it most, taking cognisance of the relative changes to the overall cost of travel.

I recognise that stigma associated with liver disease can create very specific challenges, including by isolating people from their communities and act as a significant barrier to seeking help and support. This can increase the harms experienced due to delayed presentation especially given the generalised association between liver disease and alcohol misuse and/or drug abuse.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling this stigma, including among health care professionals across the healthcare system. We are currently developing a national stigma action plan for drugs and alcohol that will include taking the principles of the stigma charter developed by the Drugs Death Taskforce and putting these into action.

The issue of stigma is also clearly referenced on the NHS Inform website which states that a drug or alcohol problem is a health condition and people should receive help and support, not judgement.

Alcohol and drugs are of course not the exclusive causes of liver disease. On 20 June 2022, Public Health Scotland launched the Challenging Weight Stigma Learning Hub . The learning hub aims to raise awareness of the impact weight stigma can have on people living with overweight and obesity and what health professionals can do to mitigate this. It is interactive and has been developed alongside academics, health professionals and those with lived experience of stigma.

The Scottish Government provides annual funding to Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). It is a matter for the Chief Constable and the Chief Fire Officer to determine the most appropriate allocation of resources and operational approach to preparing for, and responding to incidents during, bonfire night.

Since 2018 Operation Moonbeam has been the national multi-agency response to the bonfire night period. The well-established operation is running again this year, with the planning and preparation involving Police Scotland, SFRS, local authorities, COSLA, Scottish Community Safety Network, Scottish Ambulance Service, British Fireworks Association and Trading Standards. The Scottish Government has engaged with senior officers from Police Scotland and SFRS who have advised that robust multi-agency systems are in place again this year.

In terms of legislative change, on 10 October two key measures of the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 came into force – a proxy purchase and supply offence criminalising people who purchase fireworks for, or make fireworks available to, under 18s; and a statutory aggravation for attacks against emergency workers involving fireworks and pyrotechnic articles. The statutory aggravation requires courts to take this into account when determining the most appropriate sentence. This provides an important reassurance to emergency workers that the Scottish Government is committed to such behaviour being firmly addressed.

The Scottish Government is aware that those experiencing poor mental health are more likely to smoke, and to smoke more, than those with good mental health. Reducing the inequalities caused by higher rates of tobacco use among this group is an important area of consideration and one is being looked as part of our revised Tobacco Action Plan due to be published in Autumn 2023.

Our vision is to have a Tobacco-Free Scotland through lowering smoking rates in our communities to below 5% by 2034 and to create a generation of young people who do not want to smoke, with all the health and economic benefits that follow. We are developing an expert group that will be reporting on smoking cessation services early next year. We are also committed to working with our NHS cessation coordinators and pharmacy colleagues across Scotland to refocus and remobilise these services to ensure we are reaching those in our communities who are in most need of support to quit.

Work is also ongoing to develop a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. We have received a broad range of evidence and views through our engagement to date, including through our public consultation, which closed on 9 September and received around 500 responses. These will be carefully considered over the coming months as we continue our work with stakeholders to shape the Strategy and Delivery Plan.

Transient elastography, commonly measured with a FibroScan, is currently used in several NHS Boards throughout Scotland to assess liver disease in hospital settings.

However its use in community settings is less well established. Local trials of its use in the community to assess those at high risk of liver disease have been initiated.

As we strive to deliver evidence-based policy, we await a more full evaluation of the data before considering the next steps. Experience so far has shown it to be feasible to introduce this technology in primary care and community settings and this could improve early detection of liver disease. Early detection of those with unrecognised advanced liver disease provides greater opportunity to prevent liver-related illness and deaths.

The Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database is not a live system and the latest available information is for the financial year 2020-21. Statistics are presented on the number of people dealt with by the Scottish Criminal Justice System where proceedings have concluded.

Our records show one person was prosecuted in Scottish courts in 2018-19, where the main charge was under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011. They were found not guilty.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any monitoring that takes place with regards to the release of rehabilitated seals from rescue centres. However, advice from the Special Committee on Seals ( 2019 Report ) is that rehabilitated seals typically behave like wild seals shortly following release. Rehabilitated seals are released back into the wild close to the sites at which they were found. No non-native seals are released in Scotland.