Seòmar agus comataidhean

It has been recommended that the spacing of cavity barriers (which stop the spread of fire through wall cavities behind the cladding) on the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences be reduced from 20 metre intervals to 10 metre intervals. NHS Lothian has been assured that the overall level of fire safety remains high and has not been significantly reduced by the spacing of the cavity barriers. Risk assessments have also been carried out to identify and mitigate any fire risks to patients, staff and visitors.

Discussions with IHSL, the consortium that built and owns the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, about altering the cavity barriers are ongoing. IHSL has been asked to produce detailed proposals for work on the cavity barriers. Those proposals will be reviewed by the health board and its advisers, so as to ensure they meet technical specifications and minimise disruption to the hospital and department.

As stated in the answer given to PQ S6W-09389, the Scottish Government has had no specific discussions about this issue with these local authorities. It is for headteachers to decide on how to spend Pupil Equity Funding, based on their local contexts and working in partnership with each other, and their local authority, to agree the use of the funding.

As outlined in the Pupil Equity Fund national operational guidance, any school plans for using Pupil Equity Funding must be grounded in evidence of what is known to be effective at closing the poverty related attainment gap. Local authorities can also issue complementary guidance about how the funding will operate locally . Local authorities also have a role in supporting school improvement through providing assistance to schools and partners by supporting and challenging schools in their use of PEF to make progress in improving the health and wellbeing and educational outcomes of children and young people impacted by poverty.

The information requested is not held centrally. Pupil Equity Funding of over £520 million over the next four years is providing additional support to 97% of schools across Scotland, empowering our head teachers and teachers who know their children best. As outlined in the answer to parliamentary question S6T-00784, the majority of the £634 million in PEF distributed to schools is invested in approaches to improving literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing through the recruitment of additional teaching and support staff, family link workers and partnerships with third sector organisations.

Where there are projects involving Police Scotland in place, schools find those to be of great benefit. They are highly engaged in proactive and preventative work in communities with families, working alongside social work and third sector organisations. They are not policing in schools.

To be clear, the £2 million described is a very small proportion—just 0.3 per cent—of the pupil equity funding that has been distributed to schools across the 32 councils since 2017-18.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10233 on‎ 29 August 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

The consultation document will be published on the Scottish Government’s website on 29 August 2022 at 10:00. I would welcome all those interested in the role agriculture plays in producing our nation’s food and managing Scotland’s rural landscape to respond. I also urge members of the public to take the opportunity to share their views and engage with this process, and please encourage everyone you know to take part. Responses to this consultation will give us tremendous insight into how best to realise our Vision for Agriculture in a way that works for our rural communities and Scotland: https://consult.gov.scot/agriculture-and-rural-economy/proposals-for-a-new-agriculture-bill/ )

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament, gives police and prosecutors greater powers to detect and bring to justice those responsible for trafficking as well as strengthening protections for survivors.

Scotland’s first Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy was published in 2017, focusing on the identification of and support for victims; disruption of perpetrators and addressing the underlying conditions which foster human trafficking and exploitation.

Working in partnership, significant action has taken place and continues to be delivered across each of these strands and this is set out in more detail in the published annual progress reports, with the most recent published in January 2022 - Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy – Fourth Annual Progress Report (www.gov.scot) .

Across the devolved benefits, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring we minimise as far as possible any burden on clients, and to ensuring we put in place the appropriate mechanisms to maximise uptake.

We have already automated several payments. Child Winter Heating Assistance is paid automatically based on entitlement to the qualifying benefits, and Carer’s Allowance Supplement payments are made automatically to carers living in Scotland and getting Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Additionally, by the end of the year, we will award Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment automatically to eligible families in receipt of Scottish Child Payment, without the need to apply.

We continue to explore further opportunities to automate social security payments.

The Scottish Government has issued guidance to Health Boards setting out our expectation that Ukrainian refugees in Scotland will have access to all primary health care services along with vaccinations including those for COVID-19.

We know that alcohol misuse and obesity are the two main risk factors (together with blood borne viruses) that cause liver disease.

Research by the British Liver Trust shows that alcohol-related liver disease accounts for 60% of all liver disease. The latest alcohol-specific deaths statistics published by National Records of Scotland in August 2022 show that in 2021 alcoholic liver disease caused 795 deaths which is an increase of 36 compared to the previous year.

Living with obesity or being overweight is also linked with an increased risk of developing a non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease (NAFLD). According to the 2019 Scottish Health Survey , two-thirds of adults in Scotland were living with obesity or being overweight. Obesity prevalence in Scotland has remained relatively stable since 2008.

The Scottish Government has not carried out a specific assessment of the impact of either alcohol misuse or obesity on liver disease mortality rates in the West of Scotland.

However, we are determined to address Scotland’s problematic relationship with alcohol and unhealthy diet. We are in the process of reviewing the Minimum Unit Price and Alcohol Brief Interventions policies with an intention to consult on a range of potential alcohol marketing restrictions as we continue to implement the 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan .

Delivering on our 2021 Programme for Government commitment, the Scottish Government consulted on proposals for legal services regulation reform. An independent consultation analysis report was published in July 2022.

The report highlighted that all respondents, regardless of affiliation, shared as a common aspiration, the need for any future model to be transparent, open to public scrutiny and efficient to ensure that justice remains accessible to all.

The Scottish Government will respond to the consultation analysis report later this year. We continue to engage with stakeholders to collaboratively consider reform of the regulation of legal services, to provide for a modern regulatory framework for Scotland that will best promote competition, innovation and the public and consumer interest in an efficient and independent legal sector.