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The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. This includes the signposting of services by ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the programme has resulted in a raised awareness of the services available, such as occupational health and employee assistance, which offer counselling, and specific interactions through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM).

The Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group (SICSAG) report on COVID-19 published on 2 February 2022 includes data on the numbers of COVID positive pregnant women admitted to critical care facilities (excluding obstetric High Dependency Units) to 9 January 2020. The data is presented by COVID infection wave, but not by month. SICSAG report annually on numbers of pregnant women admitted to Intensive Care Units. 2021 data is expected to be reported in summer 2022.

Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group report on COVID-19 - as at 11 January 2022 - Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group report on COVID-19 - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

There is public guidance available – the Eatwell Guide – to help people make healthier food and drink choices and which is supported by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). The Eatwell Guide has been assessed by the Carbon Trust as having an appreciably lower environmental impact than the current UK diet. To expand the value of the Eatwell Guide, FSS have recently published Eat Well, Your Way , an online resource which translates Eatwell Guide advice into practical tips and advice. The resource highlights dietary changes which can impact sustainability and FSS plan to further embed sustainability in the resource in the coming year.

We recognise that the public have an interest not only in where their food comes from, but how it is made and whether it is produced in an environmentally sustainable way. For this reason, we currently working with members of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership to carry out initial scoping work on a single marketing brand for Scottish food and drink produce, Sustainably Scottish. This brand would be available to Scottish based producers, manufacturers and suppliers who can satisfy stringent criteria on provenance and low carbon operations.

We have set up an Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board to work with farmers and crofters as we develop future policy and to support them to produce food in a way that benefits nature and the climate. To support that vision we have set up a National Test Programme, supported by £51m of Scottish Government funding, to transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

This range of initiatives, and others, contribute to Scotland being a Good Food Nation. The Good Food Nation Bill will provide an over-arching framework for clear, consistent and coherent future Scottish food policy and will put in place measures to ensure that reliable access to nutritious, locally sourced, locally produced, good quality food is a practical everyday reality for everyone in Scotland.

We know that some homeowners may not be able to meet the cost of fitting the necessary alarms which is why we provided £500,000 through Care and Repair Scotland to help elderly and disabled people. We have also made available a further £500,000 to Care and Repair to extend this support beyond 1 February 2022.

This is in addition to the £1m funding provided to SFRS for its Home Fire Safety Visit programme to owner occupied properties assessed to be at high risk from fire.

We also provided £15m loan funding to social landlords to support them to fit compliant alarms for all tenants.

Flexibility is built into the existing legislation through a provision setting out that the work should be done “within such period as is reasonable in all the circumstances”, allowing flexibility for home owners unable to install alarms by 1 February 2022.

Following the successful conclusion of stage 3 of Parliament’s consideration of the Bill, the Government will now take steps to put in place a scheme in which it will specify a cut-off date. There is no requirement under the Bill, however, for surgery to have taken place before the date that will be specified, only that the mesh removal surgery must have been arranged by that date. The Bill mandates that the date specified in the scheme must not be a date earlier than that of Royal Assent.

The Scottish Government has welcomed the recommendations that Audit Scotland has made in its report and there are a number of areas highlighted in the report where progress has already been made.

The first of these is bringing the responsibility for the tertiary education and skills system within a single Ministerial portfolio. This represents a material change to the leadership and oversight of both agencies responsible for delivering improvements to our skills system and provides clear lines of accountability.

New governance arrangements have recently been established to oversee a number of collaborative projects in this space. This is the Shared Outcomes Assurance Group which brings together the Senior Responsible Officers from both agencies and government to provide constructive challenge, seek assurance on delivery and to identify solutions to any issues and challenges arising.

There are also numerous examples of positive collaborative working that are already well established, including delivery of apprenticeships, the Young Persons Guarantee and the National Transition Training Fund.

We will update Parliament on how we plan to take forward our response to the report’s recommendations in due course.

The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their psychological, physical, social and financial wellbeing through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. Police Scotland have a network of ‘Wellbeing Champions’ who offer Officers and Staff guidance and signposting to the most appropriate support available to them. These support services include occupational health and the HELP employee assistance programme which offer counselling, specific interventions and guidance. Police Scotland offer post traumatic support for all police officers and members of police staff who are directly involved in potentially traumatic incidents through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM). Mental health is also very much the focus of health and wellbeing training offering at present, Police Scotland are working with 2 delivery partners, ELEOS and Lifelines Scotland, on a weekly schedule of training activity. The training aims to raise awareness and support the emotional and psychological wellbeing of the Police workforce.

The information requested is not held centrally. The recording of absences, in relation to Police Scotland’s workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

This is a matter for the Integration Authorities. The information is not held by the Scottish Government.

The UK National Screening Committee, an independent scientific body that advises all four UK nations on screening, currently recommends that women between the ages of 50 and 70 are invited for three yearly breast screening. Therefore, while programme capacity remains challenging due to COVID-19, the pause on self-referrals allows appointments to be prioritised for the recommended screening population, for whom evidence shows clear benefits.

The organisations that oversee screening in Scotland, including the Scottish Screening Committee (SSC), National Screening Oversight (NSO) and the Breast Screening Programme Board (BSPB) agreed that self-referrals for women aged 71 and over should resume once capacity allows. However, in recognition of the anxiety the pause is causing, officials are exploring if there are options to accelerate the restart that would not unduly impact appointment times for the eligible screening population. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government continues to stress that if anyone, of any age, is concerned they may have symptoms of breast cancer, they should immediately make an appointment with their GP Practice.