Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing all of the recommendations of Baroness Cumberlege’s Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, entitled First Do No Harm, where they relate to the responsibilities of the Scottish Government. The steps being taken to achieve this are set out in the Scottish Government’s Delivery Plan - published on 24 March..

The Delivery Plan describes a programme of work based on a multi-layered approach to rapidly reduce, and eventually eradicate, harm associated with mesh, sodium valproate and Primidos applicable and relevant to the Scottish context. To do this, the Scottish Government will work collaboratively with colleagues across the NHS and representative groups to agree and implement this work programme across Scotland.

In relation to sodium valproate specifically, through implementation of the Neurological Care and Support Framework , the Scottish Government is funding the development of an epilepsy register in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Tayside and NHS Lanarkshire, with a view to roll out across all NHS Boards in Scotland. Initial discussions have been held regarding the potential to link with UK-wide data sets facilitated by MHRA, in order to ensure alignment with a UK-wide valproate registry.

Our commitment to tackling the climate emergency and transitioning to a net-zero society by 2045 is unwavering. In 2019, the whole-life carbon impact of Scotland’s household waste reached its lowest level since official recording began.

To help achieve this, building Scotland’s circular economy and reducing, recycling and reusing resources is vital. With this and our world leading climate change targets in mind, the Scottish Government have committed to review the role that incineration plays in Scotland’s waste hierarchy and will update Parliament on plans for this in due course.

To further accelerate progress, Scottish Ministers are fully committed to ending the practice of sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill by 2025. This is in line with recommendations made by the Committee on Climate Change.

We still need capacity to dispose of residual waste, which cannot be reused or recycled, while we make the transition to a circular economy in Scotland.

It is worth nothing, responsibility for dealing with any planning applications rests, in the first instance, with the local council as planning authority.

The Scottish Government granted local authorities the autonomy to introduce local reliefs schemes through the Community Empowerment Act 2015. The Scottish Government continues to encourage local authorities to use these powers where they may deem it appropriate. Local Authorities are independent bodies, democratically elected and accountable to their local electorate, and the administering of all reliefs under these powers is a matter for them.

The following table sets out spend on local reliefs from 2016-17 to 2019-20:

Plans on the assessment approach for National courses in 2021-2022 are being considered by the National Qualifications 2021 Group based on the latest public health advice. SQA has also been engaging on assessment modifications for next year with teachers through its National Qualifications Support Teams for each subject. Contingency arrangements will be considered to allow for any further disruption to learning that may occur.

A decision will be made in time to allow schools and colleges to plan for delivery from the start of the 2021-2022 academic session.

The Scottish Government is committed to bringing forward a Circular Economy Bill to advance Scotland's ambitions to promote an economy where materials remain in use for as long as possible, rather than being thrown away. Legislative plans will be set out in future Programmes for Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. It would be a matter for individual GP practices in England to decide whether or not to register patients outside their practice areas.

Scottish Government officials work closely with transport operators and disabled peoples organisations to improve the experience of disabled passengers and remove the barriers which prevent them from travelling, or make their journey an unpleasant experience.

Significant progress has been made since the creation of the Accessible Travel Framework in 2016 to remove or reduce barriers to travel but we are cognisant that more can still be done. Through engagement with disabled people and their organisations we are aware that the lack of accessible toilets in and around transport hubs can be a contributing factor to preventing people from travelling.

The Ferries Accessibility Fund awarded funding of around £427,000 towards a range of projects to improve accessibility across the ferry network which included changing places facilities on vessels on both the Northern Isles and Clyde & Hebrides ferry networks. Rail accessibility remains a reserved matter to the UK Government under the Devolution Settlement, however Transport Scotland continues to work closely with Train Operating Companies and Network Rail to ensure the provision of accessible toilets in rail stations and rolling stock remains compliant with the Design Standards for Accessible Railway Stations and Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations.

Over the past year the Scottish Government has worked closely with businesses and sectoral organisations such as the Scottish Tourism Alliance, UK Hospitality, Scottish Licensed Trade Association, Scottish Beer & Pub Association, Night Time Industries Association and Scottish Hospitality Group on the impact of restrictions and support for the tourism and hospitality sectors. Most recently, the First Minister has met with Scottish Tourism Alliance and UKHospitality on 21 May.

I most recently met with UKHospitality and Scottish Licensed Trade Association on 25 May and Scottish Tourism Alliance on 26 May.

The COVID-19 sectoral guidance for close contact services is kept under constant review to reflect the latest public health advice and the latest information for all Strategic Framework levels. All close contact services are able to operate in Level 3 and below, in line with this guidance. The guidance was last updated on 26 May 2021 to reflect the outcome of the recent rapid review on face coverings in the sector.

The professional judgement of teachers is the key feature of this year’s National Qualifications assessment process. SQA has provided the key evidence requirements and associated national assessment standards that are critical to ensuring the fair and consistent application of standards across the country.

This guidance includes reduced evidence requirements in recognition of the disruption to learning this year, and schools have been given flexibility around the timing and nature of which assessment tools to use to inform teacher judgement of individual learners’ results.

The National Qualifications 2021 Group has agreed a later certification contingency for those who have experienced severe disruption to learning and teaching and have been unable to complete their assessment evidence within the flexibilities already provided. This is for learners who have completed the learning for their course but have not been able to complete their assessment as they have experienced extreme disruption during the centre’s evidence-gathering process.

Under these arrangements, there will be a limited opportunity for those learners to undertake assessments later and submit provisional results by 3 September 2021. These arrangements are separate and distinct from the appeals process, which learners undertaking the later certification will still be able to access.