The Water Industry Commission for Scotland began a series of multi-stakeholder meetings in October 2017 to discuss key themes for the 2021-27 Strategic Review of Charges. Throughout 2017 and 2018 they provided a forum to explore topics included within the Commission’s 2017 and 2018 Decision Papers. These are available on the Commission’s website at https://www.watercommission.co.uk/view_Decision_Papers.aspx .

The multi-stakeholder group consists of representatives from the Scottish Government, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS), the Customer Forum, Citizens Advice Scotland, the Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water. The Stakeholder Advisory Group is expected to continue until the Price Review process concludes in 2020.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with stakeholders to examine how the structure of water charges can be improved.

The Scottish Government will undertake further research, consultation and engagement with the potentially affected demographics and relevant interest groups prior to a decision being made. The Government will take the comments received during the consultation process into careful consideration in deciding the way forward.

The Scottish Government has published all responses where it has been given permission to do so at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/water-services-from-2021/ .

The Scottish Government recognises that all victims and survivors of domestic abuse deserve access to support.

Funding for domestic abuse services includes support for services who work with male victims. Over 2017 to 2020, these include nearly £85,000 to run the Respect Helpline which signposts male survivors of domestic abuse to support services, over £3 million to ASSIST who, as part of their work, provide advocacy support to male survivors of domestic abuse in the Lothians and over £180,000 to Committed to Ending Abuse which supports all victims and survivors of domestic abuse in the Falkirk area, which includes those who identify as male.

Of funding for support services of domestic abuse, 17.9% goes to services who offer support to adult victims who identify as male. The remaining 82.1% goes to services supporting women and children.

The Scottish Government is investing over £12 million from the Equality Budget to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls. This includes funding for local services to support children who have experienced domestic abuse, such as children's support services provided by local Women's Aid centres. National organisations such as Barnardo’s and Children 1 st also offer support to children who have experienced domestic abuse. A full breakdown of funding under the Equally Safe (Violence against Women and Girls) Fund can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/vawg-fund-2017-2020/ .

The Scottish Government recognises that all victims and survivors of domestic abuse deserve access to support.

We will hold a roundtable this year to consider the impact on men of gender based violence, looking at their roles as victims of violence, as perpetrators of it and as allies in its prevention. Amongst other things, this will consider support available for male victims.

The Respiratory Action Plan for Scotland is in the early stages of development.

Once finalised we will have a better understanding of the financial challenges and opportunities lying ahead and this will inform funding decisions.

The Scottish Government held an evidence and analysis workshop entitled ‘How do we measure/report success indicators for the framework and action plan’ during Scotland’s Race Equality Conference on 11 December 2018. The conference updated partner organisations and key stakeholders on progress on the actions set out in Scotland’s Race Equality Action Plan. At the workshop, Scottish Government analysts presented the new Equality Evidence Finder web resource, which was launched earlier that day, and discussed the evidence base with stakeholders. Organisations in attendance at the workshop included CEMVO Scotland, CRER, ELREC, the African Council, Glasgow Caledonian University and Health Boards.

Further to this event, the Scottish Government intends to engage internally with its analysts and externally with its partner organisations in 2019 to take forward the Equality Evidence Strategy.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is the independent expert advisory group which advises Ministers and the NHS in the four UK countries about all aspects of screening policy. The NSC uses the international research evidence base to inform recommendations, and establishes pilot programmes where appropriate to collect additional evidence.

The UK NSC does not currently recommend a national screening programme for lung cancer because there is not yet enough evidence that this is a good approach to reducing the burden of the disease. In particular there are concerns around the potential for significant over-diagnosis and associated invasive investigations in people who are well.

The policy is due to be reviewed again after the results of the NELSON randomised lung cancer screening trial are published. If there is any change in the recommendations of the NSC this will be carefully considered by the Scottish Government.