Representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) and North Ayrshire Council participate in the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill Steering Group, chaired by myself. This Group has met three times. The last meeting was held on 17 January 2023.

Separately, Scottish Government officials leading CWB development work met with the General Secretary for the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) on August 16, 2022. Scottish Government officials also presented at the Fair Work Convention on 23 February, 2023, which brings together employers and trade unions to advocate for and promote Fair Work.

Scottish Government officials last met with North Ayrshire Council colleagues to discuss the CWB Bill consultation on 16 February, 2023. Finally, The Minister is due to attend the Ayrshire CWB Commission on 24 March 2023.

The Scottish Government remains opposed to the forced installation of pre-payment meters, and we welcome Ofgem’s recent announcement that suppliers will not be restarting prepayment meter installations next month, as previously intended. Scottish Government officials are engaging with Ofgem on its current review of guidance for suppliers on the use of pre-payment meters to ensure that the rights and interests of Scottish consumers are fully considered.

There was no Scottish Government process to contract dualling for ‘Tomalin to Mor’.

The procurement for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy contract, however, involved a 10-month procurement process using a Competitive Dialogue procedure in accordance with Regulation 31 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. During this process two tenders were invited to submit a Final Tender, however only one tender was received.

In accordance with the above procedure, the tender evaluation followed a pre-defined methodology which included an assessment of the technical, quality and financial aspects of the tender submission received.

Following this evaluation, Ministers concluded that the tender received did not represent best value for the taxpayer at this time and made the decision not to award the contract.

Further information about each of these policy matters is as follows.

(a) Conversion therapy

A ban on conversion therapy was a commitment in the SNP’s 2021 manifesto. It was agreed by Cabinet in August 2021, both as part of the Bute House Agreement and as part of the Programme for Government 2021-22.

(b) Deposit Return Scheme

A commitment to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme was agreed by Cabinet in August 2017 as part of the Programme for Government 2017-18.

Cabinet agreed the design of the Deposit Return Scheme in April 2019 and agreed the original commencement date for inclusion in legislation in January 2020.

The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 were approved by the Scottish Parliament in May 2020 and Parliament agreed The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Amendment Regulations 2022 in February 2022.

Cabinet has been updated and had the opportunity to comment on the implementation plans for the scheme on many occasions.

(c) Alcohol advertising

A commitment to introduce restrictions on alcohol advertising in locations where children would be readily exposed to it was included in the SNP’s 2021 manifesto. A commitment to consult on such restrictions was agreed by Cabinet in August 2021 as part of the Programme for Government 2021-22. The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation approved the publication of this consultation paper in November 2022.

(d) Safe access zones

A commitment to support any local authority that wants to establish byelaws to create protest-free buffer zones outside clinics that provide abortion services was included in the SNP’s 2021 manifesto. Cabinet agreed this commitment in August 2021 as part of the Programme for Government 2021-22. The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation agreed to support the development and drafting of Gillian Mackay’s Member’s Bill (the Proposed Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill) in July 2022.

The Programme for Government published in September notes that the Scottish Government will consider what further actions need to be taken to embed women’s rights to safe access to healthcare. In the first instance, the Scottish Government plans to focus on immediate priorities to improve access to abortion services, including providing full support to Gillian Mackay MSP’s members bill to protect women and staff accessing healthcare facilities providing abortion care from feeling harassed or intimated.

Further to this, the Scottish Government is continuing to improve access to early medical abortions at home, and working with Health Boards and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to allow women to access services between 20 to 24 weeks’ gestation within Scotland.

The Scottish Government places great importance on swimming pools, and recognise the physical, social and economic benefits these facilities provide to communities across Scotland.

Whilst we have not undertaken an assessment of the social and economic impacts of swimming pool closures, the Scottish Government is working with sport scotland to accurately understand the current facilities provision and predict the landscape in the short, medium and long term by supporting Scottish Swimming to deliver the Scottish Swimming Facilities Project.

We have asked sport scotland to write to Ms Monica Lennon MSP with more details of the Scottish Swimming Facilities Project and to keep her updated as it progresses.

There are 56.3 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) obstetrics & gynaecology staff working in NHS Lanarkshire as at December 2022.

There are 35.7 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) obstetrics & gynaecology staff working in NHS Forth Valley as at December 2022.

This includes staff at all medical grades.

Since becoming the first developed country to pledge funding for Loss and Damage at COP26, the Scottish Government and Ministers have actively sought to push the issue further up the global climate agenda. For example, in October 2022 the Scottish Government hosted a conference which brought together international representatives and practitioners to articulate best practice on addressing loss and damage. During COP27, the First Minister met with other governmental and organisational representatives, including Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Germany’s Special Envoy for International Climate Action Jennifer Morgan and UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell. The Minister for Environment and Land Reform also met with Ministers from Bangladesh, Ghana, Vanuatu and Malawi. Our COP27 outcome report has further details on the Scottish Government’s engagements and achievements at the UN conference. We are delighted that there is now over $300m of finance committed to address loss and damage and an international agreement for a Loss and Damage Fund.

However, we recognise we cannot lose momentum following this breakthrough. Since COP27, Scottish Government Ministers and officials have met with various other governments to better understand their plans for funding loss and damage, share lessons and urge both commitment of funding and rapid disbursement. For example, the Minister for Environment and Land Reform has discussed the issue with a Minister from North Rhine-Westphalia and will shortly meet and discuss it with a Minister from Ghana. At official level, the Scottish Government has met with representatives from UK, US and New Zealand. In addition officials have presented through subnational knowledge-sharing networks on loss and damage and climate justice. The Scottish Government will continue its convening role on loss and damage to platform best practice and to activate potential funders.

As part of this, the Scottish Government launched an extensive report on practical action to address loss and damage on 16 March at the online international Gobeshona conference hosted by International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh. This report gathers, analyses and platforms case studies on existing action to fund and address Loss and Damage, building on the outcomes from the Scottish Government’s Loss and Damage conference. The report is be available online but the Scottish Government will make it specifically available to key governments (for example, those who are members of the UNFCCC Transitional Committee on loss and damage). With this report and our programming we are making the case internationally on the impact funding can have to support communities facing climate-induced loss and damage.

In February 2021, we published a refresh of the Diabetes Improvement Plan (DIP). This sets out our priorities and commitments to improve prevention, treatment and care for everyone in Scotland affected by diabetes. The Scottish Diabetes Group (SDG) oversees implementation and governance of the DIP.

There are several sub-groups of the SDG, with responsibility for specific commitments within the Plan. The Type 1 Sub-Group is focused on improving access to diabetes technologies, including closed loop systems. Using real-time data from SCI-diabetes, the SDG and Scottish Government work with key stakeholders to regularly monitor the number of people accessing each specific technology.

This data also allows Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) to self-assess where there are gaps and how they compare to other board areas. The SDG and Scottish Government work closely with MCNs to ensure sharing of good practice.

We recognise that there are still significant challenges for NHS Boards to provide technology to everyone who would benefit from it; and we are now working in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery in order to try to address these. The Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway team are currently assessing the suitability of a project which would support the roll out of diabetes technology, and in particular closed loop systems, as an innovation challenge. As part of this, there has been significant engagement with the diabetes community and people have shared their views on the benefits of closed-loop systems. As this project develops, we will adapt the process of measuring and evaluating to track where there are gaps across Scotland.

The Scottish Diabetes Group will continue to work with partners to assess the impact and outcomes of the roll-out for people living with diabetes.

The Scottish Government is committed to raising awareness of all forms of cancer, including brain, through our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme, which we continue to invest in.

A new Detect Cancer Earlier campaign was launched on 06 March 2023 to reduce fear of cancer and encourage those with possible symptoms to contact their GP practice. The NHS Inform website highlights the common symptoms of brain tumours .

The Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer support primary care clinicians in identifying patients who are most likely to have cancer and therefore require urgent assessment by a specialist. DCE funded a clinical refresh of eight pathways in 2018, including brain, with revised guidance published January 2019. Work continues with primary care clinicians to raise awareness of the Guidelines and share best practice.

A new cancer strategy is under development, which will include a new earlier diagnosis vision for Scotland. It is expected to publish in Spring 2023.