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Donor gametes (eggs and sperm) are required to treat NHS patients throughout Scotland who require them for their NHS IVF treatment. To ensure that donor gametes are available to patients for their treatment, the Scottish Government/NHS Scotland are currently reviewing data from previous campaigns and considering options in relation to running a future donor campaign.

As with the campaigns in 2021, 2022 and 2023, all prospective NHS gamete donors in Scotland are assessed by a qualified healthcare professional trained to screen out persons whose donations could present a health risk to themselves, to those receiving donated gametes and/or to any child born as a result of the donation. Donors are also advised of the medical process involved in donation and provided with free mandatory counselling to enable them to consider all the implications before going ahead, providing their consent, and donating.

As at the end of July 2024, 98 applications to the reopened Independent Living Fund have been received. Of these, eight have completed all steps of the application process and are now in payment. The total annual value of these awards in payment is £162,446, and £7,443 has been paid out to new recipients so far.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with NHS Scotland, spent the following on national donor gamete campaigns:

(a) Launched in June 2021 the first donor gamete campaign cost £100,000

(b) Launched in October 2022 the second donor gamete campaign cost £35,999.24

(c) Launched in October 2023 the third donor gamete campaign cost £50,519.60

Scottish Government welcomes the comments of the British Dental Association Scotland that the new system represents an improvement on the previous Statement of Dental Renumeration.

Official statistics published by Public Health Scotland on 28 May 2024 show that in the quarter ending 31 March 2024, over 1 million patient contacts were delivered by NHS dentists and there were three quarters of a million free at the point of use enhanced examinations.

This is indicative that Scottish Government intervention is supporting patient access to care.Ongoing assessment of the sector will provide information to support any future interventions, in particular around equality.

The answer to S6W-28648 stated that 3,308 certificates of exemption for XL Bully dogs have been issued to dog owners by the Scottish Government during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 July 2024. This reflected the number of exemptions issued when the PQ answer was developed and there can be a short time lag between an answer being drafted by the Scottish Government and the PQ being answered.

The figure that was provided by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Sun newspaper was that, as of Thursday 1 August, there have been 3,342 applications for exemption certificates for XL Bully dogs approved.

The difference in figure is explained by the time-lag noted above meaning that 34 additional manually produced exemption certificates issued by the Scottish Government after 31 July 2024 were included in the figure given to the Scottish Sun, but not in the PQ answer.

It may be helpful to be aware that the Scottish Government is continuing to work through a small number of cases where XL Bully dog owners have met the legal requirement to apply before 31 July 2024, but still require to provide additional information in order for their exemption application to be processed and granted.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS currently share information regarding the number of individuals released under Emergency Early Release (ER) on the SPS website. Further work has commenced on an analysis of the entire ER tranche data, and the SPS hope to be able to publish a full data report, which will be available on the SPS website by the end of August.

SPS continue to be as open and transparent as possible, whilst continuing to meet our statutory obligation to ensure that those in our care have their personal information protected; as such we have taken the decision not to publish a breakdown of establishments of those released under the ER scheme as some of the data could relate to a small group of individuals, which may lead to their inadvertent identification. SPS will however, share information that does include individual local authorities and health boards as part of the released data set.

Following Stage 2, we will provide a revised Financial Memorandum for Stage 2 amendments that have been agreed to which will also note the value of costs incurred to date on the Bill.

The Scottish Government has provided support for employees affected by developments at Carpetright through our Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative.In agreement with Carpetright's Talent Acquisition Manager, a PACE Introduction to Redundancy Support webinar took place on 7 August for all impacted staff across Scotland to inform them of the support on offer. In addition, information on PACE services has been issued to the impacted staff to support their self-referral to partnership services. Skills Development Scotland will also be undertaking promotion of PACE support to former Carpetright staff via social media activity.Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

Following recommendations made in the research report on women and girls' safety on public transport, a number of actions are being taken forward. These include:

Transport Scotland officials are continuing to work with colleagues across Government to ensure that specific actions in development to tackle antisocial behaviour on bus take into account the safety of women and girls.

ScotRail, Network Rail and British Transport Police are working together with stakeholders to deliver a wide range of activity to reduce anti-social behaviours across the rail network. For example, ScotRail established a Travel Safe Team, made up of 24 officers and 3 supervisors, in 2023. The team work mainly across the central belt and in the southwest and ScotRail are looking into how it can be expanded. The team promote safe behaviours as much as challenge bad behaviour. They engage closely with customers and staff to identify issues; this is then followed by targeted engagements e.g. they will spend time talking with (and maybe travelling with) people to explain the importance of buying tickets and the benefits of considerate behaviour to everyone.

All ScotRail train carriages are fitted with CCTV. All but two ScotRail stations have CCTV. The two stations without CCTV are on private land and legal issues are currently being worked through. Of the ScotRail stations that have CCTV 246 are monitored continuously within control centres. Waverley has its own CCTV system and control room. Glasgow Central has plans to update its CCTV, which is out of date, but it does not have a dedicated and staffed control room for monitoring it.

ScotRail are investing in increasing numbers of body worn cameras and encourage staff to wear them. They are working to persuade Trade Unions in particular of their benefits.

Advertising campaigns and literature on board trains and at stations highlight ways to report incidents to the British Transport Police, for example via the Text 6-101-6 service or by reporting via the Railway Guardian app.

Transport Scotland is writing to Scottish Rail Holdings to draw attention to the research recommendations, and asking that the recommendations be taken forward. Transport Scotland will also circulate the report from the stakeholder event hosted by Transport Scotland in December 2023 and the research report to bus and ferry operators to highlight the recommendations. The report from the stakeholder event can be found on the Transport Scotland website here:

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Transport Scotland will publish a page on the Transport Scotland website which will feature the Principles that have emerged from the stakeholder event and provide links to other relevant information produced by Transport Scotland and partner organisations.

Transport Scotland will report on progress of the research recommendations on an annual basis to coincide with 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, and also as part of reporting on the National Transport Strategy.

Transport Scotland will continue to work with Violence Against Women and Girls colleagues across the Scottish Government to support the sharing of good practice in relation to progress on the principles. Transport Scotland will also publish research which explores literature around the use of personal safety apps for use in public spaces, particularly on public transport.

In addition, the Cabinet Secretary held a round table with rail delivery partners and stakeholders to ensure collaboration on measures that will increase the safety of passengers and staff. 

Transport Scotland also work with the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) to support sharing best practice amongst bus operators.

We remain committed to Phase 2 of the 2018 GP Contract and ensuring the stability and sustainability of general practice.

Discussions with the BMA on Phase 2 are ongoing and we are developing a refreshed delivery plan for this work – this will include a revised timeline for delivery.