Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government produced a leaflet on the Breastfeeding etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 which was issued to all employers in Scotland in 2006. It explains the implications of the Act for employers and employees and encourages employers to offer assistance to breastfeeding mothers. The leaflet is available online: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/135079/0033433.pdf

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has a published commitment to all witnesses that prosecutors will try to agree a witness’ evidence with the defence or to resolve the case before it proceeds to trial. In situations where this is not possible COPFS has committed that prosecutors will call the witness to give evidence in court only if the evidence is needed for the case and cannot be agreed with the defence in advance. In situations where it is necessary for a witness to attend to give evidence prosecutors will try to take account of any concerns the witness may have about giving evidence.

Where advised of a witness’ caring responsibilities COPFS will endeavour to accommodate those responsibilities within the confines of the court programme and where possible will seek to minimise the amount of time any witness requires to be present within the court building prior to and following the giving of that witness’ evidence.

I refer the member to answer to question S5W-21041 on 1 February 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The median waiting time for an urgent diagnostics appointment within NHS Lothian is 8 weeks. For an urgent gastroenterology appointment the median waiting time is 14 weeks. The Scottish Government recognises that too many patients are waiting too long for appointments and procedures which is unacceptable. That is why I launched the £850 million Waiting Times Improvement Plan in October 2018. NHS Lothian have been allocated £2.7 million of short term funding. Of this, an allocation of £390,000 is being utilised to support the reduction of waiting times within gastroenterology services.

To support improvements in Gastroenterology waiting times, NHS Lothian have put in place a number of actions including streamlining clinics to reduce variation in waiting times across Lothian, using the independent sector to provide additional outpatient capacity and a new locum has been appointment to support delivery of additional capacity.

The Endoscopy Action Plan as part of the overall Waiting Times Improvment Plan is supporting NHS Boards to reduce the number of patients waiting for such a diagnostic test. So far the number of patients waiting over six weeks for an Endoscopy has reduced by almost 9% between the end of July and October. Additional capacity has been scheduled throughout the period November 2018 to March 2019 to further improve this position. The Endoscopy Action Plan will be published during February.

Scottish Government officials last met with NHS Lothian on 4 December to discuss endoscopy services. Jacquie Campbell, Chief Officer for Acute Hospitals in NHS Lothian is currently writing a business plan for long and short term measures for improvement.

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS Lothian to support the development and implementation of sustainable solutions to reduce their waiting times for all specialties.

The Scottish Government provides an annual funding allocation to help Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) meet the needs of their tenants who require housing adaptations. Funding is not ring-fenced for specific client groups and no target number of adaptations is set for individual RSLs. Instead, each RSL, with the assistance of suitably qualified experts such as occupational therapists, will determine the relative priority of each individual application for an adaptation.

The following table sets out the total funding provided to RSLs in Scotland for adaptations from 2007-08 to 2017-18.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21041 on 1 February 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who reply in writing within 20 days.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of autistic people through the implementation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism.

Autistic people should be able to enjoy public places just like anyone else. Whilst the Scottish Government have not had discussions with retailers about the introduction of quiet hours in shops, we would encourage retailers to engage with autism charities to learn how to make their shops autism friendly.

However, we are working with autism charities at national and local level to support public awareness campaigns to improve the understanding of autism. We want to ensure that autistic people are met with recognition and an understanding of autism.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the lives of autistic people through the implementation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism.

The Scottish Strategy for Autism: outcomes and priorities 2018-2021 was published in March 2018 and is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-strategy-autism-outcomes-priorities-2018-2021 .

This outlines that we acknowledge the growing number of autism friendly places in Scotland including airports and shopping centres, and we encourage retailers and other organisations to consider making their facilities autism friendly and enabling.

Autistic people should be able to enjoy public places just like anyone else and the National Autistic Society offer Autism Friendly Awards for retailers and other organisations. Further information is available from the following link:

https://www.autism.org.uk/professionals/autism-friendly-award.aspx .

Scottish Government have contracts with around 125 unique suppliers that have an annual turnover of £36 million or more. All of these suppliers have either provided us with a copy of their Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement or we have identified one on their website.

This relates to core Scottish Government contracts and does not include contracts let by agencies or NDPBs.