The infrastructure levy powers in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 would, once in force, provide local authorities with an additional mechanism for seeking financial contributions towards the cost of infrastructure. The definition of infrastructure in the Act is intentionally broad, enabling local authorities to spend levy income on a potentially wide range of projects in accordance with local priorities. This includes green and blue infrastructure but also educational and medical facilities, recreation facilities, flood defences and transport infrastructure – among other things.

Policy development to inform implementation of the infrastructure levy powers is at an early stage and in that context, it would be premature to comment on matters of detailed policy design. Furthermore, seeking to influence how local authorities might use future income from the infrastructure levy would seem to be contrary to the recently signed Verity House Agreement.

Through the Bus Partnership Fund, Transport Scotland has awarded an initial £26.47m of funding to Bus Partnerships to develop and deliver bus priority measures on both local and trunk roads. The Scottish Government remains committed to providing further funding for bus priority once Partnerships have identified further projects supported by completed business cases.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) will inform the Scottish Government’s transport investment programme over the next 20 years and help to deliver the National Transport Strategy. STPR2 recommends bus priority is implemented in Scotland’s cities and towns where congestion is highest, many of which are being progressed though BPF. In the case of the motorway network, Transport Scotland would progress plans for the M8, M77 and M80, which includes looking at actively managed hard shoulders for buses like those already operating on the M90/M9 Queensferry Corridor and on the M8 eastbound approach to Hermiston Gait.

All these measures are aimed at reducing the negative impacts of congestion on bus services for passengers and addressing the decline in bus patronage.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards in Scotland to adhere to current guidelines and follow best practice when providing psychosocial care for people with chronic kidney disease.

We published our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy on 29 June 2023. The Strategy sets out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population. We will subsequently publish a Delivery Plan in the Autumn to set out the work we will do over the coming years to make progress towards those outcomes and set out how we will measure that progress.

This will include consideration on how the Strategy will set ambitions and actions to support people living with long term conditions like chronic kidney disease. One of our key outcomes for the Strategy is to ensure people with mental health conditions, including those with co-existing health conditions, experience improved quality and length of life, free from stigma and discrimination

In order to achieve this, we will work with partners to develop actions that will see improved provision of services and support to people with long-term physical health conditions for their mental health and wellbeing.

Clinical guideline implementation is the responsibility of NHS Boards. The ultimate decision about a particular clinical procedure or treatment will always depend on each individual patient’s condition, circumstances and wishes, and the clinical judgement of the healthcare team.

The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards and clinicians to adhere to current guidelines to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment of chronic kidney disease in accordance with authoritative sources such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the UK Kidney Association (UKKA).

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent advisory group which makes recommendations on all screening programmes in the UK, have never recommended routine breast screening for women over 71 years. The Committee has concluded that there is not clear evidence that the benefits of screening women in this age group outweigh the potential risks of harm.

Nonetheless, prior to the COVID pandemic, women over 71 could self-refer to be screened if they chose. As the service continues to recover from the pandemic, Women aged 71-74, and those over 75 with a history of breast cancer, are once again eligible to self-refer for a screening appointment. There continues to be a pause in self-referral appointments for women aged 75 and over without a history of breast cancer.

The Scottish Government understands the wish to widen self-referrals to include those over the age of 75 without a history of breast cancer. However, before doing so we need to understand the impact of current self-referral appointments on wait times for women between 50-70 for whom screening has clear benefits. These impacts are under regular review by the breast screening programme board.

We recognise that the physical impact of living with kidney disease can have a significant impact on a person’s mental health and wellbeing. Living with an incurable, long-term condition can be deeply distressing. The Scottish Government’s new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, due for publication shortly, will set out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

One of the key outcomes for the Strategy is to ensure people with mental health conditions, including those with co-existing physical health conditions, experience improved quality and length of life. In order to achieve this, we will work with partners to develop actions that will see improved provision of services, including talking therapies, and support to people with long-term physical health conditions for their mental health and wellbeing.

In addition to this, the National Education Scotland and Scottish Government developed The Matrix: A Guide for Delivering Evidence-based Psychological Therapies in Scotland to support NHS Boards in planning the range, volume and quality of psychological therapies required to meet Scottish Government commitments. The Matrix is due to be refreshed in 2023 but already includes a section specifically on chronic kidney disease and includes a recommendation for talking therapies for those with moderate to severe mental health problems.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living with kidney disease are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Psychosocial support is an element of person-centred care and covers the need to consider a wide range of factors that affect a person’s wellbeing. We recognise that primary care is the first and often the main point of contact for many people in their diagnosis and care journey. Our strengthening of Scotland’s primary care workforce through the recruitment of multi-disciplinary teams is making it easier for people to access frontline care local to them. We have now recruited over 3,000 professionals including community nurses and physiotherapists, with increased funding of £170m this year to support further development of multi-disciplinary teams in primary care.

We will continue working to identify how to drive up standards of care in chronic kidney disease care, using data from the Scottish Renal Registry, in order to maximise the care, treatment and quality of life for everyone living with the disease across Scotland.

Food Standards Scotland recommends following a healthy balanced diet as represented by The Eatwell Guide . Doing so will increase consumption of vegetables, pulses and wholegrains and will likely reduce the consumption of less healthy food and drink. The Eat Well Your Way website supports people to make small and manageable changes to improve their diet.

Scottish Government is supporting a range of actions set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan to encourage people to include more vegetables, pulses and wholegrains in their diet.

For example, we fund the Healthy Living Programme which helps 2,400 convenience stores to increase the range, availability, quality and affordability of fresh produce and healthier products from other categories, especially in areas of higher deprivation.

We also provide funding to Community Food Networks to promote a range of services such as cooking classes, benefit checks, ‘grow-your-own’ food groups, cafés and food pantries.

Our Parent Club website provides free advice on healthy eating, as well as low-cost recipe ideas to support people and families prepare healthier meals.