The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring equitable access to all clinically approved surgical procedures, including thumb carpometacarpal joint replacement surgery, across NHS Scotland.

Each NHS Board has a process for assessing and adopting innovative procedures with appropriate safeguards until a procedure becomes standard practice. At present though, there is insufficient long term data to recommend thumb carpometacarpal joint replacement surgery as the routine standard of care.

Health Boards are expected to plan and deliver services in accordance with the needs of their local populations, ensuring that care is safe, effective, person-centred, and aligned with current clinical guidelines and best practice.

Currently, thumb carpometacarpal joint replacement surgery is offered in: NHS Lothian, NHS Fife, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland & NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (Inverclyde).

Referral arrangements exist within NHS Scotland to allow patients to access specialist procedures not available locally. Where thumb carpometacarpal joint replacement surgery is clinically indicated and not provided within NHS Lanarkshire, patients may be referred to another Board offering the procedure if that is appropriate.

Data on the number of referrals over the past five years is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. This information may be obtained from NHS Lanarkshire and other relevant Boards.

The Scottish Government recognises that prolonged recovery and reduced function can have personal and economic implications for patients.

We expect Health Boards to consider these factors when planning surgical pathways and to prioritise patient outcomes, including functional recovery and impact on daily living.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of Mingyang’s potential investment to the growth and success of the offshore wind sector. The Memorandum of Understanding between the UK Government and Mingyang is a matter of public record.

The UK Government is responsible for national security, the regulation of international trade, elements of critical national infrastructure including energy, and the application of the National Security and Investment Act. The proposed Mingyang investment is subject to a national security decision by the UK Government and we await the outcome of that process.

The proactive release of ministerial engagements and overseas travel covering November 2025 will be published in February 2026. This release will confirm all costs for my trip to Brazil for COP30.

The Scottish Government has acknowledged that, while the current system for Powers of Attorney (PoA) generally functions well, certain elements require improving and updating.

As part of the Adults with Incapacity reform programme, the Expert Working Group and the Minister-led Oversight Group are developing proposals to strengthen and streamline the Power of Attorney framework (Part 2 of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000), including registration processes.

Where there is an urgent medical, financial or welfare need, it is possible to request expedited processing of a power of attorney (PoA) from the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland). The expedited service can register a power of attorney within 5 working days.

A detailed stakeholder identification and mapping exercise is currently underway as part of NHS Education Scotland’s discovery work into onboarding primary care services into MyCare.scot.

The Scottish Government’s Physical Activity for Health Framework highlights the critical role of sport and physical activity for everyone, including disabled people. Grounded in the latest scientific evidence and key public health principles, the Framework emphasises the role physical activity plays in reducing non-communicable diseases and improving overall health.

The Framework also recognises the positive impact of physical activity on mental wellbeing, by reducing isolation, fostering community cohesion, and building resilience and confidence. Additionally, the Framework underscores the wider societal benefits of physical activity, such as supporting educational attainment, reducing reoffending, promoting sustainable transport, and enhancing engagement with the natural environment.

The Scottish Government undertakes a range of impact assessments when developing or introducing new policy, taking account of other ongoing policy development that may interact with the options being considered. Where relevant, this includes Business and Regulatory Impact Assessments, which consider businesses of all sizes and the cumulative impact of multiple policy changes and their timing.

The Scottish Government report on the 2023 non-domestic rates revaluation was published on 5 July 2023. The report set out the changes in rateable values for different property classes as a result of the 2023 revaluation. A report on the 2026 revaluation will be published once final values are available.

On Short-term lets we continue to work with stakeholders to monitor implementation of the licensing regime. In response to stakeholder feedback we commissioned VisitScotland to launch an expert group to revise short-term let guidance, bringing industry and local authorities together to provide recommend updates to short-term let licencing guidance.

In relation to the visitor levy, impact assessments were carried out to support the original Visitor Levy Bill/Act and we are revising them for the new Bill, but these were on the overall impact of a Visitor Levy. Each Local Authority must assess the impact of its proposed local Visitor Levy’s scheme while it is developing and consulting on it.