The Scottish Government is continuing to consider the recommendations from the independent review of the AA and PA roles in England, and I await further policy and legal advice before reaching a formal position. As part of my consideration, I will also have a keen interest in any outcome of the judicial review ongoing in England.

I did write to the MAPs Programme Board to commit to using the Leng Review as a framework for future discussions. Given this, and the agreement to a four-nations approach to the work, the views of Scotland are actively being considered through new structures that have been established by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England. This includes Scottish representation on a newly established Clinical Advisory Panel.

All mortality data collected by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in relation to Scottish salmon farming is already made public on Scottish Government and Scotland’s Aquaculture websites, resulting in a high level of transparency and more data being available for salmon farming in Scotland in comparison to other farming sectors.

A formal assessment of impacts of data collection has not been undertaken. However, additional data is not required for regulation and its provision would generate data collection, handing and processing by producers at both a site and company level, as well as by the Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate, and this is disproportionate to the regulatory need.

Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will support at least 880,000 pensioners with their heating bills this winter.

Payments started in November and Social Security Scotland expects the vast majority of payments to be issued by the end of December. Work will continue throughout the rest of the winter to finalise any remaining payments.

As of 14 December 2025, more than 568,000 Pension Age Winter Heating Payments had been made. Updated figures will be published in the next management information release on 4 February 2026.

Further details are available on Social Security Scotland’s website at: Winter Benefits management information release to 14 December 2025.

The Scottish Government continues to work with partners throughout the year in addressing the misuse of fireworks. I welcome that Police Scotland reported a more peaceful and safe Bonfire Night period in comparison to recent years and that they recorded an almost 37 per cent reduction in calls relating to fireworks offences compared to the previous year. I commend the important preparatory and preventative work of Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and local authorities, including the introduction of firework control zones, which all contributed to a safer Bonfire Night.

We continue to keep the operation of the legislation under review. As the sale of fireworks is a reserved matter, I also continue to engage with UK Ministers to ensure that the Scottish Government is kept closely updated on the UK Government’s plans in relation to fireworks, including on its consideration of a Private Members’ Fireworks Bill which calls for stricter rules for fireworks sellers and a reduced noise limit from fireworks.

The Scottish Government is proud of its strong housing and homelessness rights. We want to ensure everyone in Scotland has access to a safe, warm and affordable home, whether they are homeowners or tenants in the private or social rented sectors.

People relocate for diverse reasons, including moving closer to relatives, seeking job opportunities and/or escaping difficult situations. Our official statistics capture whether homelessness applications come from households who live in the local area; have a local connection with another area of Scotland; or have no known connection to any authority in Scotland. Of the 34,067 households that were assessed as homeless in 2024-25, the overwhelming majority (94 per cent) already had a connection to the local area or to Scotland.

Modelling maternity capacity is essential to the development of the new model of neonatal care. The RSM report has outlined the maternity modelling in relation to data captured.

The principles underpinning the changes to neonatal intensive care are supported by Scottish Executive Nurse Directors (SEND) and the Midwifery Directors of Scotland (MiDS).

To mitigate any concerns raised about the implications of the change for maternity services, SEND, in support of the MiDS, recommended that the Scottish Government undertake a national-level data collection to better understand the impact of the neonatal care remodelling on maternity services.

This data collection report has now been completed and the additional data and evidence gathered required for maternity services will inform maternity capacity implementation planning.

People relocate for multiple reasons and the Scottish Government does not conduct modelling which distils the complexity to exclusive categories, such as differing housing policies.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility for assessing current and future housing requirements, which includes consideration of demographic trends including migration.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission will publish its latest economic and fiscal forecasts alongside the Scottish Budget on 13 January 2026.

We are providing a package of support that ensures the people of Scotland will receive more help with heating costs this winter, than anywhere else in the UK. Based on the SFC’s forecasts from summer 2025, we are investing around £227 million in winter heating benefits in 2025-26, providing vital assistance to those who need it most during the coldest months of the year, with more than 837,000 payments already made to help households with heating costs this winter.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38434 on 17 June 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

All engagements carried out by Ministers where government business was undertaken are published on Scottish Government website three months in arrears, as is required by the Scottish Ministerial Code and the Scottish Government’s Records Management policy. There is no requirement for the origin of any such information to be collated and there is no mechanism for capturing the detail on the number of calls made by each Minister since May 2021.