Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises the vital role the livestock sector plays in supporting rural communities. We do not have a policy to reduce livestock numbers and fully recognise the value that livestock plays in Scotland's rural communities, maintaining bio diversity and our food sector. In order to understand what is happening within the sector we are committed to assessing, through engagement with stakeholders, the potential social and economic impacts of any changes in the size of the beef herd - whether driven by market trends, consumer behaviour, or technological change - on rural areas across Scotland.

This assessment will be carried out through ongoing engagement with farmers, crofters, industry representatives and rural stakeholders, alongside analysis of rural economies and land use. In stark contrast to the UK Government we continue to demonstrate our commitment to the beef sector through a range of support schemes, including the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS), which provides targeted, coupled support for livestock producers In addition, the retention of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in Scotland is helping to maintain income stability for many beef producers. This reformed direct support reflects the unique challenges facing our farming and crofting communities and underlines our determination to deliver a sustainable future for rural Scotland.

Squid is a non-quota species and consequently there are no Scottish vessels specifically licenced to fish for this species as their primary catch. Details of the Scottish fishing fleet and primary gears employed can be found in the annual Marine Directorate statistical bulletin at: Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2023 - corrected March 2025 - gov.scot, tables 42 & 43 provide data on the number of active Scottish registered vessels and their main fishing method.

The Squid Co-management Group was established for the purpose of bringing industry and eNGOs together to work collaboratively with Scottish Government officials to support a longer-term policy decision on fishing for squid under the North Sea Cod Avoidance Plan (NCAP).

Stakeholder nominations for membership of the Squid Co-development Group were provided by the co-management stakeholder forum Fisheries Management and Conservation Group (FMAC). The first stakeholder Squid Co-management Group meeting took place 1 November 2024.

Ministerial pay is set and administered by the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government has no role in this. It is the Scottish Government's understanding that new mandate letters were issued to Ministers, including the Law Officers, by the Scottish Parliament on 8 April 2025. The Scottish Government was not copied into these mandate letters and does not hold them. Any request for the letters to be published should be put to the Scottish Parliament.

Funding for the Deal is awarded to the Stirling and Clackmannanshire region rather than individual council areas, including joint projects between the three main Deal partners, Stirling Council, Clackmannanshire Council and University of Stirling. The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal private sector investment total secured to date is £476,000, with this investment coming through the University of Stirling’s Scotland’s International Environment Centre (SIEC Phase 1) as commissioned work.

All other secured and leveraged investment in the Deal is from the public sector, including academia, or third sector.

Guidance to clinicians to support prescribing medicines off-label is provided by the General Medical Council (GMC) . The guidance states that doctors should usually prescribe licensed medicines in accordance with the terms of their licence but they may prescribe medicines off-label where, on the basis of an assessment of the individual patient, they conclude, for medical reasons, that it is necessary to do so to meet the specific needs of the patient. In addition, extant guidance states that, unless there is a specific clinical reason, clinicians should prescribe a licensed medicine which has been accepted for routine use in the NHS in Scotland by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) as opposed to prescribing off-label or unlicensed medicines.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on application processing times for Carer Support Payment as part of official statistics releases.

Public Health Scotland publish annual information on cataract procedures in our Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information (annual) publication.

The publication does not have weekly figures but annual figures for cataract procedures between financial year 2019-20 to financial year 2023-24 can be found within the ‘Eye’ grouping in table 7 of our publication. This table includes splits by admission type and by health board of treatment and can be downloaded here.

Scottish Ministers have asked the Marine Directorate to undertake a limited trial and pilot project with a number of inshore vessels to help gather further information to support a longer-term policy development on fishing for squid under the North Sea Cod Avoidance Plan (NCAP).

The squid pilot project will assess the likely impact of any future squid fishery through the collection of scientific data related to cod and other non-target stocks. Scottish Government will publish findings following evaluation of the pilot project.

We want patients to be treated as soon as possible. However, we know many are facing unacceptable waits and we are determined to do more. That is why we are targeting an additional £200 million to reduce waits and enhance capacity. Funding of £106m has already been agreed with Boards to improve waiting times during 2025-26.

We are also looking to optimise the full force of the £21.7 billion committed through the Scottish Budget to health and social care to improve performance.

We will continue to target resources to reduce waiting times, particularly for those waiting longest for treatment, through maximising productivity and additional resources.

This is all part of our programme to drive up productivity and tackle waiting lists, supported by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery. Together, our actions will further enable NHS Scotland to maximise capacity, build greater resilience and deliver reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment.