The Scottish Government takes a comprehensive approach to assessing the impact of the fishing industry on marine biodiversity. Consideration of marine biodiversity is embedded across a range of statutory and non statutory assessments that inform the development and implementation of new marine and fisheries policies.

Recent assessments include those conducted as part of the updated evaluation of Good Environmental Status under the UK Marine Strategy (UKMS), as well as Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020, which provides an evidence-based overview of the health of Scotland’s seas.

Further information on the UKMS assessments can be accessed at MOAT - Marine online assessment tool.

Under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, an eligible patient is to start to receive agreed treatment within the 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG). Health Boards must take all reasonable steps to ensure they comply with this legislative guarantee.

However, the long-term impacts of the pandemic, as well as acute seasonal pressures and unprecedented levels of inflation across the public sector, has seen the NHS under the most severe pressure in its 77-year existence. This has affected almost all aspects of NHS care, including the number of planned care appointments and procedures the health service has been able to provide.

Our Budget will provide more than £110 million to health boards to increase capacity and address backlogs of treatment as we work towards achieving the 12 week TTG.

We have also committed to clearing all waits in all specialities over 52 weeks by March 2026.

The information requested is not collected by the Scottish Government.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Scotland is a net exporter of electricity to the rest of the UK - the UK relies on the electricity that Scotland generates to deliver its net zero targets and its ambition to deliver clean power by 2030.

The National Energy Systems Operator (NESO) is responsible for security of supply. The Scottish Government have co-commissioned the NESO to develop the Strategy Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) which will help accelerate and optimise the transition to clean, affordable and secure energy in Great Britain. This can be achieved through the deployment of renewable technologies, including storage technologies.

A Scottish Government commissioned report, Electricity system security of supply in Scotland, published in 2023, found that the increase in renewable generation capacity along with the installation of storage technologies would provide security of supply in Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Details on how many drones are in operation in NHS Scotland would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

Flood risk management implementation reports for the years 2010 to 2012 are available on the Scottish Government’s archive website. These reports are joint publications detailing progress in implementing both the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009.

Relevant links are provided below.

Report for year 2010:

[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Implementation of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009: Annual Report to the Scottish Parliament - 2010

Report for year 2011:

[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Annual Report to the Scottish Parliament, 2011 - Implementation of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009

Combined report for years 2012 and 2013:

[ARCHIVED CONTENT]

National Records of Scotland (NRS) collects, preserves and produces information about Scotland's people and history, and makes it available to inform current and future generations. The majority of NRS records are free to access for all. Most records are original and can only be viewed in the NRS Historical Search Room.

No specific financial assistance is available to volunteers and researchers who wish to access the records of patients who died while being treated at former psychiatric hospitals.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans in place to remember former patients of historic asylums who were buried in unmarked graves. Details of any burial carried out in a burial ground by a burial authority are recorded in the statutory burial register so that the deceased are not forgotten.

The Scottish Government commissioned Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is working with NHS Boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign.

In January 2022, Scottish Government commissioned CfSD to establish the Scottish National Cataract Short Life Working Group. This multi-professional group developed a 'Blueprint for Success' to deliver higher volume cataract surgery in operating theatres across Scotland; the aim being to deliver a minimum of 8 procedures per core 4-hour session or a minimum of one procedure every 30 minutes. The adoption of these minimum standards to deliver higher volume activity will reduce variation and waiting times for planned care across NHS Scotland.

The Blueprint for Success can be accessed here: https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/media/5sofmknr/cataract-surgery-blueprint-2022.pdf

Furthermore, our additional investment of £110 million in 2025-26 has been targeted to specialty areas and NHS Boards where it can have the greatest impact against the longest waits, including for ophthalmology.

Finally, Our National Treatment Centres (NTC) programme provides additional protected elective capacity and infrastructure for ophthalmic activity. NTC capacity is a national resource and allocations are based on the latest Waiting Times management information available to Scottish Government at the time of decision. This approach ensures the NTCs are targeting the longest waiting patients that meet the clinical criteria for NTCs and allocations of activity have been determined on this basis.