Chamber and committees

Health marketing campaigns are one intervention used by the Scottish Government to support the population of Scotland to live healthy and active lives. They typically support wider programmes of activity or run alongside other interventions.

Where possible, marketing campaigns are evaluated using bespoke quantitative research, as well as where appropriate and available, indicators of direct response to a campaign such as visits to a particular website or web pages, calls to a helpline, vaccine uptake, cancer referrals, etc – during the campaign period.

Quantitative research typically provides campaign related metrics such as awareness, recognition, message take-out, engagement and action taken in response. Knowledge, attitudes and claimed behaviour among the target audience are often also measured and sometimes tracked pre to post campaign or over the longer term.

QALY (quality-adjusted life years) is a metric that is typically used in the evaluation of wider programmes of work or longer term interventions, where felt to be appropriate.

There is a long-established practice of Procurators Fiscal instructing the police in their investigation of crime and all suspicious sudden and unexplained deaths.

Investigation and direction may be issued in relation to specific matters in the context of ongoing liaison between the police and Procurators Fiscal who can instruct the police during the course of investigations and when further investigation is required in a case.

This is carried out as routine engagement during the investigative process and as such is not recorded as specific implementation of section 12 of the 1995 Act.

All locum pathologists used to cover non-suspicious Crown-instructed post mortems in Aberdeen are NHS consultants with significant experience of conducting examinations. Prior to being instructed by the Crown, each locum pathologist is interviewed by COPFS officials and an experienced Forensic Pathologist to confirm that they have the appropriate skills and experience to take on the role.

There are no identified quality issues with the post mortem examinations being carried out by locum pathologists in Aberdeen.

The Scottish Government recognises that high quality, accessible and affordable early learning and childcare is vital in rural areas to support children’s outcomes and to enable parents or carers to train, work or study. A full response to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report, Remote and Rural Healthcare Inquiry, was sent on 18 November. The Scottish Government, in collaboration with the Centre for Workforce Supply and the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care will develop a sustained model of direct support that will provide rural and island employers with the help they need to improve recruitment success.

We recognise the provision of childcare is a key factor to support more people in rural and island communities to enter and sustain training, employment and starting a business. The Scottish Government continues to fully fund local authorities to deliver 1140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare to eligible children across Scotland, backed by almost £1 billion funding each year. In addition, at a national level, several work programmes are underway to support childcare access in rural and island communities. This includes –

• Funding a new national childminder recruitment and retention programme.
• Making grants available to local authorities via the Addressing Depopulation Action Plan Fund, two of which will contain a focus on addressing childcare issues in areas affected by acute population decline.
• Providing local authorities with an additional £16m in 2024-25 to support payment of the real Living Wage to staff delivering funded ELC in the private and third sectors.
• Investing £16 million over the next two years into our early adopter communities (EACs), including those in rural and island locations. We are extending the number of communities involved in this work in existing EACs in Dundee, Clackmannanshire Glasgow and Inverclyde – as well as further expanding into Fife and the Shetland Isles. This will allow us to test and understand particular challenges and opportunities in rural and island areas.

Capacity within Aberdeen mortuary is not an issue and there are no current plans to increase the capacity for conducting post mortem examinations in Aberdeen.

A new mortuary facility in Aberdeen that will co-locate the Aberdeen City Mortuary and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Mortuary business is due to open in 2025. This will provide improved facilities for staff and families who are required to engage in the post mortem process.

Over the past year, the Scottish Government has committed £1m for Gaza and the wider Middle East, including £750k for UNRWA and a further £250k to the Disasters Emergency Committee, Mercy Corps and SCIAF. This money will provide food, water, medical assistance and shelter to displaced people across the region.

Given the intolerable suffering in Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access continues to be systematically blocked is unconscionable. Israel's decision to ban UNRWA will undoubtedly further undermine living conditions in Gaza. We continue to call for an immediate ceasefire and unfettered access to vital humanitarian aid for civilians across Gaza.

Social Security Scotland currently deliver 15 benefits. Applicants are not required to declare how much income tax they pay as part of the application process for these administered payments.

Social Security Scotland’s low income benefits are means-tested but assessed based on qualifying benefits received from the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions or HMRC.

Therefore, for those who receive payment from Social Security Scotland, there is no information held on which income tax bracket they belong to.

In my capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, I can confirm that I have not met Not A Just Transition - Opposed To The Industrialisation Of Rural Scotland.

In my capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, I can confirm that I have not met Buchan and Formartine Opposed to Big Energy.

In my capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, I can confirm that I have not met Angus Pylon Action Group.