Officials meet NHS Boards regularly to discuss local issues, potential solutions and manage risk, which the Director of Dentistry attends. This includes Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) provision in the Tayside area.

The Chief Dental Officer wrote to Health Boards on 2 September 2024, confirming our intention to introduce a more targeted and evidence-based approach to SDAI provision, ensuring those areas with clear unmet need are supported.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

A Cell Sharing Risk Assessment (CSRA) must be completed before any individual is allocated to share a cell. SPS has no recorded instances of individuals sharing a cell that conflicts with a CSRA.

The CSRA will be used to make an informed decision on the individual's suitability to share a cell and if required alternative options are explored with the safety, security, health and wellbeing at the forefront of any decision made.

The CSRA process is used as the assessment process in accordance with Rule 28 (Accommodation of Prisoners) of the Prison Rules (Scotland) 2011.

The Scottish Government does not intend to publish details of any case studies in relation to regulatory powers under sections 7 and 8 of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996.

However any legislation brought forward under the Natural Environment Bill will be justified and accompanied by published policy notes and impact assessments.

Since 2016, the Scottish Government has provided funding to ensure that adult social care workers, delivering direct care in commissioned services, are paid at least the Real Living Wage (RLW). This pay uplift has been extended to workers delivering direct care to children and young people in commissioned services for the first time this financial year. We have transferred £230 million to Local Government to deliver this £12 minimum wage for adult social care workers and a further £20 million has been transferred to support the uplift for children’s social care workers.

The Scottish Government is proud to be leading the way in increasing minimum hourly rates of pay for the social care workforce among the four UK nations.

We are working in partnership with key stakeholders – including trade unions, providers and COSLA – to introduce sectoral bargaining for the commissioned adult social care sector. Once developed and introduced, sectoral bargaining will encourage improvements in pay, and terms and conditions, and also take into consideration the varied roles and responsibilities across the sector.

The Scottish Government and our partners are also taking action to promote social care roles as an attractive career, support routes in to the sector, and enable career development.

In collaboration with COSLA, we established the Joint Social Services Taskforce (JSST) to address priority workforce issues. One of the JSST Workstreams led by the Scottish Social Services Council and NHS Education for Scotland, is the development of a new Career Opportunities Tool to map the range of roles and careers on offer in social care, and potential pathways open to new and existing staff.

The Scottish Government committed to review and improve our process of developing, implementing, and reviewing devolved regulation to meet our economic, environmental and societal aims within the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. While there are no current plans to implement a Primary Authority system for devolved regulation, we will consider the merit of Primary Authority provisions with business and regulatory stakeholders in line with the NSET commitment and New Deal for Business Group recommendations.

As I told Parliament on 3 September, this Government has consistently warned of the significance of the financial challenge ahead. In the face of this challenge, the Scottish Government has stepped in to support people and services where it has been needed most – on social security, health, and public services and as set out in our 2024-25 budget, we have delivered a real-terms uplift for the NHS.

However, given the circumstances, the amount allocated to external affairs was reduced in the Scottish Budget published for 2024-25, from £27.051 million to £26.283 million . The continuing uncertainty about additional funding and further in-year pressures have required that more action is taken now to ensure that we can balance the budget, which has required difficult choices. Regrettably, the amount allocated to mental health services has also been reduced. This reduction has been identified through programmes being adapted, or which have come to an end. However, we remain committed to taking forward our work across mental health, working closely with key partners. Through the overall 2024-25 budget, NHS Boards and the Scottish Government will continue to spend in excess of £1.3 billon on mental health.

Review of NHS Hyperbaric Medicine Services in Scotland is due to conclude in July 2025.

It is imperative adequate time is taken to review, due to the specialist nature of the facilities and services provided, to engage subject matter experts and consultants to participate in the review process. Assurance has also been provided that the Review Consultation Group includes contributions from a wide range of stakeholders including the British Hyperbaric Association, The British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) and Scottish Sub Aqua Club (ScotSAC).

Whilst the review is on-going all NHS patients whom would have been treated at Oban are transferred to Aberdeen. It should be noted that the transfer of patients to Aberdeen is normal pathway for the sickest patients as Aberdeen hosts the only Category 1 chamber in Scotland.

Over 13,100 families have benefited from the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme since it began in 2010 with, on average, over 81% of mothers offered the programme taking it up.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times datamart to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case under the Treatment Time Guarantee. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, these records are unable to accurately capture procedural level data.

More detailed information on the procedure(s) that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards.

Although we are unable to provide procedural level data, the latest data for inpatient or day-case admission for ophthalmology is provided for reference.

Inpatient or Day case Admission: Waiting Times for Admissions

NHS Scotland, Ophthalmology, up to Month ending 30 June 2024

The Scottish Government supports Screen Scotland, our dedicated public agency for screen, through Grant-in-Aid funding, with £10.25m in Financial Year 2024-25.

As set out in our Programme for Government, we will continue to support Screen Scotland to deliver their Strategy to 2030-31, ensuring the screen sector can reach our goal of £1 billion Gross Value Added to the Scottish economy by 2030, up from £627m in 2021.

Screen Scotland will also continue their excellent work in skills and education, making a career in film and television more accessible for more young people in Scotland, and helping our sector to stay globally competitive for future generations.

Since it was first established in 2018, Screen Scotland, has been instrumental to the success of our screen sector. By nurturing locally-originated content as well as attracting international inward investment, Screen Scotland ensures that the sector continues to grow strongly and sustainably.