Chamber and committees

a) NHS Boards are informed of their individual baseline funding on the day of the Scottish Budget announcement. In the last five years, this has been:

2020-21 – 6 February 2020

2021-22 – 28 January 2021

2022-23 – 9 December 2021

2023-24 – 15 December 2022

2024-25 – 19 December 2023

b) Baseline funding is further supplemented by Scottish Government directorate funding allocations throughout each financial year, to arrive at the NHS Board revenue resource limits (RRL). NHS Boards draw cash from the Scottish Government throughout the year as required, based on the value of their RRL.

In year changes can happen depending on in year consequentials received from UK decision making. This uncertainty on funding makes it difficult to have long term financial planning for the Scottish Government, boards and our other partners including community and voluntary sector organisations.

The Scottish Veterans Fund continues to be our main route to directly fund projects supporting the Armed Forces Community in Scotland. In this financial year we are providing around £460,000 through the fund to help organisations deliver 14 projects across Scotland. These projects will help veterans navigate challenges in areas including their mental and physical health, finances and employment.

In addition to the Scottish Veterans Fund, we continue to support the Unforgotten Forces consortium and are providing them with £315,000 of funding this year. The consortium provides joined up support to veterans over the age of 60 across Scotland as well as acting as a forum to share best practise and learning. The consortium delivered over 30,000 episodes of support for older veterans across Scotland during its first five years.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the Supporting Transgender Young People in School guidance remains up to date and fit for purpose. As with any significant legal or policy developments, we will consider whether the guidance requires to be updated to reflect these.

One of the major contributors to the increase in wildfire risk comes as a result of climate change. The 2022 Fire and Rescue Framework sets out seven strategic priorities for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Strategic Priority 4 is focused on climate change, and ensuring that SFRS is suitably equipped to respond to the realities of our changing climate, including wildfires.

On a practical level, planning for and taking action to prevent wildfire is the responsibility of the land owner, with SFRS as Category 1 Responders under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

While we know that the majority of wildfires in Scotland are related to grassland and moorland, rather than forest land, wildfires can move into woodland once established. That is why guidance on Building wildfire resilence into forest management planning (forestresearch.gov.uk) Practice Guide 22) was published in 2014 to support the UK Forestry Standard, and help reduce the likelihood and severity of wildfires in forests and woodlands, especially given the increased risk of fire due to climate change.

The Scottish Forestry - Wildfire prevention published by Scottish Forestry in 2023, supports forest owners, planners, and managers in Scotland to implement Practice Guide 22 in a Scottish context, to understand the wildfire risk to the forests they manage, and how to reduce this risk through good practice in forest design and planning.

As we continue to work to meet the challenge of changing climates we will continue to assess the suitability of our climate plans and strategies.

Wildfires are costly to fight and can cause significant damage to woodland as well as water catchments and other ecosystem services. We know that wildfires can not only result in substantial carbon loss but also cause damage to our wildlife and require costly restoration in the aftermath.

Where a wildfire has occurred on land managed by Forestry and Land Scotland, FLS monitors the area damaged by fire, it’s cause if known, and an estimate of the SFRS resource used. Last year the burnt area of the FLS estate increased from over 250 hectares in 2022 to over 340 hectares in 2023. The scale of the impact of a wildfire will depend on the severity and in some cases that recovery will be quicker than others, but research has shown that even relatively small peat carbon losses from combustion take 10 to 30 years to reaccumulate post-fire.

In March of this year we published a Fire Danger Assessment of Scottish Habitat Types Deliverable-D2_3b-Fire-Danger-Fuels-Final-6-3-23.pdf (hutton.ac.uk) as part of our Strategic Research Programme for Climate Change Impacts on Natural Capital. That report, carried out by the James Hutton Institute, includes consideration of wildfires in Scotland. However we have not undertaken any research into the economic impact of wildfires more specifically.

As we expect to see more extreme weather events, and further warming in Scotland, the Scottish Government recognises how important it is to adapt and prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Our land managers and local communities have a vital role in mitigating and responding to wildfires. In line with the Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Operational Guidance Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Operational Guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) t he Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) continues to encourage and support the formation of local fire groups such as those operating in North and South Grampian as well as Badenoch and Speyside.

At recent significant wildfires, the involvement of partners has been instrumental in successfully managing the incidents. SFRS have, and will continue to, learn from these experiences as well as consider where improvements can be made.

Wildfire mitigation is an important part of land management, and the Scottish Government will continue to engage with communities to ensure we are able to respond to wildfire risks.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that everyone living with diabetes can access the care that they need to live their lives well. This includes increasing access to diabetes technologies.

Between 2016 and 2022, we invested £29.6 million of additional funding to support the increased provision of diabetes technologies.

I am delighted to confirm that this financial year, up to £8.8 million of funding will be made available to expand access to diabetes technologies in Scotland. The focus will primarily be on providing access to all children that want Closed Loop Systems, but will also allow us to continue increasing access to adults.

This investment will allow us to continue developing innovative care models for diabetes in Scotland that have a focus on digital pathways and peer support.

The Scottish Government published the refreshed National Events Strategy for Scotland 2024-2035 today.

Developing this strategy has been a collaborative effort, shaped by voices from across the event sector, Trade Unions, Local Authorities and the wider public sector. Following a consultation and engagement process clear agreed priorities have emerged to shape a strategy that provides focus for the whole sector, bringing everyone together to deliver a shared ambition.

This strategy can sustain and develop a dynamic, resilient, and responsible events sector that is a valued part of Scotland’s wellbeing economy, maintaining Scotland’s reputation as the perfect stage for events. It will ensure Scotland continues to support a dynamic portfolio of events – from regular local community events to Scotland’s signature events and festivals, to one off international business, cultural and sporting events.

The Scottish Government remains committed to continuing to work with the existing strong partnerships across Scotland – as well as creating new relationships in a collaborative and cohesive approach, helping to maximise our collective resources.

A copy of the strategy is available using this URL – https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/what-we-do/events .

The Scottish Government supports the Gaza Families Reunited campaign’s calls for the UK Government to create a scheme to allow Palestinians in the UK to bring family members trapped in Gaza to a place of safety in the UK.

The former Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees met with members from the campaign on 26 March and campaign representatives were subsequently invited to a roundtable discussion with the former First Minister on 17 April.

Following these meetings, Scottish Government officials are in discussions with Scottish Refugee Council to develop a proposal for a stakeholder working group and will continue to engage with campaign members to ensure this meets their priorities.

The Scottish Government is clear that any cuts to learning hours are not acceptable. Scottish Ministers remain keen to come to an agreement with local government on the provision of learning hours in local authority schools. If no agreement is reached Scottish Ministers will take steps to ensure learning hours are protected, including considering the use of regulatory powers.