Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has not conducted any specific research on the question of whether Scotland’s population has the capacity to deal with the number of jobs created from the energy transition.

However, it is clear that Scotland is facing a set of long-term demographic challenges, including an ageing workforce, and perhaps the most stark projection is that as of 2033 Scotland’s overall population will begin to decline, and this is exacerbated by the impact of the UK's exit from the EU and subsequent loss of freedom of movement of EU members wishing to live, study and work in Scotland.

Scotland’s long-term demographic challenges will have impacts for sectors, particularly those that are expected to be fast growing, like net zero. Independent analysis commissioned by the Scottish Government and conducted by Ernst and Young (EY) suggests that with the right support there could be almost 80,000 jobs in the low carbon energy production sector and a net-positive impact for overall energy production jobs by 2050.

In our forthcoming Just Transition Plans, the Scottish Government will set out how we intend to support existing workers and new entrants to the workforce to take advantage of these opportunities and deliver a just transition to net zero by 2045.

The Population Programme Board was established in 2019 to support the Ministerial Population Taskforce, which is responsible for delivering Scotland’s national Population Strategy, published in 2021. Aligned to the Ministerial Taskforce, the Programme Board meets quarterly, with the next meeting due to take place in June 2024.

The Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population was established in October 2018, in order to provide independent expert advice and analysis to Scottish Ministers on matters relating to migration and population. The Group meets around 4 times per year, with the next meeting due to take place in April 2024.

Drug deaths remain a public health emergency and services have seen a significant increase in funding as a result of the National Mission. This increase of funding into drug policy represents a 67% increase from 2014-15 to 2023-24 according to Audit Scotland figures published in 2022. The published draft budget for 2024-25 has maintained our budget for alcohol and drugs at the same level as 2023-24.

Full budget allocations for 2024-25 are still to be confirmed.

It is not possible to disaggregate the full budget by these themes as Alcohol and Drug Partnerships receive around three quarters of the total drugs and alcohol budget to distribute at the local level. At a national level, many of the projects and organisations also support all three areas. The published draft budget for 2024-25 has maintained our budget for alcohol and drugs at the same level as 2023-24.

The National Mission funding has brought about major reform and improvement in services for people with drug and alcohol problems including:

• Continuing to widen the access to life-saving Naloxone with an estimated 7 in 10 people at risk having a kit; Police Scotland completing roll out amongst frontline staff.
• Continuing to drive implementation of the MAT Standards across the country. All delivery partners have returned implementation plans and report on progress on either a monthly or quarterly basis.
• A whole systems approach to prevention.

The Scottish Government laid legislation seeking the agreement of the Scottish Parliament to continue Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP), and set the price per unit at 65 pence on 19 February 2024. Members of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee voted to approve those orders on 26 March 2024 and I am pleased that there is cross party support for this policy.

The Scottish Government undertook an awareness raising campaign in 2018 before the original implementation of MUP, and we will take learning from that approach.

We are currently considering different options regarding public information campaigns and direct communications with businesses around the proposed changes to the minimum unit price of alcohol. These will be finalised after the sunset clause vote by the Scottish Parliament, which must take place before 30 April 2024.

Individuals who are not healthcare professionals and provide such procedures are not currently regulated and therefore this information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Individuals who are not healthcare professionals and provide such procedures are not currently regulated and therefore this information is not held by the Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26467 on 16 April 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Full budget allocations for 2024-25 are still to be confirmed.

In 2023-24, Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships (ADPs) received funding exceeding £112 million.