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 information requested is not centrally available.

We are developing a new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy which has an overarching aim that everyone in Scotland receives well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care, care around death and bereavement support based on their needs and preferences, including support for families and carers. The strategy will cover children and adults, and care provided in all settings including in the community.

We have established a number of working groups to support the development of the strategy including a Children and Young People’s Palliative Care Working Group and we have completed a mapping survey of paediatric and neonatal palliative care provision to inform the development and delivery of the strategy.

For all NHS Boards including NHS Borders, tailored support is provided giving access to professional specialist advice, making sure that they have robust plans place and are continually monitoring their implementation. Regular and structured engagement with NHS Borders at official level also takes place regularly.

In addition all Boards have been asked to submit trajectories setting out a timeline for clearing any long waits. These will be updated annually and used to inform further targeted improvement work to ensure all Boards meet CAMHS waiting times standards.

The Taskforce is making good progress with the development of its recommended actions and will continue to work until members have agreed a comprehensive action plan. We anticipate the publication of a report later in 2024. Since the establishment, the Nursing and Midwifery has held four ministerial led meetings in April, July, December 2023 and March 2024. The taskforce has also held two official led meetings in June 2023 and March 2024.The Scottish Government publishes the agreed minutes and actions from each meeting on its website: www.gov.scot/groups/nursing-and-midwifery-taskforce

We expect children and young people who need inpatient mental health care to be looked after in age-appropriate facilities. Following recommendations from the Mental Welfare Commission, the Scottish Government commissioned a national review of existing provision for young people under 18 years who had needs and risks that required intensive psychiatric care. This review published its findings in June 2021 and recommended purpose-built regional units adjacent to existing inpatient services.

Since then, the Scottish Government has provided funding to NHS Boards to support the development of regional Intensive Psychiatric Care Units for young people. Work is currently ongoing to support NHS Boards to establish these facilities, including engagement with regional planning and recruitment to develop this work.

In addition, in June 2020, the Scottish Government published a protocol for admissions of young people to adult wards, in response to action 19 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27. This protocol is a best practice guidance to aid implementation of Section 23 of the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 which places a duty on health boards to provide sufficient services and accommodation to meet the needs of young people under 18 when they are admitted to hospital for treatment of a mental disorder.

The Scottish Government will introduce legislation to implement the recommendations of the Working Group on Misogyny and the Criminal Law later this year, informed by responses to last year's consultation on draft legislative provisions to give effect to those recommendations.

To support general practice services, we have significantly expanded the primary care multi-disciplinary team workforce, with over 4,700 staff working in services including physiotherapy, pharmacy and phlebotomy at March 2023.

We are supporting development of these teams through an annual investment of £190 million in the Primary Care Improvement Fund which is distributed on an NRAC basis.

While we have made significant progress, we know that implementation gaps remain. That is why we have introduced the Phased Investment Programme, working with a small number of areas to demonstrate what a model multidisciplinary team can look like in practice. This programme will strengthen the evidence base on the national context for the implementation of multidisciplinary teams and inform future long term Scottish Government investment.

In addition, we have submitted our annual evidence to the DDRB for its recommendations on a pay uplift for GPs and will consider them carefully.

Childcare voucher schemes were part of UK-wide tax legislation on employer supported childcare. They were closed to new entrants in 2018 and as such, parents and carers who are taking up new employment are not able to access them. While some Scottish families may still be using them, they have largely been replaced by Tax Free Childcare. As the Scottish Government is not involved in the administration or regulation of childcare voucher schemes, we have not conducted an assessment of them.

We are aware of the wealth of evidence that shows that access to affordable and flexible childcare can improve standards of living and address child poverty through reducing pressures on family income and enabling parents and carers, particularly women, to participate in work, education or training. There is more information on this evidence base in ‘Best Start - strategic early learning and school age childcare plan 2022 to 2026: https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-start-strategic-early-learning-school-age-childcare-plan-scotland-2022-26/pages/10/

In the Plan, we have also set out our commitment to continue to engage with and seek to influence the UK Government to deliver better outcomes for children and families through childcare policy.

The Scottish Government is supporting the NHS to offer the best evidence-based care and treatment to anyone who needs it. Decisions on what the best, and most appropriate, treatment options are for patients are informed by official guidelines, and clinical and professional involvement in someone’s care.

In 2022, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), produced for the first time Scottish specific eating disorder treatment guidelines. These guidelines cover referrals, management of medical and mental health risks, choice of treatments and management of transitions. In addition NHS Education Scotland have recently published the updated evidence summary for the treatment of Anorexia Nervosa.

We recognise that anyone who might be suffering with an eating disorder needs to get the help they need, when they need it. We therefore expect mental health services across Scotland to respond rapidly and decisively to the needs of our vulnerable people, particularly those with eating disorders.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many children and young people have been placed in adult mental health facilities, due to spaces being unavailable in facilities for children and young people, in each NHS board in each year since 1999.

For more information on children and young people being treated outwith NHS specialist CAMHS facilities, please refer to the answer to previous question S6W-26182 on 28 March 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 .