The Scottish Government has been progressing delivery of the 10 year Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint through integration with existing policies. This includes brokering new partnerships between Techscaler and key universities, aligning with the National Innovation Strategy, 13 funded projects via the Ecosystem Fund as well as a £5.5m uplift to the University Innovation Fund. These activities will be monitored and reported on through existing mechanisms as well as case studies to demonstrate the use of the uplift.

As set out in answer S6F-02918, I emphasise again that all long waits are unacceptable. We continue to work hard with health boards to reduce delays for patients.

A and E performance is impacted by pressures from right across the wider health and social care system, which is why our unscheduled care collaborative programme is taking a whole systems approach as we work with health boards in delivering sustained improvement. Through the programme, a range of actions is being taken to improve patient flows in order to reduce A and E delays. Those include actions to strengthen arrangements to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions, such as same-day emergency care services; expanding our hospital-at-home services; and optimising flow navigation centres. Those actions support patients, to ensure that they receive the right care in the right place while also reducing pressure on our very busy acute sites.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) naloxone programme was launched in February 2022, backed with investment of £89,000 from Scottish Government. The programme aims to establish a network of fire officers who will carry naloxone and be trained to administer it in the event of an emergency.

Since then, all SFRS staff have been invited to complete online training to learn more about drug deaths in Scotland and how naloxone can help someone in the event of an opioid overdose. To date, 3,379 out of all 7,619 staff have voluntarily completed the training.

There is additional training for Flexi Duty Officers (FDOs) who have volunteered to carry naloxone and there are now 31 trained FDO volunteers within SFRS who are able to do this. It is expected that over the next 6 weeks a further 130 FDO volunteers will be trained and equipped to carry and administer naloxone.

The carrying and administering Naloxone is considered by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to be a form of emergency medical response which currently sits out-with the role map of firefighters. SFRS has a desire to broaden the role of firefighters which would incorporate emergency medical response but this is dependent on reaching agreement with the FBU.

SFRS and Scottish Government are determined to fully implement this programme and will continue to work closely with all parties, including representative bodies, to overcome any barriers to its full implementation.

There were 6983 meeting room bookings in 2022 and 8852 bookings in 2023.

For the purposes of this response these numbers have been adjusted to reflect bookings for meetings only. Bookings for activities such as MSP sponsored events, maintenance, broadcasting checks, set up times etc. were filtered out to leave the following totals:

5817 meetings in 2022 broken down as:

1. ministers or ministerial staff                              312
2. SPCB staff,                                                      4599
3. non-ministerial MSPs or MSP staff *                835
4. anyone else                                                      71 (CPGs)
   

7505 meetings in 2023 broken down as:

1. ministers or ministerial staff                              964
2. SPCB staff,                                                      5343
3. non-ministerial MSPs or MSP staff *                1060
4. anyone else                                                      138 (CPGs)
   

*It was not possible to identify non-ministerial MSPs as a separate group. Therefore, the category MSP/MSP staff includes Ministers acting in their capacity as an MSP and includes all Members who have been a Minister for all or part of each year.

There have been no consequentials forthcoming to the Scottish Government as a result of the UK Government decision to allocate funding for RAAC mitigation works. If rectification is required on RAAC within the NHSScotland Estate that will have to be managed from existing budgets.

Where RAAC has been found there has been no immediate disruption or concern although some rectification works will be required in addition to monitoring and management in all cases. NHS Boards will continue to consider their buildings with RAAC on an ongoing risk based approach to the management of those assets.

Officials are working with stakeholders on the design and implementation of the Community Bus Fund for financial year 2024 - 2025. Arrangements for accessing resource funding will be published on the Transport Scotland website once the work has been completed.

Scottish Ministers have deemed planning permission to be granted to 4.931 GW of Battery Energy Storage System developments made under section 36 of Electricity Act 1989, across 17 applications.

Scottish Ministers cannot report on planning permission awarded to Battery Energy Storage System developments with a capacity of 50MW or under, as these are determined by individual local planning authorities.

Transport Scotland, VisitScotland and Scottish Development International work as one Government team to help Scotland’s airports grow international connectivity.

In the case of target routes and strategic markets, support takes the form primarily of collaborative marketing activity. Transport Scotland and VisitScotland invest together in a programme of marketing activity delivered primarily by VisitScotland and in collaboration with the airline concerned. Where the airline elects not to invest cash in this activity, the collaboration may take the form of in-kind support. We do not provide support for start-up costs or introduction payments.

All relevant airlines serving Scotland benefit from the increase in awareness and demand generated by VisitScotland’s own core destination campaigns in key markets which include the UK, USA, Canada, Germany, France, China. Additionally, and providing specific support to those airlines returning to Scotland post-pandemic, Transport Scotland and VisitScotland funded a Fly Direct campaign in the spring of 2022, promoting all airlines serving Scotland’s airports direct from these markets plus the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Australia. In the spring of 2023 and of 2024, VisitScotland has continued to include direct access messaging in its campaigns with partners including Expedia and Skyscanner.

For reason of commercial sensitivity it is not possible to itemise each route and the level of support provided, but the net investment by Transport Scotland and VisitScotland, including with that of specific fly direct campaign activity, is provided in the following table.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken its own analysis of veterinary charges in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the issues raised by pet owners concerning the cost of veterinary care for their animals, but does not provide financial support for veterinary charges. Regulation of the veterinary profession is a matter reserved to the UK Government.

For those experiencing difficulties providing treatment for their pets there are options available. In June 2023 we welcomed the expansion of the Scottish SPCA’s Pet Aid initiative to include veterinary treatment which can assist owners struggling financially. Concerned owners looking for help and advice can contact the Scottish SPCA, in confidence, via their helpline on 03000 999 999 or can visit their website to find out more details of their Pet Aid scheme https://www.scottishspca.org/pet-aid

Additionally, StreetVet assists homeless pet owners and the PDSA provides free or reduced cost treatment to those eligible and receiving benefits.