Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government supports Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and training providers to work with employers to raise awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships to their business.

SDS promote all types of apprenticeship opportunities, including bricklaying, as an attractive career path through their all-age career service, in every local authority. An SDS Careers Adviser is embedded in every school in Scotland to highlight the career options available to people, including apprenticeships.

The My World of Work website, used in schools to support young people, includes in depth information about apprenticeships, whilst apprenticeships.scot is promoted to all ages as the main source of information about Scottish Apprenticeships. SDS also work with partners and employers to highlight the importance of apprenticeships particularly through Scottish Apprenticeship Week.

SDS has also explored how to better support the construction workforce through the recently published research they commissioned, on behalf of the Skills and Workforce Group of the Construction Accord.

In tandem, a short-life working group led by the Scottish Funding Council, has focused on developing practical solutions to strengthen learner pathways and improve workforce retention in the sector. This work, in collaboration with the Scottish Government, college sector, SDS and the Construction Industry Training Board, is nearing completion.

The member has previously raised this issue, and the position remains as set out in our earlier response, it is for NHS Boards and their planning partners to design and deliver healthcare services that meets the needs of the local population, in line with national policies, frameworks and best practice.

Notwithstanding this, NHS Grampian, led by its strengthened executive team, continues to implement initiatives to reduce acute occupancy and support improved patient flow across the system through its escalation Improvement Plan. Targeted work is underway at Dr Gray’s Hospital including recent expansion of the Discharge to Assess pathway across the Moray Health and Social Care Partnership. This is expected to support a reduction in length of stay at the site by minimising unnecessary delays to patient discharge. In parallel, front door frailty services are also being strengthened which will reduce avoidable admissions whilst improving outcomes for older patients.

I will be making a statement to Parliament shortly on how maternity services across Scotland will be improved. This will include detail on what the independent review will consider and how it will be led.

The Scottish Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce has met three times, most recently on 25 March 2026, and the minutes from all three meetings have been published on the Taskforce webpage Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce - gov.scot.

I will shortly be setting out to Parliament a statement detailing what the independent review will consider, how it will be led and how it will engage with stakeholders, including in Caithness. As has been the case under the previous Cabinet Secretary for Health and Minister for Public Health, there will continue to be close engagement with groups such as Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT), indeed Ms Minto engaged regularly with CHAT and with local stakeholders to discuss the issues women face and this Government will continue to do so.

Yes. Scottish Ministers adopted and published on its website an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening opinion on 7 April 2026 which requires the project to undertake an EIA in line with relevant legislation.

On 7 April 2026, the Scottish Government adopted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening opinion in relation to Moray Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW)-Park. This screening opinion requires that the project must undertake an EIA and comply with requirements set out in the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

To date, no marine licence application has been submitted by Offshore Solutions Group for Moray FLOW-Park.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting active farming and sustainable food production through direct payments, regardless of choices made elsewhere. The 2026 payments strategy aims to maintain the recent years payment timings for Direct Payments and Scottish Rural Development Plan (SRDP) funding.

Scottish Ministers have committed in the Rural Support Plan to providing certainty, investment, and preparation through to 2030, delivering direct support to provide the industry with reassurance and boost confidence in long-term investment. Stability does not mean no change – we are committed to our ongoing programme of reform designed and delivered in partnership with our rural communities and valued stakeholders.

I can confirm that the Scottish Government has recently amended the Minimum Requirements for the Location of a Border Control Post through The Official Controls (Location of Border Control Posts) (Scotland) Regulations 2026.

This amendment came into force on 21 March 2026. This amendment allows goods to arrive at a point of entry and then transit to an appropriately designated Border Control Post (BCP), provided that both the point of entry and the BCP are located within the same Scottish Green Freeport zone or within the outer boundary of that Freeport.

The Guidance to Accompany the Statutory Nuisance Provisions of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008 is available on the Scottish Government website. This guidance was published to support local authorities investigate and manage issues relating to noise complaints. Should the noise complaint involve antisocial behaviours the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004: noise nuisance guidance is also available.