The Scottish Government has robust processes and procedures in place to ensure all corporately managed mobile phones are monitored and continually assessed using industry standard security tooling to ensure compliance with our policies.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan (2023) set out actions to support employers in ensuring that the needs of rural communities are met through national work to develop a Health and Social Care Rural Workforce Recruitment Strategy which will also take into account the mental health and wellbeing workforce.

As part of this national work and in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland’s (NES) Centre for Workforce Supply and the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, we will develop a sustained model of direct support that will provide employers with the help they need to improve recruitment success.

It is forecast that £3.185m will have been spent by the end of March 2025 for activity related to the aims in the Neurological Care and Support in Scotland: A Framework for Action 2020 – 2025.

The Framework was published in 2019 and despite the extensive disruption to health and social care services during the pandemic, and accompanying pressure on Scottish Government and health board priorities, we sustained our focus and efforts to deliver the commitments of the Framework.

Actions will continue in the financial year 2025-26 for which the budget is still to be passed. We are asking Parliament to unite behind the Budget to ensure this funding reaches the people who need it.

This is a matter for NHS Grampian. The information requested is not held centrally.

Scotland’s approach to annual fisheries negotiations is informed by the best available evidence, taking into account scientific advice, socioeconomic factors, and the dynamics of fisheries. Our key priority throughout negotiations is always to protect Scottish interests by securing sustainable catching opportunities. Officials engaged closely with colleagues in UK Government in the lead up to and throughout the negotiations, to discuss the scientific advice and negotiating approaches. The Scottish Government continued to play an active role in the UK delegation throughout negotiations, striving to be a constructive partner, and seeking balanced agreements to protect Scottish interests.

The majority of our annual fisheries negotiations with the EU and Coastal State partners, to set catch limits and management measures for jointly managed stocks in 2025, have now concluded. We will issue a letter to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee in early 2025 to outline the outcome of all of the negotiations, including the potential benefits these can bring to Scotland.

The Scottish Government has prioritised improving the collection and recycling of end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear in our Marine Litter Strategy published in 2022 in order to protect our environment from plastic pollution and support the growth of our circular economy. There are currently very few relevant recycling facilities in Scotland or the rest of the UK due to the low-value, bulky, contaminated and degraded nature of the waste. We are therefore working across the four nations to increase more sustainable waste management opportunities, coordinating our research and policy analysis and we will work with industry towards effective solutions in the long term.

Details of gear theft and vandalism which were reported to Marine Directorate.

The potential cumulative impacts of the ScotWind leasing round are currently being assessed through the sectoral marine planning process. The ScotWind sites, together with the sites leased by Crown Estate Scotland through the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) leasing round will form the spatial basis for the updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy. The planning process includes undertaking a plan-level social and economic impact assessment which will provide an estimate of the potential impacts that offshore wind developments may have on other marine sectors and activities. This assessment will be made available for public consultation, alongside the draft updated Plan, later this year.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the age of active fishers. However, Seafish, a public body that collects and analyses data on the UK commercial fishing fleet, has published information on fishers employment by age. Their latest employment publication, 2021 employment in the UK fishing fleet contains information on the age of fishers in the Scottish fishing fleet on page 17. The term 'young fishers' is not defined specifically, but an age restriction, to those aged under 40, is applied to applications to the 'young fishers' part of Marine Fund Scotland 2024-25.

The Scottish Government works closely with the framework supplier to ensure the best possible network coverage.

For Scottish Government (SG) employees in remote and rural areas using an SG-issued mobile device, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi calling are permitted when mobile connectivity is insufficient.

The Scottish Government maintains membership in the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN).

SWAN, a partnership between the Scottish public sector and BT, is committed to accelerating the digital transformation of Scotland’s public sector, including in some of the most rural areas of the country.

The contract will enhance communication, data sharing, and collaboration across more than 94 public sector organisations and thousands of sites.

BT has pledged to provide significantly faster and more resilient fibre broadband and mobile connections to its network members.