The Scottish Government recognises that high quality, accessible and affordable early learning and childcare is vital in rural areas to support children’s outcomes and to enable parents or carers to train, work or study. A full response to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report, Remote and Rural Healthcare Inquiry, was sent on 18 November. The Scottish Government, in collaboration with the Centre for Workforce Supply and the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care will develop a sustained model of direct support that will provide rural and island employers with the help they need to improve recruitment success.

We recognise the provision of childcare is a key factor to support more people in rural and island communities to enter and sustain training, employment and starting a business. The Scottish Government continues to fully fund local authorities to deliver 1140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare to eligible children across Scotland, backed by almost £1 billion funding each year. In addition, at a national level, several work programmes are underway to support childcare access in rural and island communities. This includes –

• Funding a new national childminder recruitment and retention programme.
• Making grants available to local authorities via the Addressing Depopulation Action Plan Fund, two of which will contain a focus on addressing childcare issues in areas affected by acute population decline.
• Providing local authorities with an additional £16m in 2024-25 to support payment of the real Living Wage to staff delivering funded ELC in the private and third sectors.
• Investing £16 million over the next two years into our early adopter communities (EACs), including those in rural and island locations. We are extending the number of communities involved in this work in existing EACs in Dundee, Clackmannanshire Glasgow and Inverclyde – as well as further expanding into Fife and the Shetland Isles. This will allow us to test and understand particular challenges and opportunities in rural and island areas.

Scottish Government officials have worked closely with UK Government counterparts to demonstrate the challenges that are faced by all stakeholders in the process.

The proposals contained in the consultation are a result of the evidence gathered and set out current thinking, as we seek to gather views and evidence on the reform proposals.

The proposed reforms are about making the determination process more efficient, not less robust. Environmental assessment standards will remain unchanged. Scottish Ministers will continue to determine each proposal on a case-by-case basis, following review of the application information, consultation responses and representations made by members of the public.

It is disappointing that there had been no prior indication of this change to Inheritance Tax or engagement with the Scottish Government given that Scotland will be hit by the proposed changes brought in by the UK Government.

In my capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, I can confirm that I have not met Hill of Fare Windfarm Information Group.

The Scottish Government supports the delivery of the highest standards of palliative care, and we will give this report and its recommendations careful consideration. Our palliative care strategy, currently out for public consultation, aims to ensure that people can access well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care, care around dying, and bereavement support based on what matters to them.

High energy prices are the single most important driver of fuel poverty. Within our devolved powers we continue to support vulnerable households through our winter heating benefits, provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice and energy efficiency schemes. However the powers to make a real difference remain reserved to Westminster. That is why the UK Government must introduce a social tariff mechanism as a means of targeted support for those who need it most, including terminally ill people who are struggling with their energy bills. The Scottish Government is making progress on co-designing such a mechanism with industry and has agreed to report to the UK Government on this work as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government remains committed to its vision for an integrated and community-based hearing service in Scotland. However, in considering the future direction for the audiology sector, it is right that we move forward in step with the work of the Independent Review of audiology and this – together with the wider financial and strategic context in which we are currently operating – has necessitated the re-phasing of our commitment on community hearing. We are continuing to fund “RNID Near You”, a third sector after-care scheme offered to hearing aid users and delivered in partnership with the NHS within five Scottish health board areas.

In 2024, based on data from the June Agricultural Census, there were 9,309 agricultural holdings in Scotland with a total land area more than or equal to 81 hectares (approximately 200 acres).

Improving the resilience of the Parliament’s IT systems is an ongoing endeavour. This includes a regular maintenance schedule of software updates on network hardware and end user devices. Hardware refreshes balance the risk of old components failing against cost and exercises to look at the design of the network and configuration of end user devices are commonplace to ensure that we are in the best place for the future and have resilience built into any solution.

It is vital that maximum support, sufficient budget and greater long-term certainty are provided by the UK Government (UKG) to allow Scottish projects to succeed in CfD AR7 and future rounds.

We must build on the positive results of this year’s Allocation Round, which were a step in the right direction and demonstrate the importance and capability of Scotland to deliver zero carbon power.

We will continue to work with the UKG to secure project delivery as well as investor and supply chain confidence, which includes encouraging the UKG to expedite work to ensure timely grid connections and strengthened grid infrastructure.

We also welcome the UKG’s Clean Industry Bonus (CIB), which will be incorporated into the CfD scheme for AR7. We expect Scottish offshore wind projects and supply chain to benefit from this new initiative and look forward to seeing the results.

In my capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, I can confirm that I have not met with the listed Community Councils and I currently have no plans in place to meet them.