I last met with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks on Tuesday 29th October 2024 to discuss the Scottish Consenting Consultation.

Information about Ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received is also published on the Scottish Governments website: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government conducted an initial survey of residential rehabilitation providers in Scotland and published the results in November 2021. This showed that, at that time, there were 12 reported beds in Highland and 6 in the Western Isles. None were reported in Orkney, Shetland or Grampian.

The Scottish Government recognises that career pathways such as earn-as-you-learn can widen access to health and social care careers, including those who are settled and rooted in our rural and island communities.

That is why, we are funding a dedicated resource within NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to scope the current skills landscape and identify where earn as you learn programmes could be expanded and where further development work is required with the aim of widening the pathways into health and social care careers.

The Rural and Island Workforce Recruitment Strategy will focus on a sustained model of direct support and will take cognisance of broader cross-government work such as the exploration of earn as you learn models to provide a long-term, dynamic and connective approach to support employers to recruit successfully.

Through promoting healthy living by reducing alcohol misuse we can reduce the risk of developing some cancers. The Scottish Government published our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and initial Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023-2026 in June 2023. There are specific actions in the action plan aimed at reducing the consumption of alcohol.

A Public Health Scotland evaluation estimated that our world-leading Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) policy has saved hundreds of lives, likely averted hundreds of alcohol-attributable hospital admissions and contributed to tackling health inequalities. We introduced an increase to MUP in September 2024.

We have commissioned Public Health Scotland to carry out a review of the evidence on restricting alcohol marketing and advertising. We will progress work in areas where evidence supports further action to address alcohol misuse and improve population health.

The following table provides the number of practices which have held General Medical Services contracts (sometimes called 17J practices due to the relevant clause in the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978) in NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland, and NHS Grampian for each year since 2018.

Table 1 - Practices with General Medical Services contracts

The Scottish Government has provided £168k funding since 2021 to Scottish Agritourism to assist with supporting the delivery of Scotland’s Agritourism Growth Strategy, broken down as follows

2022-23 – £35,000

2023-24 – £35,000

2024-25 – £98,000

The Scottish Government remains committed to funding local services who make decisions on commissioning and planning services for people impacted by drugs, including heroine. Funding to local areas where decisions on preventative measures are taken remains at an all-time high, supplemented by additional funding over the life of the current Parliament through our National Mission. It is important that decisions are taken and plans are made locally to take account of local need.

The Scottish Government recognises that the prescribing of methadone, and all forms of OST, is a matter for clinicians in consultation with individuals and that the risks of prolonged use and any possible side effects are a matter for clinicians who are bound by professional codes and evidence-based UK-wide clinical guidance on this.

The Scottish Government agreed with recommendations made by the Drug Deaths Taskforce who recommended that more choice should be available on the types of OST offered where appropriate and notes that a significant proportion of people have chosen to move from methadone and oral buprenorphine to long acting injectable buprenorphine since the introduction of the medication Assisted Treatment standards in May 2021.

However, methadone remains a recommended, evidence-based first line option for clinicians and individuals according to independent codes and clinical guidance.

I last met with the National Energy Systems Operator on 29 October 2024 to discuss Clean Power 2030.

Information about Ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received is also published on the Scottish Governments website: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The First Minister wrote to Friends of the Earth Scotland on 21 August and again on 25 October to set out his detailed considerations of their allegations and his conclusion that the Code had not been breached.

The application under consideration in these exchanges and as noted above was received on 18 February 2022 and that this application has yet to be determined.