Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has written to NHS Scotland Boards noting the closure of the Managed Voluntary Register previously operated by the Faculty of Physician Associates and encouraging the early registration of Physician Associates (PAs) with the General Medical Council following the introduction of statutory regulation of the role in December 2024.

The Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with the PA workforce, including through dialogue with the Scottish Physician Associate Network which is represented on our national Medical Associate Professionals Programme Board.

The information requested on how many (a) physician associate and (b) other medical associate profession roles were recruited by NHS Scotland in 2023-24 is not centrally held. Information on how many whole-time equivalent physician associates and other medical associates are in post can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence.

Four Scottish Government civil servants are working on delivering the actions set out in the Artificial intelligence strategy: trustworthy, ethical and inclusive.

The Scottish Government undertakes a detailed annual workforce planning process to determine intake targets for Initial Teacher Education (ITE), based on data from the annual Summary statistics for schools in Scotland and following consultation with the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group.

To inform this process, we develop and publish an annual statistical model on future teacher number requirements. We also engage with universities throughout the year to collect data and monitor progress of intakes against targets.

As part of December’s education agreement with COSLA, we are also committed to working with local government to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels in 2025-26, and make meaningful progress towards reducing class contact time for teachers. Medium and long-term joint workforce planning will take into account the importance of responding to these issues, including different local needs.

Improving employment opportunities for Scotland’s teaching workforce will also be a key feature of the Education Assurance Board, that we are working with COSLA to establish, noting that the recruitment and deployment of teachers is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living in Scotland with musculoskeletal conditions can access the best possible care and support.

While there are no current plans to develop a musculoskeletal digital pathway, the government has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to oversee a Rheumatology Specialty Delivery Group. This group includes multidisciplinary representatives from all Health Boards providing rheumatology services.

Scottish Government officials and the CfSD national planned care team meet monthly with the Chief Operating Officer and Acute Directors from all mainland Health Boards to assess performance and delivery across all Planned Care specialities, including rheumatology. For island Health Boards, these meetings typically take place every two months.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of whisky to our nation's tourism and hospitality sector, as well as the Scottish economy in general.

There were just over 2 million visits made to Scotch Whisky visitor centres in Scotland in 2022. This was the second highest number on record and more than double the number in 2021. The associated spend of these visits was £85 million in 2022. The Scotch Whisky industry employed around 1,200 people at Scotch Whisky visitor centres in 2022. (Source: Scotch Whisky Tourism Survey 2022).

The Scottish Government continues to do everything we can to support tourism and hospitality businesses to thrive.

Spirits distilleries looking to expand their visitor facilities can access funding through economic development agencies such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). HIE provides a range of financial support to independent whisky distilleries for projects specifically focused on the development of visitor facilities, as well as increased production volumes. Recent examples include Deerness Distillery, Lerwick Distillery and Dunnet Bay Distillers.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with business organisations and leaders to discuss current challenges and solutions, while pressing the UK Government to help businesses and ensure sustainable development within the visitor economy.

The whisky tourism sector brings in huge numbers of visitors to some of our most rural communities. These visitors help support much needed jobs, both on the mainland and in our Island communities. In partnership with Scotland Food and Drink, VisitScotland has created an industry guide to help businesses share some of the world class products we have (such as whisky) through the creation of memorable tourism experiences. The guide encourages businesses to think about the opportunity quality food and drink experiences can provide, including visitors’ desire to learn more about the region behind the produce and the local culture and history that influences it.

At a regional level, VisitScotland works closely with key partners and stakeholders to develop regional/destination strategies and support the development of regional investments. VisitScotland works with individual businesses as it looks to develop new products and help them to identify opportunities linked to trends, marketing etc.

In 2024, VisitScotland ran several regional workshops throughout Scotland and plans to continue to deliver these in 2025. The aim of the workshops is for tourism businesses to reach new markets and encourage longer dwell time.

VisitScotland also works in partnership with local Direct Marketing Organisations, to encourage integrated food and drink experiences, whisky tasting and storytelling into broader tourism offerings. This helps to enrich the overall visitor experience and helps attract visitors to the region. The Scottish Government also supports and promotes Whisky Trails through its other economic development agencies. For instance, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) provided funding for the Hebridean Whisky Trail. HIE also supported an ambitious community-led distillery project ‘Cabrach Distillery’ with up to £0.5m funding towards the £5m development to create a new distillery in the most rural area of Moray, well known for its history in distilling. HIE’s funding will help with the refurbishment of the farm steadings. The new distillery hopes to attract thousands of new visitors to the area

VisitScotland supports and promotes whisky related tourism businesses across its activity including marketing (owned, earned and paid), industry support, travel trade engagement. VisitScotland weaves whisky imagery and content into its seasonal global marketing campaign activity including current activity with Expedia, TripAdvisor and SkyScanner. Whisky tourism experiences also feature across all VisitScotland’s owned channels – email marketing, website, social media etc. Through consumer PR activity, VisitScotland has generated 117 media articles globally with an inclusion of whisky from 1 April 2024 – 13 February 2025.

Whisky remains a key driver of visits, with 21% of visitors indicating that they visited a whisky distillery as part of their trip to Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-34544 on 6 March 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

There are currently no plans to open an office in the Middle East.

We will continue to work closely with Scottish Development International (SDI) and its network of trade and investment offices around the world, which includes offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The implementation of regulation has not prevented physician associates (or anaesthesia associates) who are currently practising from continuing to do so, nor has it prevented NHS Boards or other employers from designing services around, and recruiting to, these professional groups.

As set out in Section 19(1)(b) of the Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024, from December 2026 it will be an offence to practise as a PA or AA in the UK without holding registration with the General Medical Council (GMC).

Surgical Care Practitioners, also a Medical Associate Profession, are not regulated by the GMC.

Community benefits from renewable energy developments are voluntary arrangements between communities and developers. Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, Scotland has made significant progress with a voluntary approach through our Good Practice Principles. Over the past 12 months, renewables developers have offered more than £30 million to local communities.

We are currently consulting on our Good Practice Principles for onshore and offshore renewable energy developments, to ensure we continue to support sustainable and meaningful outcomes for people in Scotland. This includes seeking views on local, regional and national approaches to community benefits. The consultation closes on the 11 April and we will consider all responses as we work towards updating the guidance by the end of 2025. We want to gather a wide range of views from across communities, industry, the third sector and public sector partners, and encourage everyone to take part.