Chamber and committees

NatureScot has released correspondence relating to the meetings and discussions through an FOI request.

The Scottish Government’s 2024 Addressing Depopulation Action Plan sets out our strategic approach to supporting communities facing population decline. We have established an Addressing Depopulation Fund and, as part of this, provided five local authorities with £60,000 each in 2024-25 to trial locally-identified measures to support population retention in affected communities. These are focused on key issues such as childcare, housing and skills. We have also continued to offer part-funding this year for three Community Settlement Officer roles in rural and island local authorities, to support people currently living in, or moving to these areas.

The Scottish Government has additionally awarded £125,500 in 2024-25 to the Rural Youth Action Network, which is delivered in partnership between Scottish Rural Action and Youth Scotland. The network mobilises and networks with young people across mainland rural Scotland, and works closely with youth-led groups such as the Young Islanders Network, Scottish Rural & Islands Youth Parliament, and Youth Local Action Groups.

Improved access to diagnostic tests remains a wider commitment for the Scottish Government and we are working closely with Primary Care colleagues to determine ways to improve spirometry.

The Scottish Government has established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group to support the work of the UK National Screening Committee Lung Task Group and inform the implementation of a targeted lung cancer screening programme for Scotland.

Introducing a new screening programme such as Chest and Lung CT scanning is inherently complex, and the required evidence and information must be fully developed before implementation begins. This is likely to take several years for each UK nation.

The Scottish Government-funded LungScot study, led by the University of Edinburgh, provided further information on the feasibility of lung screening and the influences of sociodemographic and other patient characteristics. The Scottish Expert Advisory Group is incorporating these findings into their business case which will inform the next steps towards implementation.

We have recently published the Quality Prescribing Guide for Improvement that aims to keep people at the centre of their treatment, and promote safe, evidenced based, sustainable prescribing.

The guide was developed by a wide range of stakeholders including experts in the field and lived experiences. The guide is intended to support clinicians across the multidisciplinary team and people living with respiratory conditions in shared decision-making and the effective use of medicines and offers practical advice and options for tailoring care to the needs and preferences of individuals

NHS Education Scotland (NES) are responsible for the publication of GP data in Scotland.

The most recent data from 30 September 2024 that was published on 3 December 2024 includes a breakdown of GP numbers by Health Board and can be found here. NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The Scottish Government commitment to increase the number of GPs by 800 does not include commitments at Health Board level.

NHS Education of Scotland (NES) are responsible for the publication of GP workforce data. The most recent data including a breakdown of GP numbers by Health Board can be found here. NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government on their review of electricity market arrangements (REMA), including on any potential impacts that zonal pricing could have on all market participants, including consumers, communities and industry. The UK Government is working on modelling to further understand this, and we will continue to scrutinise this closely. Modelling conducted for UK Government by LCP Delta and Grant Thornton indicates that indicates that Scotland’s consumers could potentially benefit from lower wholesale electricity prices. However, we are also aware of modelling which suggests potentially negative impacts for Scotland’s renewables industry.

We are engaging with a range of stakeholders, including the renewable industry and consumer organisations to ensure that the impacts of zonal pricing are fully considered by the UK Government ahead of any decisions on market reform. We have also gathered views on electricity reform via the first Scottish Forum on Future Electricity Markets held in December 2024 and our Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) which meets four times a year.

The Scottish Government commissioned independent research through ClimateXChange to assess the potential impact of locational pricing for a just transition to net zero, which was published on 12 August 2024.

Employment and industrial relations legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament. While this remains the case, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market. There have been no recent discussions with the UK Government specifically regarding the employment rights of offshore oil and gas workers in Scotland.

The new national service will ensure that an offer of support is available to all eligible individuals who are serving a short sentence (under 4 years), or being held on a period of remand.

As with the current Shine and New Routes Public Social Partnership services, the new service will be voluntary, and individuals will have a choice about whether they wish to sign up to the service.

Dedicated prison-based workers will provide initial support during the custodial environment and will contribute to effective multi-agency pre-release planning. Prior to liberation, individuals will be introduced to their community worker who will provide support on release.

There is no record that Scottish Government has had any correspondence with Hampton Group International, Pitch@Palace or the UK Chinese Business Association, nor with Mr Yang Tengbo, in the last 12 years.