Financial and operational decisions in response to the industrial action are a matter for Scottish Water, whose Chief Executive is the Accountable Officer for the organisation.

It is for Scottish Water and the Joint Trade Unions to agree a settlement which is fair and affordable, and the Government urges them to find a solution.

The Scottish Government have 880 live contracts and frameworks of which 42 are with voluntary organisations with details of these publicly available on the Public Contracts Scotland contract register. The Scottish Government requires suppliers to account for employment-related costs in its procurement processes, ensuring compliance with employment law and fair workforce practices and none have identified employment exclusions in the costs.

The Scottish Government Cancer Quality Performance Indicators (QPI) programme are vital in ensuring people have access to safe, effective, and person-centred care across Scotland and provides regular assessments of various aspects of cancer care. We work with regional cancer networks to ensure that NHS Boards meet these national standards of quality in cancer services and address any areas of concern to ensure equitable care.

Further to this, Scottish Government established the National Oncology Coordination Group to provide a coordinated and collaborative response to immediate and foreseeable service and capacity pressures. It provides rapid real-time assessment of highest risk services and proactively develops risk mitigation proposals across regions, in line with the overall strategic aim for cancer.

Under the new model, neonatal intensive care will be delivered in three Neonatal Units in Scotland, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.

Of the 44,835 births in the year to 31 March 2024, numbers fluctuate, but Public Health Scotland data reports that around 4554 babies, in the same period, were admitted to neonatal care. The vast majority of babies (around 2300) needed Special Care or Transitional Care (delivered on postnatal wards). A further 1,200 needed High Dependency care, and around 800 were admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care. Around 50 – 60 of these babies a year will be affected by the change in model of care and will have their care delivered in one of the three neonatal intensive care units.

Babies will normally be cared for in the unit closest to home. In the north of Scotland, the Aberdeen neonatal unit already cares for babies from Grampian, Highland and the Island Boards, and at times of extreme pressure on neonatal intensive care, may also care for babies from other parts of Scotland.

Under the new model the smallest and sickest Tayside babies would be transferred to Aberdeen or Edinburgh. In 2024, 11 babies were born at less than 27 weeks gestation in Tayside Health Board, plus a small number of babies who require complex intensive care.

Scottish Government commissioned Consulting firm RSM UK Consulting LLP to undertake detailed modelling work to fully map the capacity requirements across the system to inform capacity building and implementation of the new model. The report was published on the 29 May 2024.

The Scottish Government recognises that NHS Scotland’s oncology capacity has been increasingly tested due to steady, long-term increases in demand driven by new medicines approvals, increasing complexity of treatment, an ageing population, more treatments for incurable cancers, and delayed presentations exacerbated by the pandemic.

The National Oncology Taskforce commissioned the Scottish Cancer Network to undertake an Oncology Workforce Review, completed January 2023 with a proposal for an Oncology Transformation Programme (OTP). We have mobilised the ambitious Oncology Transformation Programme and work to progress this is moving at pace. This includes consideration of workforce and training requirements, recognising that our NHS workforce is fundamental in delivering excellent and equitably accessible cancer care.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing are in the first instance the responsibility of the relevant NHS board.

Decisions will depend on the service needs of each board taking account of national, regional and local priorities, and we expect NHS boards to plan and provide safe, effective and high-quality care, in line with their statutory service provision and workforce planning responsibilities.

In line with the requirements of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Scottish Government expects Health Boards to ensure that at all times there are sufficient suitably qualified staff to support the provision of high-quality care.

This includes reviewing staffing levels daily, with decisions regarding real time staffing being made on an ongoing basis.

Ferguson Marine was brought into public ownership in 2019 to ensure completion of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa vessels at Port Glasgow and to retain commercial shipbuilding on the Clyde. During that time, the Scottish Government has supported the business with £32 million of funding to support operating costs and capital investment.

This was an operational decision for Scottish Enterprise in the context of the Scottish Government’s long-standing policy position of not using public funding to support the manufacture of munitions. Although no formal application for support was received, Scottish Enterprise discussed its assessment of the proposal against that policy with Scottish Government officials.

Scottish Government recognises the challenges facing oncology services and our workforce as demand increases across NHS Scotland. We are working with NHS Scotland to address staffing as a matter of urgency, working closely with NHS Board and clinical leaders from across the country to address pressures in a sustainable way.

We have established the National Oncology Coordination Group to provide a coordinated and collaborative response to immediate and foreseeable service pressures. It provides rapid real-time assessment of highest risk services and proactively develops risk mitigation proposals, in line with the overall strategic aim for cancer.

We continue to take action to address workforce pressures. Actions include expanding the Clinical Oncology and Medical Oncology specialty training programmes and providing £6.6 million of additional funding to Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) and Acute Oncology to increase regional working, workforce recruitment and to maximise capacity across the existing workforce.

More than £106 million has been allocated to NHS Boards in 2025-26 to address waiting times, with £21 million for imaging. We will reduce the radiology backlog so that 95% of referrals are seen within six weeks by March 2026, through expanding to seven-day services, recruitment, and utilising mobile scanning units.

We have undertaken a full policy development process in order to reach a finalised position on coal extraction in Scotland, in line with statutory requirements.

Having considered stakeholders’ views and the evidence received alongside wider Scottish Government energy and climate change policies, we confirmed our preferred policy position of no support for coal extraction in Scotland in October 2022.

The preferred policy position was subject to statutory and other assessments before the policy-making process was completed, including in our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, and our National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).

Following this comprehensive policymaking process, the Scottish Government’s finalised policy position is of no support for coal extraction in Scotland. The finalised policy statement can be viewed here: Onshore conventional oil and gas: policy position - gov.scot

Coal exploitation is a matter reserved to the UK Government, and the Mining Remediation Authority is responsible for licensing coal mining activity in Scotland. Scotland’s planning system is fully devolved to the Scottish Government. Scottish Ministers have today written to UK Ministers to set out our finalised position on coal extraction.